Mount Kenya University has embarked on a plan to upgrade its ICT infrastructure at its Open and Distance Learning (ODEL) centres to improve the delivery of classes offered online.
The infrastructural upgrades include interactive displays that are expected to ease interaction between students and lecturers during online lessons.
They also enable lecturers to include a range of teaching aids making virtual learning more effective, especially for science and mathematical courses where lecturers need to demonstrate different concepts.
The university on Wednesday took delivery of 18 new interactive displays and expects to receive more in the coming months.
Prof Simon Gicharu, Chairman of MKU’s board of directors, said in undertaking the infrastructural upgrade, the university was trying to be forward-thinking, noting that technology tended to become obsolete within a few years.
“As a University, we need to ensure that we are alive to where the world is going, embrace technological transformations, and embrace some changes that may be unpopular,” he said at a function where the board handed over the interactive screens to MKU’s management.
“The traditional model of brick and mortar Universities will most likely be replaced by Open Universities that offer programmes through virtual platforms and retain only small administrative offices.”
Gicharu said the Interactive Displays that were being handed over were to augment efficiency by increasing lecturer-student interaction even in the virtual space.
"The screens allow a lecturer to incorporate a range of useful apps or teaching aids that support in simplifying different concepts in class, hence enabling a lecturer to be more effective in training students virtually,” he said.
He added that the interactive displays will be fully integrated into all MKU’s training in Thika and also at its Campuses and ODEL Centres.
The integrated use of Interactive displays and smart classrooms will enhance learning experiences and elevate the e-learning and conference experience.
They will also serve as a dynamic platform for content delivery, fostering participation, and interactivity.
The university intends to build Smart classrooms across the campuses and a recording studio for content development.
This will complement earlier developments where the university began a journey of self-paced content development and digitization.
MKU Vice-Chancellor Deogratius Jaganyi said the institution is embracing a digital transformation agenda that would significantly improve the interaction between learners and lecturers.
He noted that this has been necessitated by the shift in the students joining higher education in the country, with many of them having been born in an age where they have interacted with digital devices from an early age.
“Today, we mark another milestone in academic online learning. I was reflecting the other day on the fact that we are phasing out Generation Z and soon welcoming Generation Alpha into the higher education system. This generation is hyper-connected, technological and diverse. They have grown in a digital environment where all knowledge is just a click away,” he said.
“It is high time for MKU to fully embrace the fourth industrial revolution by entrenching technology-mediated modalities of teaching and learning to meet the teaching and learning needs and expectations of the current generation.”
He added:
“The interactive displays will be useful in supporting collaborations, conferencing and presentations for postgraduate students hence promoting a vibrant research ecosystem in the University.”
“All this will go a long way to enhancing the transformative quality of teaching in e-learning and conferencing experiences at MKU."
