Khaemba Ongeti

BACKGROUND 

I teach at Moi University in Kenya. Individuals recruited to teach at the University are not put through any mentorship or training programme.  The first group to be trained on how to teach at university were taken to the United Kingdom in 1989 for a three month training stint. Another group of medical doctors were trained in Sweden in 1995. Since then upon recruitment a new lecturer is shown the class and requested to proceed with what they do in the best way they know it.  Academic programmes were old, not revised for the longest period. Overtime the modes of curriculum delivery degenerated to syllabus loading of content on learners. End of semester examinations and continuous assessment tests all took the form of testing for recall. Often times they would be done two days apart. 

INTERVENTION 

In October 2017 I was seconded to the Directorate of Quality Assurance and Performance Management.  A key responsibility of the Directorate is to oversee curriculum development and review within the University. In the first quarter of 2018 I got engaged in the development of Pedagogical Leadership in Africa University faculty development programme. The Pedal programme involved training university teachers on the best practices in course design, facilitation and assessment. It emphasized the principle of constructive alignment between outcomes, learning activities and assessment tasks. The outcomes approach to teaching and learning enables the integration between cognitive knowledge and vocational skills. 

When I was called upon by my University to chair a Senate Committee to develop a University Curriculum Development and Review Policy I had an opportunity to persuade members of the Committee to appreciate the need to change the way programmes are designed and the way teaching and assessment is done. Together we adopted the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy as a theoretical framework for developing programmes and teaching plans. The RBT articulates four types of knowledge: Factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, practical knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. We set out to prepare graduates who go to the world of work with the requisite skills. The Pedal-inspired Curriculum Development and Review Policy we developed was approved by the Moi University Senate and the University Council. It is now used as the benchmark for developing academic programmes. 

At the personal level I have been able to infuse pedal concepts in the preparation of a transformative course outlines in the courses I teach. Course objectives are hinged on the four levels of knowledge to reduce tendency to teach for recall as had been the case for a long time. Outcomes require learners to be able to think at both lower and higher cognitive levels. My class engagement is also pegged on the Pedal of learner centred approaches.  We now actively and frequently the flipped classroom approach, problem solving, threshold concepts and case method. Assessment is based on the four levels of knowledge. We now use questions that require deep learning as opposed to the common easy –to- recall questions previously used. The use of rubric has become an exciting way to make the graduate students discover for themselves what they require to complete a task. 

RESULTS 

The new Curriculum Development and Review Policy fills a void in how all those who prepare new curricula or seek to review existing curricula should go about the task.  The policy removes doubt and different iterations in programme development. The intervention is useful because it positively affects the way teaching is done in the entire University. 

Since I transferred the responsibility of learning to those who should do it, I see a difference in the way knowledge is generated and owned. 

LESSON LEARNT 

Perhaps because it was a coincidence I was lucky to have things my way: I am appointed to head a critical directorate just when pedal is visiting! I cannot advise anyone to rely on my luck. Nevertheless, I would advise others to try my collaborative approach to the tasks given. Although I was the team leader I had to persuade the Committee members, Senate and Council to accept the new ideas. 

AHA MOMENTS 

Online teaching and learning was not always online teaching. Much of the time we offloaded notes to the students to read. Through pedal I am now able to engage learners online in tasks we did not do before. The most common strategy I use is the flipped classroom and threshold concepts.  here is plenty of interaction online using blogs and chats.  

FURTHER INFORMATION 

E- Portfolio:  https://sites.google.com/view/khaembaeportfolio