Thought Leaders’ Case Studies -MZUMBE UNIVERSITY

• By Prof. Faustin Kamuzora*

A Panel Presentation at 21st Century eLearning Transforming Education, Employment, and Economies Conference, Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. July 28-31, 2014

Presentation Outline

• Mzumbe University at Glance

• Structure of Mzumbe University Academic Programmes

• Traditional Teaching Mode

• Introduction of E-learning Teaching Mode

• Education 3.0 as a Force Behind the E-learning Implementation at Mzumbe

• Features of Education 3.0

• Conclusion

Glance at Mzumbe University

• One of the public universities in Tanzania

• Long history in education provision. Started as local government training centre in 1953 and became a university in 2001.

• Mzumbe is a fully accredited university by the Tanzania Commission for Universities

• 3rd Strategic Plan, 2012/13 – 2016/17 is a guide for annual operational plans.

Some info about MZUMBE university

From 1953

Now

MZUMBE IS MULTI-CAMPUSES UNIVERSITY

• The University has three Campuses and one Centre

Mzumbe Main Campus (enrolment around 6000)

Dar es Salaam Campus College (enrolment 2500)

Mbeya Campus College (enrolment around 2500+)

Mwanza Centre (new with 150 postgraduate students)

Tanga Centre100 students

MZUMBE UNIVERSITY Mission and VisionMission.

The mission of the University is to provide opportunities for acquisition, development, preservation and dissemination of knowledge and skills through training, research, technical and/or professional services.

Vision.Mzumbe University is recognized as a leading institution in Africa for demand driven knowledge generation, application, preservation and dissemination for socio-economic development by 2025.

MZUMBE UNIVERSITY STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

Graduates have relevant expected market competencies for employability by June 2017

Planned annual enrollment fully attained by qualified students by 2017

Contribution of research in socio-economic development improved by June 2017

Utilization of University research findings increased by June 2017

Strategic objectives ---/2• To be the leading provider of business and

governance solutions to Industry and Government by 2017

• Financial sustainability in terms of reliance on internally generated income increased to 60% of the University budget by June 2017

• Staff recruitment, development and retention policies, systems and programmes improved by 2017.

KEY RESULT AREAS • To enhance and Maintain Excellence in Teaching

and Learning

• To Attain Excellence and Relevance in Research and Academic Development

• To attain Excellence in Community Engagement and Partnerships

To Enhance Governance and Administration of the University

THE STRUCTURE OF MZUMBE UNIVERSITY

PROGRAMMES • Since 1988 MU uses a Semester system.

• One academic year consists of two semesters, each of 17 weeks.

• Curriculum is usually reviewed between 3-5 years or when a need arises

TRADITIONALLY TEACHING MODE

• 2 Modes of Teaching All Mzumbe University courses are taught in plenary sessions combined with seminars each week.

• The plenary sessions are mainly lecture format which may consist of many students and from different programmes (in common course).

The seminar groups are small (approximately 30 students) and generally students are divided into seminars according to their programmes.

• The seminars and plenary lectures are equally important.

Introduction of the elearning teaching mode at Mzumbe University

• As mandated by the Strategic Objective of producing graduates with relevant expected market competencies for employability, in 2009 the University introduced e-learning in its teaching mode.

• The purpose was to embrace the blended pedagogy-andragogy-heutagogy approaches in teaching and learning approaches

Blended Pedagogy-Andragogy-Heutagogy (PAH) approaches

• pedagogy which is teacher-centred, controlled and directed by the teacher;

• (ii) andragogy which is learner–centred, facilitated and validated by the teacher; and

• (iii) heutagogy which emphasises on ‘learning how to learn,’ self-determined and self-regulated learning – the teacher teaches the student ‘how to learn.’

Education 3.0 as a Forces Behind the E-learning Introduction at Mzumbe

• Education 3.0 describes a level of transformative capabilities and practices for education in the 21st century. Lengel(2013) distinguishes this new level from education 2.0, for the industrial age, and education 1.0, for the agricultural age.

• Education 3.0 entails a world where the organization of education is no longer based on scarcity – think of information overload; open data; big data, etc

• Digital natives entering higher education (some born in 1995 or later are already in Mzumbe –these do not know the world without Internet!!)

• Growing abundance of free and open educational resources => Reusable content and software

• Social networking and the blurring of the distinction between work and play

Drivers towards Education 3.0

• Changing attitudes towards

learning

• New ways to assess & recognize

learning

Drivers towards Education 3.0 (cont.)

Source: Fourie, L. (2009)

Characteristics of Digital Native (- a need knowing your customers -KYC)

•They value freedom and choice in everything they do. •They love to customise and personalise. •They scrutinise everything. •They demand integrity and openness, including when deciding what to study and where to work. •They want entertainment and play in their work and education, as well as their social life. •They love to collaborate (but we teach them to compete against each other!!). •They expect everything to happen fast. •And they expect constant innovation

Source: Tapscott, D. (2008). Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing

A need of creating enabling environment for digital native students

“Only by understanding the Net generation can colleges and universities create learning environments that optimize their strengths and minimise

their weaknesses”

(Oblinger and Oblinger 2005)

Yesterday vs. Tomorrow

• Event-based learning

• LMS is king

• Evolving standards

• WYSIWYG

• Content + Presentation

• Push Technology

• Workflow learning

• Learning Content Management System (LCMS) with an LMS!

• Mature standards

• Dynamic content creation

• Content – Presentation

• Pull Technology

The New Learning Expectations …

• Much more sophisticated as an online user

• Expects on-demand online environment

• Wants snippets of information they need … not courses!

• Wants to know what learners like them used and liked

• Wants a platform for open discussion and opinion

• Does not have to be entertained … just needs the facts

• Digital immigrants who do not understand what has happened in the World Its off the radar screen!

• Institutional arrangements based on scarcity Institutions as island states

Impediments of Education 3.0

Digital migrants educators and education

system as impediments!!

Source: C.M. Leung (2008). New Perspectives on Learning: from e-learning to m-learning

• Lack of knowledge of how to have quality assurance when you are not in control (not being in class does not mean one is absent as fellow students send them Whatsup video or audio of lecture – flipped classroom

• Financing arrangements for Higher Education

• Digital and knowledge divides issues E.g. Bandwidth, electric power, etc

Impediments of Education 3.0

Status of Elearning Utilisation at Mzumbe University

• After five years of implementation of the mode, a number of key lessons have emerged. These will be discussed in another paper tomorrow.

Conclusion

• We have to review the industrial learning model including the organisation of institutions, our pedagogy, curriculum and policy if we have to achieve optimal teaching and learning environment to the digital natives.

• The e-learning strategies will definitely contribute in optimising such an environment

The End

• Thank you

• Asante sana