Train university lecturers on how to impart knowledge - Makuku
A research on teaching methods at the higher education level has shown that although many lecturers have adequate knowledge and content, they, however applied poor teaching practices due to the lack of professional teaching training and qualification.
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Consequently, a Higher Education Specialist with the Association of African Universities (AAU), Dr Violet Makuku, has called for training for university lecturers on how to formally impart knowledge to students because a large number of them lack the principles of effective teaching.
Dr Makuku spoke to Graphic Online after a four-day course by the Association of African Universities on Basic Higher Education Teaching Skills in Kumasi.
She explained that throughout the world, institutions have realised the challenges associated with higher education teaching and learning because lecturers were recruited on the basis of their academic qualifications with no due consideration for the professional teaching requirement.
She added that it was to help address this that some institutions have tried to institute measures such as teaching and learning centres as well as one to two year certificates or diplomas in teacher education courses for some lecturers.
Dr Makuku added that unfortunately most of the lecturers were unable to attend such courses due to large workloads among others or if they attend, most of them do not complete the course.
She explained that it was against this background that the AAU was providing the short intensive training course on basic university teaching skills to help equip lecturers with the foundations for effective teaching at tertiary level
She added that the courses being taught include Educational Psychology, Educational Philosophy and Educational Sociology, Bloom’s Taxonomy, ICTs & Instruction, Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education as well as Assessment and Evaluation.
She urged lecturers not to shy away from the use of information communication technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning and explained that with the increasing number of class sizes, such challenges were being resolved with the use of ICT.
Dr Makuku urged university administrators to ensure that some of their lecturers avail themselves of programmes which they can pass on their knowledge to their peers.
