As part of activities to mark its 16th Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) held a High Level Dialogue on the theme Realignment towards Online Teaching and Learning in Universities: Learning from each other. The virtual event held on 18th November 2020 was split into two sessions, with the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe as Lead Speaker for the first and Prof Francis Petersen, Vice Chancellor and Principal, University of Free State, Southern Africa as Lead Speaker for the second.
Welcoming participants to the dialogue, RUFORUM Executive Secretary, Prof. Adipala Ekwamu noted that galvanizing efforts towards online teaching and learning in Universities in Africa remains an important and relevant factor. This, he said, would require in-depth analysis of modern digital technologies, pedagogical approaches that must be adopted as well as knowledge and skills to facilitate the transition to online teaching and learning in the face of COVID-19.
The first session was moderated by Prof. Dora F. Edu-Buandoh, Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. She asked the Lead Speaker, Prof. Nawangwe to give an overview of and discuss how integration of digital technologies can be effected in African universities’ systems to cause meaningful impact. She also requested him to share the key challenges universities have recorded in mainstreaming online teaching and learning in the Higher Education System in Africa.
Delivering his presentation in the context of Makerere University, Prof. Nawangwe shared that despite numerous technological advances and increased penetration of smart phones in Africa, the digital divide is still real and is further compounded by factors such as unreliable electricity supply. He nevertheless pointed out that the Makerere University E-Learning Environment (MUELE) is a Moodle-based Learning Management System (LMS) backed by some of the best ICT infrastructure with a bandwidth capacity of 0.5Mbps. MUELE had 791 well-designed, interactive, activity-based courses before April 2020 and 157 have since been added.
The Vice Chancellor said that Makerere University opted to embrace blended learning, which makes use of a combination of technologies, approaches and methodologies, to deliver courses to learners separated by time and space from facilitators as well as fellow learners. He added that the University Open, Distance and eLearning (ODeL) Policy was approved by the University Council in 2015. The policy paved way for the creation of an ODeL pedagogy support Unit, the Institute of Open, Distance and eLearning (IODeL).
Prof. Nawangwe shared that both the previous and current (2020-2030) institutional Strategic Plans had recognized ODeL as a major strategy and as such, put in place quality assurance systems as outlined in the Quality Assurance Policy. He said that whereas the current institutional budget of UGX 200Million per annum to support ODeL was still low, support towards the enabling environment; ICT Services and Internet bandwidth costs, is close to US$ 1Million.
Sharing results from the E-Learning Readiness Tracer Study conducted by the University prior to emergency ODeL rollout, Prof. Nawangwe noted that 75% of over 12,400 student respondents had expressed willingness to continue their studies online. Some of the challenges cited by students unwilling to continue learning online included high data costs, lack of laptops and poor connectivity in rural areas, among others.
To help support the emergency ODeL rollout and ensure that these genuine concerns were addressed, the Vice Chancellor had negotiated with telecommunication companies to effect zero rating of Makerere University’s E-Learning and other related websites. The University has also negotiated with equipment manufacturers to help secure affordable laptops for staff and students.
In the spirit of leaving no student behind, the University has appointed E-Learning coordinators for each School and is making progress with developing learning assistance/options for students with visual impairment and other disabilities. The Vice Chancellor concluded by sharing that Makerere University has since 1991 been preparing for ODeL delivery, which is the future of teaching and learning even after the COVID-19 pandemic dissipates. He summed it all up by saying that recent policy changes brought about by COVID-19 will enable the institution to rollout emergency ODeL to traditionally face-to-face programmes whilst strengthening existing ones.
The first panelist of the day was Prof. Address Malata, Vice Chancellor of the Malawi University of Science and Technology. In her presentation, she noted that lack of; policy frameworks, necessary infrastructure, experience in pedagogy by academic staff and experience in learning by students were some of the key challenges in realigning learning content for effective online delivery.
In line with online pedagogy, Prof. Malata said that the lack of knowledge and skills to; customize content for teaching, engage with and properly assess students were some of the biggest challenges for academic staff. She also identified lack of time management skills to effectively plan for online teaching as another major hindrance for staff.
On the part of online learning by students, she outlined the lack of knowledge and skills to; handle non-traditional forms of lecture delivery such as video and audio, engage with lecturers and fellow students, and deal with non-traditional forms of assessment such as quizzes as some of the challenges. Prof. Malata pointed out most students’ lack of experience with the learner centered approach, which requires them to actively participate in classroom activities as an additional challenge.
Linking African Universities with knowledge centres in the area of online teaching and learning is a precursor for institutions learning from each other. Explaining how this may be achieved, Prof. Malata said there is need to create centres of excellence in online teaching and learning in different Universities in Africa. These, she said, may be complemented by the creation of an annual peer-reviewed conference and an African Journal both dedicated to online teaching and learning.
Prof. Youssao Abdou Karim Issaka from the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin was the second panelist of the day. He represented the Beninese Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, H.E. Hon. Prof. Dr. Eleonore Ladekan Yayi. Prof. Issaka noted that whereas internet bandwidth was initially insufficient to support online teaching and learning, the Government of Benin had managed to improve it to 100Mbps per University. The country has four major universities, with two of these being multidisciplinary.
In a bid to support online teaching and learning in the wake of COVID-19, the Beninese Government had successfully negotiated with telecommunication companies for zero-rating access to online teaching and learning platforms in all universities including privately-owned ones. In order to ensure quality in Higher Education, Prof. Issaka said that his Government had put in place a project to restructure all courses to be tenable online. This as well as other interventions have enabled Universities in Benin to stay on schedule to complete the current academic year in December 2020.
Responding to a question from Prof. Edu-Buandoh on how the integrity of the examinations process will be maintained under ODeL, Prof. Nawangwe shared that examinations at Makerere University will not be conducted online for this academic year. He added that whereas exams for this semester would be conducted in situ, the University was working with experts from various fields on protocols to facilitate online examinations in the future.
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