Participants at the AERN Summit
The College of Education has partnered Patton College of Education, Ohio University to host the 2018 African Educational Research Network (AERN) summit on the theme “Educational Research and Sustainable Development in Africa”.
The African Educational Research Network (AERN) is a consortium of scholars from African and Western universities whose mission is to broaden the scope of understanding about Africa and support through research pertaining to the people, products, and systems. The vision of AERN is to serve as a conduit for information sharing and means of improving access to education and opportunities in Africa as well as serve as a major network of research in Africa. Current members of AERN are drawn from Ohio University, North Carolina State University, Makere University, Kenyatta University, University of Manchester and University of Ghana.
Dr. Emmanuel Jean-Francois, AERN Chair
Addressing participants, Dr. Emmanuel Jean-Francois, Chair of AERN, said the summit was to facilitate an academic forum for scholars and practitioners to discuss theories, methods, approaches, principles, researches, practices, and policies related to education and sustainable development in Africa, as well as scholarship related to the African Diaspora.
Prof. Michael Tagoe, Acting Provost CoE addressing participants
Prof. Michael Tagoe, Acting Provost of the College of Education, delivered the welcome remarks on behalf of Prof. Kwame Offei, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Student Affairs). He was hopeful that the summit would enable the sharing of research ideas for education and development in Africa. Dr. Lorrna Jean Edmonds, Vice Provost for Global Affairs Studies at Ohio University, delivered the first keynote address on “A Higher Education Universal Policy Agenda for All of Us”. She noted that the collective goal for higher education institutions should be to graduate future leaders who are not only competent and connected, but who are cooperative and compassionate as they advance their ideas. Dr. Mathew R. Shaftel, Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Ohio University, spoke on “Community Building, Wellness and Education”. He drew on the wide variety of artistic forms and spoke on traditional and expanded roles of the arts in community building, sustainability, economic development, education and population health.
Dr. Lorrna Jean Edmonds
Dr. Mathew R. Shaftel
Papers presented on the sub-themes for the summit include:
Scenes from the AERN Summit
As part of the summit, AERN presented a number of books on research methods in education and social sciences to the University. Receiving the books on behalf of the University Librarian, Dr. Olive Adjah, Head, of Electronic Resources at the Balme Library thanked the Network for donation and gave the assurance that they will be put to good use and be accessible to both students and faculty.
Presentation of books
