Guide to teaching and learning in higher education

REGIONAL OFFICE FOR EDUCATION IN AFRICA (BREDA) GUIDE TO TEACHING AND LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION Edited by Pai Obanya Juma Shabani Peter Okebukola CONTENTS Foreword Acknowledgement Introduction MODULE 1 Understanding the Higher Education Learner 2 Profile of the Higher Education Teacher 3 Curriculum Development in Higher Education 4 Teaching and Learning Methods in Higher Education 5 Teaching Large Classes 6 New Technologies in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 7 Delivery of Higher Education Using Distance Learning Methodologies 8 Guidance and Counselling in Higher Education 9 Empowering Women for Success in Higher Education 10 Empowering Students with Special Needs 11 Evaluation in Higher Education i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT he contributions of several individuals and organisations to the development of this Guide are gratefully acknowledged, While space hinders the listing of all such contributors, mention needs to be made of some persons and agencies who were core in the writing, review and editing of the drafts and to the finalisation and production of the Guide. Authoring the first draft of the initial six modules were Amy Davies (Understanding the Higher Education Learner), Sandy Bockarie (Curriculum Development in Higher Education), Flore Gangbo (Teaching and Learning Methods), Gabriel Ntunaguza (New and Emerging Technologies in Higher Education), Hamidou Nacuzon Sall (Evaluation of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education), Peter Okebukola (Guidance and Counselling in Higher Education), and Geoffrey Mmari (Distance Learning in Higher Education). Then came a team to fortify this start. In this team were Muhib Opeloye, Gabriel Ajewole, Ade Orukotan, Uche Nzewi, Olu Jegede, Nwabuno Nwaboku, Michael Ahove, Anthony Kola-Olusanya, Grace Alele-Williams, Sam Bajah, Udogie Ivowi, Julius Akinboye, Babatunde Ipaye, C.O. Oguntonade, Philomena Fayose, Makhubu, and P. Mlama. The expansion in scope saw the entry of four additional modules into the Guide. Saddled with the task of crafting the modules were Peter Okebukola, Adedayo Olarewaju, Tony Kola-Olusanya (The Profile of the Higher Education Teacher), Eunice Okeke, Yinka Ogunlade and Mercy Ogunsola-Bandele (Empowering Women for Success in Higher Education), Taoheed Adedoja, C. Abosi, ??Sarr (Empowering Students with Special Needs), and Peter Okebukola (Teaching Large Classes). A powerful review team from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, University of Cocody, Cote d’Ivoire, Rand Afrikaans University, South Africa, Indira Gandhi National Open University, India, University of South Carolina, USA and Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, made useful comments for the review of the Guide. The review process also benefitted from the comments of participants at the regional workshops collated by the workshop coordinators: Peter Okebukola (Ibadan, Nigeria), ???? (Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire), Carlos Machili (Maputo, Mozambique), Amare Asgedom (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), and Susan van deVingt and Salim Akoojie (Johannesburg, South Africa). T ii Grateful thanks are extended to Professor Peter Okebukola of Lagos State University, Nigeria and his team of fourteen experts from all over Africa, India, Hong Kong and in the US for the praiseworth efforts in the finalisation of the Guide. Lastly, but by no means the least, we record our appreciation to the Episcopal Conference of Italy for providing funding support for the project. iii INTRODUCTION In 1994, the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa (BREDA) working through its Higher Education Unit, initiated a project to improve the delivery of higher education in Africa. The impetus for this initiative was the pursuit of the BREDA vision of ensuring qualitative education at all levels of the educational system in Africa, in this case, at the higher education level. The term 'higher education' is taken to embody all organised leaning and training activities at the tertiary level. This includes conventional universities (i.e. those with the conventional arts, humanities and science faculties) as well as specialised universities (like institutions specialising in agriculture, engineering, science and technology). The concept also includes conventional post-secondary institutions (like polytechnics, colleges of education, and "grandes ecoles'). Under the umbrella of 'higher education' come all forms of professional institutions drawing from the available pool of persons who have completed a variety of forms of secondary education: institutions for the military, the police, nurses, agriculture, forestry, veterinary workers, catering services, tourism, secretarial services and other possible combinations of programmes. The BREDA initiative under the leadership of Professor Pai Obanya translated into a project which received funding support from the Episcopal Conference of Italy and implemented by the unit of higher education at BREDA. The main objective of the regional project is to improve the relevance and quality of higher education in Africa. Two main strategies were employed in order to achieve this objective. These were institutional capacity building in teaching, and improvement of the learning environment. Phase 1 of the project started in 1995 with two needs assessment surveys; one in francophone countries and the other in anglophone countries. The needs assessment surveys recommended the organisation of training workshops for university management and heads of pedagogic units on the need for promoting teaching and learning in higher education in Africa. In response to this recommendation, BREDA organised 3 sub-regional workshops: * Francophone: Dakar, Senegal, May 1996 iv * Anglophone: Nairobi, Kenya, November 1996 * Portuguese speaking countries in Luanda, Angola, July 1997 One of the major outcomes of the sub-regional training workshops was the recommendation that BREDA should explore appropriate strategies to reach as many institutions as possible and to help them improve teaching skills and the learning environment. In response to these recommendations, Professor Obanya proposed the development of a Guide on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Consequently, Phase 2 of the project focused on the preparation and the production of the Guide. This phase had the following activities: * Preparation of a draft outline of content containing five modules. * Experts' workshop to prepare a first draft of the guide, on the basis of the proposed outline of content and the materials produced during Phase 1 of the project. The experts proposed two additional modules: Modules 6 and 7. After two weeks of intensive work, the experts produced a first draft of the Guide containing 7 modules (These are modules 1 to 7 of the draft guide). There came the need to test and enrich the draft guide in order to take into account the needs, expectations and vision of the entire higher education community in Africa. Strategies were designed to conduct a series of national workshops in countries with relatively large number of higher education institutions. The first national workshop was held in Ibadan in September 1998. The workshop recommended adding Module 8: Gender Issues and Student with special needs. The production of the second draft guide was made effective under supervision of Professor Peter Okebukola. Another workshop followed in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, in May 1999 under the coordination of BREDA/IDRC. It recommended splitting Module 8 into two and including issues of 'Large classes' in higher education. The fourth workshop was held in Kenya in Eldoret, in May 1999. Another short meeting was held in Maputo, in June 1999. This was followed by the workshop in South Africa at Wits University from 13-17 September, 1999. So far, we have mobilised over 500 academics drawn from various areas of learning and reflecting the entire higher education system in Africa. In the process of discussion of the Draft Guide the participants to the various workshops were able to identify the major areas which require urgent reforms in order to v improve the relevance and the quality of higher education systems in Africa. These areas include policy issues, management practices, funding strategies and research. BREDA is planning to publish a resource book in order to document these issues. The finalisation of the Guide using comments from the various national and subregional workshops and a wide array of experts in the field was undertaken under the coordination of Professor Peter Okebukola. The Guide is published in three languagesEnglish, French and Portuguese. In order to reach as many academics and institutions as possible, follow-up national, zonal and institutional workshops are being encouraged. It is our hope that organisers and participants at these workshops will use this Guide as one of the resource materials This way, we will be on course towards improving quality and relevance of higher education in Africa.