Covenant University Executive Advance 2015-2016 Academic Session Presenter: Henry Okodua, PhD Date: Tuesday, 4th August, 2015 Venue: African Leadership

Covenant University Executive Advance2015-2016 Academic Session

Presenter: Henry Okodua, PhD

Date: Tuesday, 4th August, 2015

Venue: African Leadership Development Centre

KEY ISSUES TO IMPROVE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN COVENANT UNIVERSITY

Executive Advance - 2015/2016 Academic SessionFor

Faculty and Senior Non-Teaching StaffTheme: Innovation, Product Development and Nation Building


Introduction

•Arguably, the overall objective of teaching in Covenant University is to provide exceptional, close contact education for both undergraduate and postgraduate students through engagement with highly distinguished faculty based on the University's underlying ethos and unique curriculum• This presentation outlines some strategies, their motivations

and action steps required in the Covenant University Strategic Plan for the achievement of the above objective. Key issues arising from the actionable steps are also identified


Strategy 1: Sustain the teaching and supervision of all students by senior research-active faculty

•Motivation: •The quality of teaching is largely a function of

commitment and broad based expertise, which comes with experience. •The University shall therefore encourage senior faculty

to commit to teaching and supervision at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.


Strategy 1 - Action Step 1

• Senior research-active academics shall participate in teaching and supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate students•Key Issues:• Progress in these areas is appreciable so far• There is however a need to re-examine the trade-off between speed

and quality in postgraduate thesis supervision• Every incentive to compromise the quality of postgraduate research

thesis must be eliminated or reduced to the barest minimum• Issues bothering on teaching quality and standardizing assessment

of students also require further attention.



•Drive research-led teaching at all levels•Key Issues:•More needs to be done to achieve this.• Lectures delivered by many lecturers at present are still largely

theoretical from the viewpoint of the average student• There appears to be minimal reference to personal or other research

outcomes in many lecture materials or during lecture delivery at present• Lectures that use illustrations capturing the personal research

experiences of the lecturer tend to stick better to the minds of the student



• Ensure teaching quality through an effective student feedback and monitoring systems•Key Issues:• Student feedback is an on-going thing, but mode of feedback to

faculty needs to be improved to ensure enhanced teaching quality• There is need for teaching quality peer review sessions at the

departmental level during the monthly Friday Faculty Fellowship (FFF) at the departments• Lecture progress reports from the lecturer and inputs from students

on lecture activities during the reference month may serve as the basis of the teaching quality review


Strategy 2: Improve Interactions and Collaborations across the various Disciplines

•Motivation: •Continual collaboration and interaction between the

colleges, departments and units is fundamental to maintaining excellent education in a university. •Covenant University needs to strengthen such

interactions.



• Evolve mechanisms to encourage exchange of knowledge and experiences among colleges and departments to enhance teaching and learning quality• Key Issues:

• Considerable attention is needed here

• Tremendous opportunities exist in the University for both inter- and intra- college interactions among students and academics.

• Potential synergy to be derived from such engagements is yet to be harnessed

• Regular interdisciplinary teaching workshops and symposia may be encouraged to improve interactions within the University

• Another way of driving interactions is to organize multi-disciplinary student interaction fora such as intellectually-based clubs (Thinkers’ club, Press club and the like)


Strategy 3: Foster a climate in which teaching is highly valued

•Motivation: •A commitment to excellence in teaching is an essential

attribute of a world-class university. •Covenant University attaches great importance to

teaching and encourages best practice



•Commit to the appointment and retention of seasoned faculty for teaching in all academic programmes•Key Issues:•Commendable efforts have been made here but there is room for

improvement• Engagement of lecturers particularly, entry-level academics need

to be more competitive so that only the best hands are recruited• Staff welfare matters that increase the moral bond of faculty and

staff to the university should be promoted to help in retaining seasoned academics



• Institute a reward system for teaching quality through an objective evaluation procedure• Key Issues:• A reward system for teaching quality is not yet in place•Most lecturers will continue to place emphasis on research article

publications at the expense of teaching quality unless a clear reward system for teaching quality is instituted• An extra one step for deserving faculty members who exceled in

teaching during the session may be an appropriate reward here• There is also an urgent need to make evidence of teaching quality an

important criterion in the appointment and promotion exercises of faculty.


Strategy 4: Improve the international dimension of our programmes

•Motivation: •Active international collaborations and linkages help a

university to improve its global outlook • Improve the quality of exposure of staff and students as

well as attract distinguished faculty and students from other countries. •Covenant University desires to improve the international

subscription and relevance of its programmes.



•Commit to the pursuit of a vibrant relationship with international researchers and teachers in order to engage them for the teaching and supervision of students•Key Issues:•Visible progress has been made here•More international researchers and teachers are being

expected in the current academic session• Issues here bother on developing the best strategy for home

based faculty members to derive positive spillover effect from the international researchers and teachers



•Seek more opportunities for exchange programmes with renowned universities for students and faculty•Key Issues:•A very impressive exchange programme with other

renowned universities currently exist in the University•There is need for more faculty members to demonstrate

interest and participate in the existing programmes•More enlightenment may be needed periodically by

interested faculty members who want to participate in the exchange programme during the long holiday


Strategy 5: Academic apprenticeship for postgraduate teaching assistants

•Motivation: •Teaching assistants and young academics constitute the

next generation of faculty •Furnishing them with the required skills for quality

teaching is a core mandate of Covenant University.



• Strengthen the skills development and mentorship programmes with the help of senior academics. This is to enhance the teaching capabilities of promising postgraduate students to prepare them for a career in the academia

• Key Issues:

• Mentorship programmes have so far been beneficial to young academics

• The apprenticeship model of teaching where postgraduate students and young academics undergo a period of tutelage under senior academics need to be promoted further

• Postgraduate students need to be involved in the tutorial system for profitable tutelage under senior academics


Strategy 6: Initiate mechanisms for wider access to course materials

•Motivation: •Providing wider access to learning materials facilitates

greater impactful learning by all categories of students. •The University desires to create a platform for

ubiquitous learning for all its students.


Strategy 6 – Action Step 1

• Sustain the open courseware and e-learning initiative in order to grant all categories of students wider access to learning materials•Key Issues:• The University is doing well on this strategy•Quality of uploaded lecture materials need to be scrutinized

periodically• Timely upload of lecture materials is another important issue

that requires urgent follow-up by management


APPRECIATION

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Covenant University Executive Advance 2015-2016 Academic Session Presenter: Henry Okodua, PhD Date: Tuesday, 4th August, 2015 Venue: African Leadership