Prof. John S. Akama, PhD. Vice- Chancellor, Kisii University

Blended E-learning at Kisii University

Blended E-Learning at KSU 1

About Kisii University

• Founded in 1965 as a Primary Teachers’ Training

• Upgraded to a Secondary Teachers’ College in 1983

• Established as a campus of Egerton University in 1994.

• Upgraded to a Constituent College of Egerton University on 23rd August, 2007

• Awarded a Charter to become the 13th public university in Kenya on 6th February, 2013.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 2

VISION

A world class University in the advancement of social welfare, research and academic excellence.

MISSION

To train high level human resource that meets the development needs of the country and international labour market, and to sustain production of high quality

research and consultancy, and dissemination of knowledge, skills and competencies for the advancement of humanity

PHILOSOPHY

The University is anchored in the philosophy of creative, scientific, technological, innovative and critical thinking responsive to societal needs and service to humanity.

CORE VALUES

Professionalism, Teamwork, Accountability, Transparency, Responsiveness and Integrity

Blended E-Learning at KSU 3

E-learning

•ELearning is learning utilizing electronic technologies to access/deliver educational curriculum outside of a traditional classroom.

•The E-learning can be pure or blended. Pure eLearning - refers to a course, program or degree

delivered completely online. Blended e-learning - partly incorporates technology into the

traditional classroom.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 4

Blended E-learning Initiatives at Kisii University

• Development of technology present exciting opportunities and new methodologies in the improvement of learning and teaching processes in Universities.

• Learners are presented with new information, and are able to collect and share online resources at any time.

• In July 2016 Kisii University developed the e-learning platform that is committed to increasing access to education, improving student learning outcomes and effectively utilizing technology in course delivery redesigns.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 5

Blended E-learning Initiatives at Kisii University

• KSU has been striving to acquire and put in place the requisite e-learning infrastructure to enable it incorporate technology into teaching, and research.

• The blended e-learning has also helped our regular students and faculty as students has a platform to engage with course facilitators and amongst themselves.

• There uptake of this platform has been encouraging as most lectures now prefer to engage students online thereby increasing the students lecturer interactions.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 6

Redefining the roles of Teachers

• In KSU situation, the move to blended learning has inspired educators to redefine traditional roles - Teachers have emerged as Facilitators.

• The facilitator places an emphasis on empowering students with the skills and knowledge required to make the most of the online material through: Development of online and offline course content. Facilitation of communication with and among students, Guiding the learning experience of individual students. Online Assessment and grading of students work.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 7

Applicable Methodology in KSU

• E-learning can be conducted by synchronous and asynchronous methods and technologies.

• Synchronous learning takes place in on-line real-time virtual learning environment and lectures are led by an instructor. In the environment all participants are present at the same time and communicate directly with each other – virtual classrooms, teleconferences and videoconferences.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 8

Applicable Methodology in KSU

• In asynchronous learning environment, participants are not present at same time and thus they communicate with time delay.

• Kisii University is currently using the asynchronous course delivery which include; distribution of courses via Internet, web presentations, question & answer mentoring, on-line chats and discussion groups, and email.

• The plans are underway to upgrade the existing infrastructure to enable the institution start synchronous learning as well.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 9

Opportunities presented by E-learning • Education programs delivery via virtual learning environments is a

convenient form of education for learners who want to learn from home whenever.

• In today business and economic environment, e-learning has been made part of KSU strategy in trying to make success in higher education.

• New wireless services in e-learning challenge further integration of technologies. Our Learning Institutions have the capability to help learners to be familiar with multiple technologies, to be skilful in information gathering from remote sources.

• ELearning has made it possible for learners to take responsibility for their own learning, defining their own learning goals and using educational resources and technologies.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 10

Challenges of blended e-learning

• Most of today's learning environments are focused mainly on infrastructure and neglect the personalized pedagogical and learning services.

• Inadequate quality of service, inadequate materials and lack of interactivity.

• Accessibility to computers by students continue to be a challenge since the university can only provide a limited number of computers for the entire student population.

• KSU recently acquired 400 more desktops, 50 projectors and 11 interactive smart-boards to blend and enrich the traditional face to face content delivery.

• It is also evident that only a few students are able to afford their own laptops/Desktops.

• However the university is engaging its partners to enable the students acquire Laptops at subsidized rates and flexible payment terms.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 11

Conclusion

• Transformation of economy as a whole and particularly education sector have made it necessary for radical changes in methods of learning and delivering educational and training content.

• The transformation makes broad context for emerging and expansion of e-learning.

• A fundamental re-examination of curriculum and teaching methods is needed. Academic and business organizations must be redesigned to adequately prepare people to function in an information society.

• As KENET community, it is paramount that we focus on mechanisms to ensure that our Universities have a competitive advantage in the delivery of core services such as research, training and community service.

Blended E-Learning at KSU 12

THANK YOU

Blended E-Learning at KSU 13