IIOE Pilot Project on Transforming Online Pedagogy for Effective Curriculum Delivery in Higher Education Institutions in Kenya Officially launched
2022.10.01
On September 30, 2022, the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI) and University of Nairobi (Kenya) officially launched the IIOE Kenya National Centre Pilot Project on Transforming Online Pedagogy for Effective Curriculum Delivery in Higher Education Institutions in Kenya. The launch was witnessed by representatives from UNESCO-ICHEI,University of Nairobi, members higher education institutions (HEIs) of IIOE Kenya National Centre and UNESCO-ICHEI's global partner HEIs.
Group photos of meeting participants
The project is one of UNESCO-ICHEI's pilot projects on promoting Higher Education Digital Teaching and Learning in five IIOE national Centres (Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Mongolia, Malaysia), which will run from September 2022 to January 2023. It aims to optimize the online and blended teaching practice in Kenyan universities, focusing on improving the college teachers' capacity in online and blended teaching, and empower IIOE Kenya National Center to build a national hub for digital transformation of higher education. The University of Nairobi will organize its six STEM-oriented departments, including engineering, science and technology, health sciences, etc. as well as HEIs partners of the IIOE Kenya National Center to deeply engage in the project implementation, to apply the project outcomes to innovative teaching practices, and to support the digital transformation of higher education in Kenya. UNESCO-ICHEI will provide financial, technical and professional support for the project's implementation, and facilitate the sharing of project outcomes and promising practices within IIOE's global network.
In his opening remarks, Prof. Stephen Kiama, Vice Chancellor of University of Nairobi, pointed out that the COVID-19 and social development have accelerated the need for digital transformation in Kenyan HEIs to deal the impact of learning disruptions brought by the pandemic and to cultivate high-quality digital talents needed by the labor market. In this context, Kenyan higher education institutions urgently need to establish an innovative and high-quality digital transformation teaching mechanism to provide technical resources and strengthen capacity building training for improving the remote teaching practice of college teachers. He emphasized that the digital capacity building of higher education teachers is an important part of improving the teaching quality of colleges and universities. The pilot project of the IIOE Kenya National Center will bridge the gap between teacher capacity and digital strategic vision in Kenyan higher education institutions through capacity building and application practice. He expects that the University of Nairobi will continue to play a leadership role, continue to drive the digital transformation of the University of Nairobi under the promotion of pilot projects, and contribute to improving the equity of higher education in Kenya and popularizing digital teaching practices.
Address by Prof. Stephen Kiama, Vice Chancellor of University of Nairobi
Under the chairmanship of Prof. LIM Cher Ping, Chief Expert of IIOE, UNESCO-ICHEI Associate Dean, Faculty of Education and Human Development, Education University of Hong Kong, China, Dr. FENG Siyuan, Chief of Knowledge Production and Communications Centre, UNESCO-ICHEI, and Mr. LYU Feng, Assistant Director Chief of IIOE Management Centre, UNESCO-ICHEI, presented the rationale and framework of the IIOE Pilot Project respectively. Prof. LIM Cher Ping highlighted that the project is of great innovation and will be localized and implemented based on the specific need of Kenyan HEIs, thus ensuring the sustainability and scalability of the project. He also expected the pilot project to optimize the online and blended teaching practice in Kenyan universities and provide valuable experience and scalable practices for other African countries.
Address by Prof. LIM Cher Ping, Chief Expert of IIOE (first left),
Dr. FENG Siyuan, Chief of Knowledge Production and Communications Centre, UNESCO-ICHEI (second left),
and Mr. LYU Feng, Assistant Director Chief of IIOE Management Centre, UNESCO-ICHEI (third left)
Prof. Justus Inyega, Director of IIOE Kenya National Center, introduced the localized implementation plan of the project. He pointed out that the pilot project of the IIOE Kenya National Center is highly consistent with the vision of Kenya's national education development strategy and the strategic plan of the University of Nairobi. Many Kenyan HEIs face issues such as insufficient digital competence of teachers and lack of online and blended teaching practices in their digital transformation process. The pilot project will organize a series of online pedagogy training based on localization needs of Kenyan universities, and provide guidance and support for higher education teachers to apply online pedagogy to practice. The training content focuses on online course design, course facilitation and innovative assessment. The pilot project will be implemented with the support of training facilitators. 40 participating teachers will be trained and practice the application of online pedagogy with the guidance and support of 10 teaching facilitators, so as to promote the teachers to fully grasp the theory and application of online pedagogy.
Address by Prof. Justus Inyega, Director of IIOE Kenya National Center
Prof. Luke Odiemo of the University of Nairobi, the representative of the teaching facilitators, indicated that most Kenyan college teachers are still in the initial stage in their cognition and understanding of online pedagogy, and they are lack of training in this field. With the combination of theory and practice with the support of training facilitators, the training will help higher education teachers to better absorb the application of online pedagogy. Meanwile, as a teaching facilitator for the pilot project, he will fully support the implementation of the pilot project to systematically enhance the online teaching capacity of Kenyan higher education teachers. Prof. Fred N. Keraro of Egerton University, the representative of IIOE Kenya National Center partner HEIs, expressed his honor to engage in the pilot project. The project will help Egerton University to optimize its online teaching mechanism and method, and improve the teachers' online teaching capacity, so as to prompt the reform of online teaching.
Prof. Luke Odiemo of the University of Nairobi (left) and Prof. Fred N. Keraro of Egerton University (right)
Prof. Paul Prinsloo, Professor of Open and Distance Learning of the University of South Africa, lead expert of the project elaborated upon the opportunities and challenges facing digital transformation of Kenyan higher education and the relevance of the project. He expected Kenyan universities to create a policy environment conducive to digital transformation and development through the pilot project, and empower teachers' digital competency building, and explore online pedagogy suitable for different professional fields within the framework of the pilot project, as well as inclusive, effective and quality blended teaching practice.
Prof. Paul Prinsloo, Professor of Open and Distance Learning of the University of South Africa
Prof, LI Ming, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI thanked all parties for their support for the pilot project in his closing remark. He stressed that under the leadership of the University of Nairobi, the IIOE Rotating Presidency Unit 2022, the pilot projects of " Promoting Higher Education Digital Teaching and Learning" in five IIOE national centres around the world have all been successfully launched. He pointed out that the improvement of the higher education teachers' capabilities in online and blended teaching and learning is the core and foundation of the digital transformation of higher education. The pilot project will focus on empowering higher education teachers with online teaching capabilities and practices, providing localised and customised training and resources to enhance teachers' digital teaching competency and facilitate digital teaching practice with the support of international experts. He expects that the pilot project will provide scalable examples for Kenyan universities, and drive more universities in Kenya and even Africa to engage in the digital transformation of teaching in the future.
Prof, LI Ming, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI
On September 30, 2022, the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI) and University of Nairobi (Kenya) officially launched the IIOE Kenya National Centre Pilot Project on Transforming Online Pedagogy for Effective Curriculum Delivery in Higher Education Institutions in Kenya. The launch was witnessed by representatives from UNESCO-ICHEI,Univer
