Vice-Chancellor Recommends Seamless Lecturing in Emergency Situations 

The Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Ibadan UI, Professor Kayode Adebowale, has said it is imperative that the University be prepared to provide seamless lecturing for students in emergency situations.

 

Professor Adebowale declared this, on Thursday, at an event to honour some lecturers from the University who participated in the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)/National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Partnership of Enhanced Blended Learning (PEBL) programme.

 

The twenty-seven lecturers, drawn from various departments of the University, were honoured by the University as its worthy ambassadors and presented with Certificates and Letters of Commendation.

 

The Vice-Chancellor said Covid-19 had shown that face-to-face interactions were no longer sufficient for learning in tertiary institutions, recalling that the University had to introduce Emergency Remote Teaching during the pandemic.

 

He appreciated the commitment of the participants who are expected to impart their knowledge to other lecturers in the University.

 

In her remarks earlier, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, Professor Oluyemisi Bamgbose, explained that the programme was one of those organised by the ACU in conjunction with the NOUN for West African universities.

 

Voice of Nigeria reports that thirty -five participants were invited and 32 registered for the rigorous training, which began in February 2022 but only 27 participants completed the programme and graduated in September 2022.

 

According to the Coordinator of the group, Dr Adesola Odole of the Department of Physiotherapy, the participants were all passionate about teaching and learning and were thus able to withstand the challenges that they faced.

 

She disclosed that plans were already afoot for the participants to train 100 lecturers and 500 students of the University of Ibadan under the e-learning and blended learning programme.

 

Special recognition was given to Dr Olufunmilayo Adeleye of the Department of Animal Science who emerged as the Best Graduating Student in UI, Nigeria, and West Africa, in the programme.

 

The ACU is the lead partner on the PEBL- WA project with four other partners, namely, the Commonwealth of Learning, whose remit is to lead on quality assurance matters; the National Universities Commission; the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission; and the National Open University of Nigeria.

 

Six Nigerian universities: Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufi Alike; First Technical University, Ibadan; University of Lagos; Ebonyi State University; University of Ibadan and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, as well as six universities from Ghana, are participating in the programme.

 

The National Universities Commission is also involved to ensure that outputs from the PEBL could be shared across the region and the continent as the project progresses.

 

Dominica Nwabufo