E-content Retreat for AICM & AFS Content Developers, Beshale Hotel, Addis Abba, Ethiopia 7-16 January 2011 March 29, 2011
Participants who attended the E-content Writing Retreat
The coordinators and the participating lecturers agreed to hold a joint writing retreat from 7-16 January 2011 in Ethiopia for purposes of completing the writing of the content for the 12 courses. RUFORUM also pooled resources from her other project to bring other participants from the following RUFORUM member universities – Haramaya University (Ethiopia), Mekelle University (Ethiopia) and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology (Kenya). This retreat was facilitated by three RUFORUM staff (Dr Washington Ochola, Ms Nodumo Dhlamini and Miss Joan Apio).
Objectives
The objectives of this writing retreat were to:
- Discuss the RUFORUM e-content template and the structure of working during the 9 day retreat in Ethiopia
- Share experiences from a similar RUFORUM-led writing retreat in March 2010 in Ethiopia
- Share project experiences from the AAU project at Bunda College of Agriculture and Egerton University in Kenya
- Share other RUFORUM e-learning projects experiences from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and the AgShare Project at Haramaya University.
- Provide time for all the participants to focus on individual e-content writing.
- Provide time every morning to receive feedback on progress with individual writing (Presentations by individual participants)
Outcomes
- Twelve courses for MSc AICM and PhD AFS Programmes were submitted at the end of the retreat and sent to various subject matter peer reviewers.
- Useful collaborations took place and this resulted in elaborate feedback to the content writers. From this feedback RUFORUM is developing best practices on the development of e-content
- Further clarity on the project purpose and AAU operational procedures.
The Final Writing Retreat for E-content Developers 7-16 January,2011 in Addis Abba, Ethiopia December 14, 2010
The e-content writing retreat is confirmed for the 7th to the 16th January, 2011 at Beshale Hotel in Addis Abba, Ethiopia. The retreat will combine both the AICM and AFS lecturers. It also seeks to involve e-content developers from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture in Kenya and Haramaya and Mekelle Universities in Ethiopia.
The courses that are going to be finalized for AICM are
1. Dr. Justus Ombati – Agricultural Communication: processes and products.
2. Dr. Jasson Githeko – Web content Design and Management.
3. Dr. Joseph Matofari – Farming Systems and Rural Livelihood.
4. Prof. Bockline O. Bebe – Research Methods for AICM.
5. Dr. Mary Lokopoit – Communication for Innovation.
6. Prof. Joseph Aguyoh – Statistical Methods in AICM.
7. Dr David Amudavi Information Systems Analysis & Design.
8. Dr John Mironga – Geo Informatics.
The courses that are going to be finalized for AFS are:
1. Dr Jeremiah Kang’ombe – Aquaculture Nutrition
2. Dr George Matiya- Aquaculture & Fisheries Economics
3. Dr Daud Kassam – Molecular Biology & Genetics
4. Dr Daniel Sikawa – Aquaculture Production Systems & Engineering
5. Dr Jeremy Likongwe – Fish Bioenergetics
This retreat will be facilitated by Ms. Nodumo Dhlamini, Dr. Ochola Washington and Miss. Joan Apio
E-content Training workshop/E-content writing retreat at Bunda College of Agriculture (9-13 August 2010) August 13, 2010
Participants for the econtent development at Bunda College of Agriculture
RUFORUM, through the support of AAU held the e-content training workshop/e-content writing retreat that focused on the staff teaching on the PhD Aquaculture and Fisheries Science at Bunda College of Agriculture in Malawi. Ms Nodumo Dhlamini and Miss Joan Apio from the RUFORUM Secretariat facilitated this training/retreat. The following staff participated in the training/retreat:
- Dr Jeremiah Kang’ombe is developing e-content for the Aquaculture Nutrition Course
- Dr George Matiya is developing e-content for the Aquaculture & Fisheries Economics Course
- Dr Daud Kassam is developing e-content for the Molecular Biology & Genetics Course
- Dr Daniel Sikawa is developing e-content for the Aquaculture Production Systems & Engineering Course
- Dr Jeremy Likongwe is developing e-content for the Fish Bioenergetics Course
The lecturers submitted three topics each for the courses that they are working on. They will continue to work on their content until all the topics are completed.
A simplified RUFORUM Framework for e-content development was used. The lecturers are very enthusiastic and agree that this activity will improve the quality of teaching and learning. The process of designing e-content will also feed into the curriculum review process of the university – as the lecturers work on their content they identify areas that require review.
E-content developement Workshop at Egerton University (2-6 August, 2010) August 9, 2010
Participants for the econtent development at Egerton University
The MRCI 315 project aims at improving accessibility of e-resources through transformation of Faculties, Schools and or Universities of Agriculture by using ICT innovations to change the way that content is delivered to the learners. A writing retreat was organized by The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) to bring together the Master of Science in Agricultural Information Communication Management (AICM) lecturers in Egerton University to transform their learning materials into e-content resources that will be accessible on the online platform. This retreat was facilitated by 2 RUFORUM staff Ms. Nodumo Dhlamini, the project leader and Miss. Joan Apio, the Program Assistant ICT. A group of 8 lecturers on the AICM regional program attended this writing retreat.
Below is the list of the participants;
- Dr. David Mulama Amudavi – Information Systems Analysis and Design.
- Dr. Mary Lokopoit – Communication for Innovation
- Dr. Justus Ombati – Agricultural Communication: processes and products
- Dr. Jasson Githeko – Web content Design and Management
- Dr. Joseph Matofari – Farming Systems and Rural Livelihood
- Dr. Jason Momanyi Mironga – Geo-Informatics
- Prof. Bockline O. Bebe -Research Methods for Agricultural Information Communication and Management
- Prof. Joseph Aguyo -Statistical Methods
Importance of the writing retreat
- To improve the quality of teaching on the regional programmes
- To increase access to learning content for the African Region
- To build Capacity of lecturers in the area of e-learning
- To enhance visibility of academic staff in terms of the e-learning content developed and shared
Outcomes of the writing retreat
- Eight lectures teaching on the AICM programs submitted 3 topics in electronic format. They will continue working on the remaining topics unless the content for the 5 courses is fully available in e-format. All the content will be taken through a through a through peer review process.
- Capacity of the lecturers to write e-content was improved.
- The process of peer review of each others work during the training has proved to be an excellent quality measure
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