Building Stronger Universities (BSU) E-Learning and Problem Based Learning (PBL) Project Mona Dahms, Hanan Lassen Zakaria Søren Lund, Henrik Bregnhøj, Bjørg Elvekjær Denmark

Outline of the presentation 1.The challenges to Higher Education in Africa 2.The Building Stronger Universities (BSU) programme 3.The BSU E-learning and Problem Based Learning Project a)Objectives b)Organisation c)Activities d)Results 2

The challenges … “HE need to adopt new technology” ”HE need to come down from the ‘ivory tower’ … and impart.. relevant skills for the labour market” ”HE institutions should collaborate” (Hon. Bilali, Vice President of Tanzania in the Opening Speech, TCU Exhibition, July 2015)

‘Half-baked’ graduates “At least half of graduates produced by East African universities lack employability skills, technical mastery and basic work-related capabilities, a new survey shows.” (The East African, June 1, 2014; cent-of-EA-graduates-half-baked/-/2558/ /-/item/0/- /kko0x2/-/index.html) cent-of-EA-graduates-half-baked/-/2558/ /-/item/0/- /kko0x2/-/index.html ”It’s a time-bomb. What we have are very theoretical graduates” (Nkunya, secretary, IUCEA; 23 May 2014 University World News Global Edition Issue 321; )

Accommodating TCU Guidelines – ‘independent studies’

… more challenges  ”Curricula updating too slow for rapidly changing world  Teaching methods not problem solving oriented” (The IUCEA-DAAD Partnership for Reforming Quality Assurance in East African Higher Education, Oct. 2009) The Danida funded BSU E-learning and Problem Based Learning project addresses all of these challenges. ARCEE keynote - April Dahms and Stentoft, 2008

BUILDING STRONGER UNIVERSITIES PROGRAMME – A DANIDA INITIATIVE

About the BSU Programme ““Building Stronger Universities in Developing Countries” is a partnership between research and higher education institutions in developing countries and Danish universities. The long-term goal of the initiative is to make the participating institutions stronger in the sense that they: play an increasing role in the economic, social and political development of the societies in which they are located; function as nodes of innovation and knowledge production, providing solutions to local/domestic and global challenges; produce skilled and motivated graduates that can contribute to the further development of the societies and address the challenges faced.” (The BSU home page at DFC)

BSU Objectives to strengthen the research capacity of universities in selected Danida priority countries. stronger-universities-bsu/ stronger-universities-bsu/

BSU - funding – DANIDA + Co-funds DANIDA funding: Phase 1, 2011 – 2013: Dkk. 60 mio Phase 2, 1/ – 1/ : Dkk. 100 mio Extra funding Oct 2012: Dkk. 19 mio Phase 3 ???

BUILDING STRONGER UNIVERSITIES E-LEARNING AND PBL PROJECT

The BSU e-learning and PBL Project A project under the Building Stronger Universities programme, funded by the Extra Funding with Dkk. 7 mio, distributed between South Dkk. 4 mio and North Dkk. 3 mio Project period: Sept – March 2016

Management of the project Collaboration between three Danish universities (KU, RU, AAU), two universities in Ghana (UG, KNUST), three universities (UDSM, SUA, SUZA) and one university college (KCMUCo) in Tanzania A Task Force consisting of the Danish team (5 persons) plus one representative from each of the South institutions

Objectives of the project “BSU South partner universities’ institutional capacities in e-learning strengthened BSU South partner universities’ institutional capacities in Problem Based Learning (PBL) strengthened It is the intention of the E-learning and PBL project to enable Danish and Southern universities to work closely together to achieve these objectives combining activities within the two fields as much as possible.” (Project Document)

Organisation of the project WP 0: Organisation WP 1: Mapping of e-learning and PBL WP 2: Training of Trainers (ToT) WP 3: Training of Teachers WP 4: Networking WP 5: Strategies WP 6: Monitoring and documentation

Activities in the project - 1 WP 0: A preparatory mission Dec to discuss project set-up and local organisation in each South institution. The Task Force formed WP 1: Mapping in each individual South institution, based on joint mapping instrument WP 2: Three f2f workshops in each country, at different host institutions, with intervening periods of online consultancy via joint Moodle platform

Activities in the project - 2 WP 3: Teacher training activities at each South institution, with requested support from DK team. One workshop in Zanzibar with part of the DK team, Tanzanian ToT participants and some of the teachers

Activities in the project - 3 WP 4: Networking meeting July 2015, in connection with the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) 10th Annual Exhibition on Higher Education, Science and Technology, where the two Ghana partner universities participated Final Meeting in UG January 2016 where continued collaboration was discussed A national conference on PBL and e-learning to be held in TZ March 1st – 2nd 2016.

Activities in the project - 4 WP 5: Meetings with management at each institution. In July 2015 TCU organised a workshop on PBL and e-learning (in connection with the exhibition) with managers from 47 Tanzanian universities invited. Approximately 40 people participants. Presentation on e-learning and PBL. WP 6: Ongoing documentation in the form of reports produced from each activity. Video films produced with short lectures on e-learning and PBL

Results of the project - 1 Approximately 50 teachers have been trained to train their peers on e-learning and PBL Between 4 and 10 courses per South institution have been redesigned to integrate e-learning and/or PBL in connection with the ToT ToT training has been hands-on, with groups of trainees re-designing courses jointly

Results of the project - 2 During WP 3 a considerably larger number of teachers have been trained, in most cases using the same concept as in the ToT training, i.e. hands-on re-design facilitated by the trainers In all cases the PBL model is course based PBL So far no interdisciplinary PBL model has been attempted but experiments are underway

Results of the project - 3 KNUST has hosted a National and a Regional West African conference on PBL and e-learning Pro VC-Academic Affairs, UG, has requested BSU Representative to head a Center for Contemporary learning and teaching approaches UDSM-University College of Education (DUCE) has been selected by TCU to be the PBL hub of Tanzania DVC-Academic Affairs, KCMUCo, has tasked the BSU representative to write a strategy for student-centered learning SUA is hosting this national Conference on Student- centered Learning

24 … time for questions and discussion … Thank you for your attention