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Third Annual eLearning Innovations Conference

THE LECTURER CAPACITY BUILDING APPROACHES FOR ONLINE PEDAGOGY AT THE E-CAMPUS OF MASENO

UNIVERSITY, KENYA

Barbara Khavugwi Makhaya

eLearning Systems Support

Specialist


Session Outcomes Identify the obstacles to adoption and utilization of eLearning by lecturers in

Maseno university

Explore the strategies designed to overcome the challenges of eLearning

adoption by lecturers

Evaluate the achievements gained from the strategies used by Maseno

university to improve on the adoption of eLearning among the Lecturers


The Maseno University eCampus JourneyThe year 2004:

Senate resolution to start ODeL

The Year 2007:

Establishment of the eLearning Center

• Development of institutional policies and strategies for promoting the innovative use of ICTs to benefit learning, teaching and research activities in Maseno University.

The Year 2012 :

eCampus

• Establishment of an Institutional learning Management system as the center of the eCampus


Maseno University at a crossroadsJune 2008:

Maseno University was at a crossroads at this point,

with some understanding of the ODeL options available to

the institution, but certainly no clear way in which to move

forward. Progress was being made in both the print-based

resource development and also the videoconferencing

resources, with some initial exposure of a few teaching and

technical staff to the Learning Management System (LMS)

Moodle.


Evolution of eLearning at Maseno University


The eCampus at a glance

Distance Students

User Administrative portal /

eCampus website eCampus Core Staff

Director eCampus,

Unit Coordinators,

School Coordinators,

Administrative staff,

Finance staff,

eLearning Systems

Support Specialists,

Instructional

Designers, Editors,

Graphic /Interface

Designers, Web

Programmers, Learner

Support Assistants,

Multimedia Specialists,

Copyright Officers,

eLibrarians

Curriculum

delivery via

the Learning

Management

System (eLearning

Portal)

Learner Support

Services, Course

Facilitation,

Helpdesk etc

eLibrary

and e-resourcesOff-shore

Secure

server

Student

Assessment

Student

Admissions and Registration

System (STARS)

Regular Students

Course

Developers

/ Course

Lecturers


The eCampus- Statistics

In its first semester, the eCampus had 23 courses offered with approximately

120 students enrolled in four programmes.

In 2015 there are an average of 220 courses offered each semester and

approximately 950 students enrolled in 16 programmes.

In addition there is about 1000-1500 Students taking up 1 blended course

offered to regular students through the eCampus every semester.


The Obstacles to eLearning Adoption Online learning initiatives often have issues with teaching quality and

problems with eLearning adoption are common (Elgort , 2005) and

Maseno’s experience is no exception.

Minimal Commitment to teach online among teaching staff

Slow acknowledgement of the new dynamics of online teaching

Low remuneration Compare red to part-time payments in other

campuses

Teaching load :Online teaching was not considered as part of

the lecturers normal load


The Obstacles to eLearning Adoption

Schools and Departments did not take ownership of online courses

eLearning course development and delivery was not

considered as part of their job description.

Processes within the department did not cater for the unique

needs of online learners


The Strategies adopted by the eCampus to improve on eLearning adoption in Maseno

University

More frequent and enhanced training to prepare faculty to transition into

the online environment with the same level of confidence exhibited in

traditional classroom set up.

The training includes Deans and HODs since they are responsible for

enforcing the adoption at the school.


Training For Online Pedagogy The eCampus has adopted a three tier approach to training lecturers on

online pedagogy .The first level is orientation to eLearning for lecturers. The

orientation to eLearning’s aim is enhancing the lecturer’s technical skills in

using the institutional LMS. This is meant to tackle the self-efficacy issues

with regard to using the Institutional LMS.

According to Elgort (2005), to effectively diffuse eLearning, the approach

should take a multidimensional approach located in two planes: the plane of

technology and the plane of pedagogy (or teaching and learning).


School eLearning Teams

To enhance the school’s ownership of eLearning, the schools have

constituted school eLearning support teams. The teams are made up of the

eCampus programmes coordinator (ePC) and departmental course

facilitators (DCFs). The team work under the supervision of the ePC.

The ePCs are drawn from the various departments and/ or set of

departments/ schools and remain administratively answerable to the

respective deans. The ePCs are responsible for quality assurance at the

eCampus during course design, development and delivery processes and

learner support functions.


Strong Technical Support The eCampus technical team plays a key role in providing individualized

support to the lecturers.

Each school with a programme at the eCampus has a technical team leader

who works closely with the school representatives at the eCampus.

The technical team and the eCampus Programmes coordinators identify the

lecturer capacity needs and design blended workshops to address the

identified needs.

This necessitates the continuous and individualized support for lecturers to

win them over into adopting eLearning. The personalized attention impacts

the lecturer perceptions on the usefulness of eLearning and attitude towards

use of technology in teaching..


Strong Technical Support

To enhance the school based learner support function at the eCampus, the

technical team have designed support discussion forums for the ePCs.

Pedagogy and learning management systems designs are intertwined. It is

important to consider how the environment supports the delivery of

instruction, and facilitates effective learning experiences (Johnson, Rickel,

Stiles, & Munro, 1998).


Achievements Gained from the strategies Adopted

The schools eLearning teams have tremendously impacted the learner

support and facilitation of online courses. The learners are receiving

prompt feedback on the course discussions, assignments and quizzes.

The formation of school eLearning teams have resulted in improved

ownership of eLearning at the schools. With increased ownership at the

school level, the course content quality is enhanced by continuous

review of course content by the teams.


Conclusion

The lecturer skills are continuously enhanced by ongoing targeted

training sessions at both individual level and school level.

As Maseno University through the eCampus continues to encourage

eLearning approaches, there are plans to implement further incentives

and training strategies for the lecturers. The Research Monitoring and

evaluation office continues to offer quality assurance and explore

strategies to improve on eLearning adoption by lecturers.


Funding and Guidance from Brigid McDermott

McDermott_research.support

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