In January 2017, the Virtual Institute for Higher Education in Africa will reopen its digital doors with a new set of free courses to help African university lecturers face the challenges they meet in their everyday work.
The institute was relaunched at the 2016 International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa, held in the Namibian capital Windhoek from 20-23 September. An earlier version that started operating in 2005 attracted 6,000 students over a five-year period but then almost collapsed.
Its original 11 modules were based on the Guide to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education on which professors Okebukola and Shabani had worked together in the late 1990s. Course feedback, however, increasingly showed that it was outdated.
Some of the themes covered in the modules are understanding today’s learners, curriculum development in higher education, teaching large classes, teaching and learning methods in higher education, tailoring teaching to different learning styles, empowering women and students with special needs.