General
North Dakota State University to boost Mak E-Learning
A team from North Dakota State University (NDSU) earlier today, Friday, 22nd January 2010 paid a courtesy call on the Vice Chancellor Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba in his office.
A team from North Dakota State University (NDSU) earlier today, Friday, 22nd January 2010 paid a courtesy call on the Vice Chancellor Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba in his office.
Accompanied by Prof. John Kabasa , Dean, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (VETMED), the team consisted Dr. Margaret Khaitsa , Associate Prof. Veterinary & Microbiological Sciences, NDSU, Lisa Nordick, Assistant Dean & Director, Distance & Continuing Education (DCE), NDSU, Jerry L. Olson, Assistant Director, DCE, NDSU, Connie Jadrny, Marketing & Public Relations Coordinator, DCE, NDSU and Lyn DeLorme, Instructional Designer, DCE, NDSU. Also present were Associate Prof. Francis Ejobi, Coordinator Makerere-NDSU Programme and Dr. Samuel Majalija, Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Microbiology, VETMED.
The courtesy call was part of the team’s visit to Uganda, aimed at working out a framework for developing 
online instruction materials for delivery of joint academic programmes between Makerere and NDSU. This partnership has in the past led to the two universities being nominated as the lead institutions of the Africa-US Integrated Disease Management network (AFRUS-IDM), with a number of collaborators from East & Central Africa (ECA) and North America. The vision of AFRUS-IDM is to be a leading higher education consortium for excellence in integrated disease management and socio-economic development in Africa. Some of the initiatives of AFRUS-IDM already underway include a course in International Animal Production, Disease Surveillance & Public Health, conducted jointly by Makerere and NDSU.
On his part, Prof. Baryamureeba pledged Makerere University’s full support towards all the efforts aimed at developing online instruction material for VETMED, noting that this would not only improve the content’s accessibility but also harness efforts to implement Makerere’s ten-year strategic plan, to shift from teacher centered instruction to learner centered pedagogy in order to produce graduates with problem solving skills and reflective ability.
The team thereafter took part in the Academic Procession of the 60th Graduation Ceremony, whereupon the Vice Chancellor acknowledged their presence and contributions of NDSU towards Makerere as he addressed the congregation.
By Agnes Namaganda
On July 22nd 2022, Makerere University–Child Health and Development Centre (Mak–CHDC) launched a draft manual for the National Parenting Standards. The Centre has been working together with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) with funding from UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund), to develop standards that are agreeable to all organisations in the country that are involved in parenting work. The draft manual was being presented to members of a consortium that brings together all these organisations together, called the Parenting Agenda Consortium.
“We produce many documents and they are shelved,” Irene Ayot Chono, who was speaking on behalf of UNICEF said. “We hope that this document will not be one of them,” she emphasized.
Dr. Godfrey Siu, the Principal Investigator from Mak-CHDC who presented the draft manual to participants, emphasized that if any organization is doing parenting work, there should be a minimum package that they should offer.
Draft Manual Content
The manual which will have several modules. These modules will be delivered face-to-face in 1.5 hour sessions. Some of these include; Module 6 which will focus on “understanding responsible masculinity and fatherhood” and on “understanding the concept of head of family.”The draft manual also proposed that Module 11 focuses on Parenting in the 21st Century. Some of the sessions in this module will include Children and Technology, Contemporary Influence on Children and Modernity, Culture and Morality.Module 9 will focus on Parenting for Adolescents and some of the suggested sessions within this module are Needs for Adolescents and The Art of Communicating with Adolescents. Module 5 will focus on Preventing Violent Parenting and Promoting Alternative Discipline Strategies while Module 10 will be about Parenting to Address the Mental Health for Children and Adults.
Participants’ suggestions
After the presentation, participants raised several suggestions for discussion and consideration. These included whether there should be a module on spirituality since Uganda is a strongly religious nation. There was also the concern of how children in remand homes should be parented. Another concern raised by a participant was as to whether teachers who make an undeniable contribution to parenting, should be taken through the parenting manual.
In her closing remarks, Ms. Juliana Naumo Akoryo, the Director of Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) said that the manual is for the parenting organisations to utilize and not for MGLSD.
Ms. Chono also adjured the team behind the manual to use picture illustrations in the manual that can be relatable by the Ugandan parents.
Contact: Agnes Namaganda – agnesvioletnamaganda@gmail.com
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