KNUST trains faculty on online teaching

The Office of the Vice-Chancellor, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) through the Quality Assurance and Planning Unit has set up a 28-member committee to train academic staff on the use of Moodle.

Moodle is an open-source learning management system for online teaching and learning. The training forms part of the preparations towards the opening of the 2020/2021 Academic Year which will be a combination of limited face to face and online classes.

In an interview with the Deputy Director of Institute of Distance Learning, Professor Ahmed Agyapong said the training is to efficiently equip the skills of lecturers on the use of online teaching practices.

According to him, the institution realized the need for this training due to the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lecturers were taken through the preparation of study guides, setting assignments, quizzes, grading and assessment, examinations, and psychology of online teaching.

Professor Agyapong explained that the 28-member committee trained 25 representatives from each College.

He further stated that the first batch of trainees from the colleges of the University would in turn train their colleagues. He said that about 150 academic staff have been trained so far.

Dr. Henry Kofi Mensah, the Head of Department of Human Resource and Organisational Development and a member of the Committee stated that the training is mandatory for every Academic staff.

‘Each Academic staff after going through the four-day training of all the Moodle and practical tests will be issued a Certificate,’ he said.