The E-Learning Centre of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in partnership with the KNUST chapter of Enhancing Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability in Higher Education in Africa (EEISHEA-KNUST), co-founded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union has organised a three-day workshop on e-learning for its major stakeholders from 20th to 22nd June, 2022 at the Amonoo Neizer Conference Centre.
According to the Director of the Centre, Professor Eric Appau Asante, the workshop dubbed ‘The Student-Centred E-Learning Implementation Methodology’ seeks to assemble major stakeholders in the KNUST e-learning environment with the view to collaborate and deliberate on the way forward to a successful implementation of e-learning initiatives in KNUST.
He said that the focus of the workshop is such that staff are strategically positioned to assist students with their online learning. ‘Although students are our focal point, this training is not targeting the students, rather those who would deploy the technologies to teach and assist the students.’ He advised the participants to also share what they have learnt from the workshop for the benefit of the University at large.
Representing the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Isaac Kwame Dontwi, Board Chair of the E-Learning Centre, recalled that the Centre, a relatively young directorate of the University, was established to oversee all e-learning issues and has made tremendous strides in fulfilment of its mandate and its achievements are worthy of praise. He added that the Centre is poised to not only build the capacity of staff but is also keen on expanding its existing infrastructure with the construction of a well-equipped Learning Resource Centre to facilitate e-learning in the University.
Professor Dontwi noted that the theme for the workshop which is in line with the Vice-Chancellor’s digitization vision would enable participants to acquire the needed knowledge to help the University deliver quality education to students both online and in the classrooms. ‘As Higher Educational Institutions across the world are finding innovative ways to provide their services to students irrespective of their location, new ideas and approaches to do these are emerging, one of which is the Learner/student-centredness approach. Thus, the need to organise workshops such as this to provide opportunities for staff to gain more knowledge in this regard, he stated.
Professor Dontwi further urged the management of the Centre to organise similar programs that would allow its staff to benefit from the rich experience of practitioners across the world, as well as ensure recognition of its activities by international organisations to attract partnerships. He was hopeful that participants would seize the opportunity to develop themselves to serve the University better.
Facilitating the workshop, Professor Heillyn Camacho Nunez from Aalborg University, Denmark, took participants through ‘Introduction to Student-Centred Methodology’. She explained this as an approach whereby the complete e-Learning experience is focused on the learners/students. She mentioned that implementing the methodology involves Envisioning, Preparing, Piloting, Scaling and Maturing. Other topics included Stakeholder Understanding and Involvement Tool; Future Workshop Technique; Learning Designer Workshop, among others. Participants were divided into groups and allowed to deliberate and solve case studies using the tools and techniques introduced to them.