The UNESCO International Center for Higher Education Innovation has trained 50 lecturers across five tertiary institutions in digital education.
In a statement on Thursday in Zaria, Malam Auwalu Umar, Director of the Public Affairs Directorate, at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said the initiative was in collaboration with the International Institute for Online Education.
Umar said that the training was aimed at strengthening the digital transformation of higher education teaching and learning.
He further explained that it was a training of trainers program, which was basically an online course in design, development, and production.
He also said the training was focused on general courses in three thematic areas: engineering/computing, medical/bioscience, as well as humanities/social sciences.
He disclosed that the beneficiaries, comprising 32 males and 18 females, were drawn from the ABU, University of Abuja, Gombe State University, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, and Federal College of Education, Zaria.
He said the three-day training was hosted by the Department of Computer Engineering, ABU, with Prof. Paul Prinsloo, from the University of South Africa, as a facilitator.
He noted that UNESCO-ICHEI initiated a global project on the ‘Digital Transformation of Teaching and Learning following the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference.
Umar added that on September 28, UNESCO-ICHEI and IIOE, Nigeria National Centre, jointly launched a project on “Empowering Institutional Policy Implementation for Digital Teaching and Learning in Nigeria.”
“The project is to, among others, support the implementation of institutional policies for digital teaching and learning in Nigerian higher education institutions, using the ABU’s teaching and learning approach, as a case study.
“It is also to empower IIOE Nigeria National Centre, to undertake digital literacy enhancement programs, required to drive the digital transformation of higher education teaching and learning,” Umar disclosed.
(NAN)
