It’s a golden chance for varsities to shine again

When the government announced in March that the country had recorded the first case of Covid-19, few people understood the scale of disruption that the pandemic was going to cause in different aspects of our lives.

Learning institutions were directed to shut down with the hope that the challenge was going to be for a short time before a return to normalcy.

However, the situation has turned out to be different and the expectation of a quick return to learning in the university has now been dashed.

Prior to the directive, universities had been urged to institute measures aligned to the requirements stipulated by the Ministry of Health. Such steps would have entailed reviewing learning and accommodation facilities to determine the number of students who could possibly be allowed to resume learning.

Universities were also expected to reassure the government and stakeholders that they had the capacity to provide sufficient tanks for hand washing, sanitisers, maintain social distancing and other covid-19 health protocols.

Surprisingly no university came out openly to state how their level of preparedness was. One could not therefore fault Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha for ordering universities to remain closed till January next year.

University management needed to have been more proactive in engaging the senate to come up with proposals on how to proceed with learning amidst a peculiar situation.

After all, universities are endowed with a rich human resource capital who could have mobilised to provided alternatives ways of engaging students.

Regular consultations with the Commission for University Education (CUE) and other stakeholders would have generated strategies for wider public debate.

Universities closed

With universities closed, e-learning emerged as the only feasible alternative of teaching. While private universities were quick to launch onto online learning, the public universities were slow in responding. But with the possibility of resuming learning having dimmed, the reality of using online learning has dawned on the faculty.

The reality is that the digital teaching and learning system is not going to be an option, but mandatory. And the consequences of those who will not adapt to the dictates of the prevailing circumstances might be too dire to contemplate.

This is the dilemma in which the faculty have found themselves in. It is in this context that the academic staff, particularly in the public universities are grudgingly embracing e-learning modes. These include a range of varied digital adaptations of Moodle, Canvas, Open LMS, Blackboard and Sakai.

These baby-steps are laudable and are in need of support. There are other platforms that have also sprang up during this period of the pandemic, which include Zoom, Microsoft Teams Meeting, Google Classroom, Meet Microsoft, Google Hangout, Big Blue Button and You Tube. All these are now available and universities are slowly embracing them for teaching and learning.

As we applaud universities for undertaking these initiatives, several issues have emerged which need attention. For instance, complaints have risen about lecturers who use these technologies in much the same way as the lectures sessions which in effect negates the solution that technology was supposed to solve.

Some lecturers have been reported to take up to four continuous hours on Zoom or Google Class. Though unintended, it could result in many students leaving the virtual sessions mid-way, as they get fatigued.

Others who are cunning remain connected virtually, but switch to other things not related to the lesson being delivered.

It is evident from these cases, that academic staff need training, not only on how to operate these gadgets, but also on pedagogic skills of planning and delivery of content. For instance, a typical two-hour lecture has to be well-packaged into a one-hour virtual presentation.

 Clogging the system

The bulk of the content could be covered through guided individualised readings. The content should be broken down into simplified short learning units with assignments and references for further reading. Lecturers should avoid clogging the system with raw notes extracted from books or websites that have not been reviewed.

Typical online programmes are usually designed in a modular format where a student progresses at his or her own pace within a defined period. There will be assignments, assessments and other learning protocols, which must be fulfilled before a student progresses to the next level.

Well-designed online courses are flexible and expose learners to numerous links/sites that enrich the scope of learning their experiences. On-line learning, needs not take place simultaneously or at the same time.

A student with necessary credentials will login and continue learning from where he/she stopped in the last session. There will be provisions for interaction through chats and reactions – all of which would count in the final grading of the on-line course.

 It should also be noted that sending reading materials through emails or other social platforms are not synonymous with on-line learning. They can only serve as intermediary tools for prompting or reminding learners on what has been posted in their learning portals.

From the foregoing, the need for training on how to use these systems is evident. Organisation change management training would be quite useful in turning around staff with conservative and techno-fear tendencies.

As CUE has finalised the framework and guidelines for online learning, it is expected that these hitches will be minimised.

E-platforms

Much as the universities have endeavoured to switch to these e-platforms, the challenges of reaching students in remote areas remains a serious problem that needs to be addressed urgently. It has been reported that some students log in only for a short time. This may be due to their inability to sustain the cost of data Internet bundles. Other factors, which may contribute to students not being able to get in to the learning systems include: unreliable connectivity, lack of electricity; lack of resources to buy gadgets, living in noisy environments and paucity of technical skills to navigate learning processes.

To mitigate some of these challenges, universities need to work closely with Kenya Education Network (KENET) to subsidise the rates of internet data. Similarly, internet providers should intervene in areas where internet is lacking and review the rates for all learning institutions.

Covid-19 is a challenge that requires science to mitigate or counter it. Research being an important function of a university, makes it a critical partner in finding a solution to the pandemic.

It is now known that Covid-19 belongs to a family of viruses associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and graduate students enrolled in science would be instrumental in undertaking investigations related to these types of viruses.

Collecting samples

Students pursuing masters and doctoral programmes could be engaged in labs collecting samples, testing and searching for vaccines. This is what universities in developed world are doing. Although this pandemic has caused untold suffering in the world, there is an opportunity for research students to partner with research institutions like Kemri and Amref.

In fact, the School of Medicine in Oxford University (UK) is collaborating with Kemri in research aimed at finding a vaccine to fight this disease. MTRH in Eldoret has been working with Indiana University in the US studying tropical diseases and managing HIV/AIDS for a long time.

Researchers at ICIPE have been involved in research and supervision of doctoral and masters’ students in some universities in the country. These kinds of partnerships should be replicated in other universities.

A portion of the funds which the Government has received from various development partners and well-wishers could also be channelled to universities to strengthen their research capacity in science and technology.

Prof Too works at CUE. [email protected]