webinar: Quality Assurance In Higher Education Pedagogy Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic: Practices & Prospects.

The University of Nairobi has organized a series of activities to celebrate 50 years (UoN@50) of academic excellence. As part of the UoNat50 campaign,  The Directorate Of Quality Assurance & Centre For Pedagogy And Andragogy held a webinar on Thursday 17th June 2021, the subject matter of the webinar was “Quality Assurance In Higher Education Pedagogy Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic: Practices & Prospects.” The purpose of this webinar was to provide a platform for Quality assurance and higher education experts from different countries to share experiences and dialogue about quality education during the pandemic. The guest speakers were: Professor Tashmin Khamis: Vice-Provost (Quality, Teaching and Learning), Aga Khan University; Dr. Adeniyi Temitope Adetunji- Pioneer Director of Academic Planning & Quality Assurance, Admiralty University of Nigeria and Dr. Richard Ouma, Director Quality Assurance, Uganda Martyrs University, Uganda

The webinar was officiated by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Affairs) Prof. Julius Ogeng’o who gave a detailed account of the measures the University of Nairobi has taken to ensure the University continues to offer quality education. The University adapted online solutions to offer blended teaching and learning following government directives to close down institutions of higher learning in March 2020 at the start of the COVID- 19 pandemic. The pandemic changed the landscape of education across the globe; the University has a quality control framework to uphold Quality in the new normal. Prof. Ogeng’o further stated that “this webinar has brought experts together to discuss a matter that so cardinal- Quality Assurance.  I am excited that Quality assurance experts from different countries can assemble together to share their experiences with others.” 

The Principal, College of Education and External Studies; Prof. Isaac Jumba said the “Webinar  comes at an opportune time when the pandemic has interrupted the education calendar and institutions have to adapt to a new model of teaching and learning, guest speakers will share with us how we can main quality with respect to higher education pedagogy.”

The first speaker of the day; Professor Tashmin Khamis: Vice-Provost (Quality, Teaching and Learning), Aga Khan University presented on “Rethinking Quality through Online Learning:
An Opportunity within A Crisis.” Prof. Tashmin lauded the University of Nairobi for having the Quality Assurance and Centre for Pedagogy and Andragogy that support digital learning. The Transition from face-to-face teaching and learning to online learning was very rapid; when the pandemic first hit. Institutions had to train faculty to teach online which Prof. Tashmin equated to rebuilding the plane while still flying it. Her presentation brought out critical issues like “quaranteaching”, where faculty took up online teaching to ensure learning was uninterrupted during lockdown. Prof. Tashmin also shared findings of a research that was conducted to find out challenges students during the transition to online learning; some of the challenges shared include; Lack of access to technology and affordable internet, the online environment was not conducive for group assignment and interaction, and it is impossible to do some practical courses online. In Conclusion, Prof. Tashmin said, “when it comes to teaching online, we have to realize that it takes more than a teacher, the institution, management, ICT and support needs to be there like instruction designers to support the teachers deliver quality content.” Full Presentation HERE

The second speaker, Dr. Adeniyi Temitope Adetunji. The topic of his presentation was Higher Education Pedagogy: “Quality Assurance Practices and Prospects amid COVID-19 Pandemic-The Nigeria Experience” Dr. Adeniyi shared various mechanisms that the Admiralty University of Nigeria has adapted to guarantee quality education.  The Institution has capitalized on a good organizational structure and good management and decision making. The institution has quality evaluation tools like academic brief and curriculum to check the quality, the application of these tools including feedback mechanisms ensure quality checks at all levels. The Institution has also adapted quality as a culture to enhance productivity from everyone in the institution.  Dr. Adeniyi stated, “the bedrock of Quality in Higher education is the curriculum - Curriculum is a designed plan for learning that requires the purposeful and proactive organization, sequencing and management of the interactions among the teacher, the students, and the content knowledge we want students to acquire.”  Dr. Adeniyi called for blending of Pedagogy and Andragogy; Quality assurance is very critical as need for greater accountability and growth in higher education. Institutions can adopt various strategies for modern pedagogy like crossover learning, context-based learning among others. Full presentation

The third speaker Director Quality Assurance, Uganda Martyrs University, Uganda, Dr. Richard Ouma covered the topic “Higher Education Pedagogy: Quality Assurance Practices and Prospects amid COVID-19 Pandemic (The Ugandan Experience). Dr. Ouma discussed the key steps the Uganda Martyrs University has taken to help learners and faculty transition to online and E-Learning. The Institution has invested heavily in Information Technology and the training of staff to adapt to the new normal. The institution is also in the process of adopting innovative assessments at the formative and summative levels.  Further, Dr. Ouma said; “we are guided by the national quality assurance framework on service delivery to ensure the curriculum we deliver meets all quality assurance policies at the institutional and national level” the Online learning environment has introduced an even greater need for constant feedback from the facilitator to the students to support continuous learning and quality delivery of the curriculum. In conclusion, Dr. Ouma spoke about monitoring and evaluation of learning through peer evaluation of teaching and learning and constant monitoring of students' attendance and participation. Full presentation

After the presentations there was an interactive question and answer session; these are some of the issues that were discussed; What practical ways can be used to unlock creativity to stimulate learning in this digital learning where we have so many activities happening online? Lecturers are to be continuously trained and sensitized on the available technology for online teaching. The same exposure is to be done to students. One more thing that we need to consider is how to promote an effective learning environment in a multicultural education system as we have a number of migrated students. It is difficult to change the attitudes but as facilitators, we can work on learners' behaviors. We can aim to influence it.