In response to the effects that COVID-19 has had on physical teaching and learning, Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) has held a day’s seminar for its lecturers which was dubbed “Integrative Approach to a Well-Defined Digital Transformation Strategy to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education”. This was meant to further equip lecturers on the latest distance learning techniques as a new way of teaching ahead of the resumption of full academic work. The seminar, which was held on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, at the University’s Great Hall, was expected to make teaching and learning as efficient and productive as possible.
KsTU is ready to engage in a hybrid or blended pedagogy of e-learning and conventional physical interactions as contemporary learning solutions to meeting higher educational demands of all learners and those disadvantaged by geographical boundaries.
The Vice-Chancellor of KsTU, Ing. Prof. Osei-Wusu Achaw who graced the occasion encouraged the lecturers to be innovative and make use of the numerous available IT tools in achieving their various academic exercises. He said, “Management was pursuing reforms to facilitate e-learning, including building the capacity of lecturers in the area of Information and Communication Technology and the provision of tools to enhance academic work outside the classroom.” He further expressed his appreciation to the Deans, Heads of Department and the other lecturers for participating in the programme and urged the participants to work diligently to acquire new skills for academic continuity.
Dr. Josephine Larbi-Apau, an e-learning Management Consultant and guest speaker of the seminar said the fundamentals of teaching and learning were changing, therefore, educational institutions like KsTU needed to align themselves with the change to deliver effective results.
In engaging stakeholders, Dr Larbi-Apau urged the University as a whole to develop policies to structure online and distance learning in the University. She emphasised that online and distance education are taking the centre stage of modern teaching and learning around the world. This has become the preferred mode of education for students as it gives them the flexibility to access education wherever they are, and it also opens them up to diverse cultures of the world. “E-learning is gaining ground in Ghana after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and institutions have started moving towards that direction, therefore, we can also do it” she emphasised.
The participants applauded Management for putting together the seminar to equip them sufficiently for the task ahead. Some of them noted that distance and online education had become the alternative and the surest step to improve enrollment.
Picture: A section of the audience during the seminar