CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Alain Agboton, Senegal, June 1998
THEME = UNIVERSITIES
Dakar's first African practical handbook
to university-level teaching methods
The outline of the very first practical handbook for university- level teaching methods has been worked out in Dakar. This took place 11-22 May 1998 by six French and English-speaking experts, under the aegis of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The handbook, to be in both French and English is still in its preparatory stages. By September, a section in Portuguese being worked on in Luanda, Angola, will complete the text. The document must be ready for UNESCO's world conference, to be held in Paris 5-9 October 1998.
The various Workshops covering the period 1995-1997, concluded that the handbook is intended to meet the present crisis facing higher education in Africa. Therefore, those who initiated the project, said that it covers such subjects as "relevance, quality, financing, management, educational methods".
Since the 1982 Harare Symposium, UNESCO's leading-lights have given special attention to higher education. Regional symposia have been held at Dakar, Cotonou, Franceville, Accra etc., and important publications have materialized, all with the intention of improving higher education.
This first handbook is intended to make good use of what was studied at previous sessions, and will place the knowledge and experience amassed on these occasions, at the disposition of teachers in institutes of higher learning - universities, technical colleges, in fact wherever higher education is provided. The whole aim is to smooth the way for improving teaching practices in all appropriate educational establishments.
The book looks at education from the point of view of the student. All students have "good qualities" so why not show the student how to make use of them - qualities such as his/her knowledge, capacity, attitudes, values.
Obviously, the teacher's role cannot be neglected. The handbook will serve as an "introduction" to university- level teaching methods and as a source-book for "suggestions and ideas" for improving teaching methods. The book aims to encourage personal reflection and learning methods within a higher education context. It also intends to encourage those concerned, to draw up programmes for on-going education.
For twelve days, the dedicated experts prepared the outlines of a veritable teaching guide, clearly setting out the publication's aims, theories, opinions. They describe their own personal experiences in the teaching field and how they have put their ideas into practice.
As for content, the experts at Dakar distinguish six modules (separate components). The first takes a look at the student who is experiencing higher education as it exists here and now. In other words, what makes a young African in higher education "tick"?
The second module takes a look at higher level teaching from the point of view of the curriculum - a critical analysis of those factors - socio-psychological, philosophical, economic and scientific which ascertain how various educational programmes have developed.
The third module undertakes a critical analysis of present-day teaching methods in higher education, especially in the university milieu. The fourth module examines the possibilities offered by new technology - how these can be used in higher education teaching.
The fifth module takes a look at how higher education teaching can be adapted to present-day conditions. Finally, the sixth module examines the possibilities of education via Internet.
UNESCO is confident that this handbook can go a long way towards improving the standards of higher level teaching in an African context, and find answers to the crisis presently facing higher level education in Africa.
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CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement