The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs (ASA), Professor Gordon Awandare
The Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI) in partnership with Pedagogical Leadership in Africa (PEDAL) has organised a three-week virtual workshop on "Course Design, Innovative Teaching and Assessment Methodologies" for faculty of the University of Ghana (UG). The workshop was to enhance the competencies of faculty and through that transform the learning experiences of students. Over 100 faculty participated in the workshop.
Opening the workshop, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs (ASA), Professor Gordon Awandare, commended the leadership of CTLI and the UG PEDAL Team for taking the initiative to organise the training programme. He was convinced that their partnership will grow to be a significant contributor to the University’s quest to become a world-class institution. Prof. Awandare pledged his commitment to the sustainability of CTLI.
He also outlined some of the initiatives he intends to embark on to keep pace with the best practices of teaching, learning and research. Some of these initiatives include focusing on how to make postgraduates training more attractive and digitalizing and centralizing academic programmes.
The Director of CTLI, Professor Samuel Agyei-Mensah
The Director of CTLI, Professor Samuel Agyei-Mensah, reiterated the importance of staff empowerment through the use of technology. ‘We are interested in building the learning experiences of our students. By so doing, we want to enhance the competencies of our faculty and our graduate assistants within the University’.
In brief remarks, Prof Natasja Holtzhausen, Pedal Lead (Africa), welcomed the participants and mentioned how exciting and tasking the training workshop is though its benefits are immeasurable. She encouraged participants to exhibit commitment in their pedagogical practices.
Dr. Florence Awonyi and Dr. Nicole Sharon Affrifah of the Department of Teacher Education and Department of Food Process Engineering respectively, who were previous CTLI/PEDAL training workshop participants, shared their experiences on how the pedal training has equipped them to create the appropriate environment using technology to make learning interesting and effective.
Prof. Chrissie Boughey, Former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Rhodes, South Africa, made a presentation on how to develop ‘The Teaching Philosophy’ and responded to participants’ questions during the Question and Answer session to deepen their understanding during the opening ceremony.
Prof. Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi, Head, Teaching Excellence Unit, CTLI, in the concluding remarks, called on participants and faculty to approach teaching challenges with an attitude of innovation, continuous learning, un-learning and re-learning.
