Leap forward in digital education at Nangui Abrogoua University
© 2023 EPFL
Nineteen lecturers officially became the leaders of digital education expertise in Nangui Abrogoua University (Côte d’Ivoire). On March 16th, they were awarded Certificates of Achievement in Digital Education by EPFL and UM6P, through its joint initiative Excellence in Africa.
The award ceremony took place at Nangui Abrogoua University in the presence of the Swiss Ambassador, Mrs. Anne Lugon-Moulin, the President of the University, the representative of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS), as well as the Director of the EXAF.
The 19 certified lecturers highlighted the potential of digital education and their new skills in a joint presentation to motivate their peers to integrate digital education into their teaching methods.
Under the leadership of the four new Experts in Digital Education, they emphasised key themes which they could rapidly apply to their teaching, namely pedagogical alignment, different types of assessments, the flipped classroom and Open Educational Resources (OERs).
To practice what they preach, the lecturers used interactive software during their presentation to engage the audience through their mobile phones.This modern and dynamic approach won over the audience and highlighted the new skills of the lecturers in integrating technology into their teaching practices.
This ceremony was the culmination of the training component of the Centres of Competence in Digital Education (C-CoDE), which took place in six universities in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.
Seven French-speaking Experts in Digital Education, four from Nangui Abrogoua University and three from the Ecole Supérieure Multinationale des Télécommunications (Senegal) were trained and coached in four online and face-to-face workshops, while 12 were trained from the four English-speaking universities.
Up to 30 lecturers per university (the total number depended on the number of faculty members and their interest to teach online) then followed a fully online training, the Digital Education Masterclass, organised by EPFL and UM6P. They received additional coaching from the new Experts in Digital Education in each university.
In addition to training lecturers, each university is developing a studio to produce quality digital education content for the lecturers’ blended-learning or online courses. Technicians were also trained to run these studios effectively. These six centres will be operational shortly.
To induce a systemic change in the educational paradigm of each university, there needs to be a sizable number of faculty members to champion the integration of digital education and inspire their colleagues, their management and their students to embrace these changes in the way they teach and learn. This initiative is setting the foundations for these changes to take place.