Major Changes In University Education as Open University Takes Stage
The National Assembly granted the Cabinet Secretary for Education’s request to create the Open University of Kenya on July 6, 2023, according to the MP for Emuhaya.
The choice signalled a turning point in the country’s effort to establish an open university.
The motto of the Open institution of the UK, which aspires to be “open to people, open to places; open to methods, and open to ideas,” conveys the significance of an open institution.
Any open university must adhere to the principle of making education open and hence accessible.
The Universities Act contains a clause that acknowledges Kenya’s need for an open university, a specialised institution that offers programmes through distance and online study.
However, this provision has never been put into practise since the law was passed in 2012. This is in spite of efforts made by a committee formed specifically for that goal and the aim expressed in earlier policy documents to do so.
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A Technical Working Committee was established in January of this year by the Cabinet Secretary for Education to assist in bringing this national goal to fruition.
Major Changes In University Education as Open University Takes Stage
I had the honour of working on the team that planned the inaugural programmes, developed the constituent documents and instruments, and oversaw the accreditation process for the kind of open university that Kenya needs.
The procedure made clear the advances that higher education will need to adopt to adapt to the digital age.
The nature of learning comes first. The world is shifting away from a lecturer-focused strategy, where the teacher is king, and towards a learner-centered one.
The second is the implementation of the flipped-classroom pedagogical model, in which materials are presented outside of conventional classrooms, with the class serving as the setting for application, in-depth analysis, and inquiry.
The use of technology in the educational process is essential. To enable its use and implementation in the e-learning paradigm, we invested a lot of work in creating learning modules and digitising the content.
This should be distinct from the emergency remote learning strategy that many institutions implemented in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, in which we use technology to simulate the delivery of actual classes.
The Open University aims to provide a fully online learning environment.
It prepares the ground for a radical transformation of higher education. changes that demand more creativity and adaptability. The assurance of quality will be one of these areas.
There are still issues with quality assurance despite three years of experience with online schooling. There are few and expensive mechanisms to ensure assessment integrity.
The competence-based curriculum, which calls for a switch from exams to assessments, may offer a solution.
