The session, a partnership between Advance HE, the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE) and Health Professions Education at the University of Zimbabwe, covered the rationale for the shift to online teaching and learning and the tools and experiences in planning and conducting synchronous and asynchronous teaching and online assessment. The recording is now available and can be requested below.
The webinar will be of particular interest to institutions and individuals based in Africa, although, content in the webinar will be beneficial for lecturers in Universities at different levels and any faculty involved in teaching students in health sciences.
Request the webinar recording
You can request access to the recording of the webinar by completing the form below. Upon completion we will send you a link to watch this.
Best practices for online learning in life and health science programmes
Each speaker provided a different ‘lens’ through which to cover these topics providing a variety in content that will appeal to a wider audience followed by a discussion between the contributors and Q&A.
Speakers covered topics that include:
The rationale for the shift to online teaching and learning including empirical evidence of effectiveness.
Experiences with planning and conducting synchronous and asynchronous sessions.
Experiences with and practical examples for conducting online clinical teaching.
Experiences with and practical examples for conducting online assessments.
Challenges and how they are countered.
Chair: Professor K. P. Dzvimbo
Chief Executive Officer, Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education
Prof. K. P. Dzvimbo joined the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE) in December 2018 as the CEO. Prior to this appointment, he was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Research) and Vice-Principal at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) in South Africa from October 2014 to November 2018. He was the founding Executive Dean of the College of Education at the University of South Africa (UNISA).
Dr Gwendoline Kandawasvika (MD, PhD),
Coordinator of Paediatrics and Child health MMED and undergraduate programme, University of Zimbabwe
Dr Gwendoline Kandawasvika (MD, PhD) is Coordinator of Paediatrics and Child health MMED and undergraduate program at the University of Zimbabwe, where she has taught and conducted research for the past 16 years. She is a paediatrician with research interests in HIV, nutrition, sickle cell disease, neurology, medical education, climate change and non-communicable diseases.
Dr Kandawasvika’s presentation was on progress, lessons learned and challenges with modular teaching and learning at the University of Zimbabwe.
Dr Ian Machingura
Senior Lecturer, Department of Laboratory Diagnostic and Investigative Sciences, University of Zimbabwe
Ian Machingura is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Laboratory Diagnostic and Investigative Sciences, University of Zimbabwe. He teaches Clinical Biochemistry, and his research interest is in non-communicable diseases and Health Systems strengthening.
Title of presentation: “My adventure with online teaching, success and challenges”
The presentation was on the experience of Ian Machingura with online teaching, the success, challenges, and suggestions for the future of teaching and learning.
Professor William Burdick, MD, MSEd
Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine, Drexel University and Vice Secretary General, The Network: Towards Unity for Health
William Burdick, MD, MSEd, is Vice Secretary General of The Network: Towards Unity for Health, an organization of community-oriented health professions schools. He has received awards for excellence in teaching, including the Lindbach Award and the Trustees Award in his capacity as a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine.
Title of presentation: Accrediting technology-supported education
Accreditation of education programs and institutions is a process intended to assure the public and learners of the quality of the education presented there. Standards for an accreditation program need to include how effectively technology is incorporated into to all elements and how quality is assured. The special challenges in developing and reviewing technology related standards for the fundamental aspects of accreditation are discussed.
Kathy Wright
Associate Director, Knowledge, Innovation and Delivery, Advance HE
Always a borrower, a lender, a ‘re-purposer’– a borrower of ideas, a lender of resources and a ‘re-purposer’ of approaches. Seeing connections, thinking horizontally, making do and mending, remixing. When she’s not borrowing and re-inventing, Kathy Wright is Assistant Director, Knowledge, Innovation and Delivery (KID), Advance HE and an SFHEA.
Title of presentation: Online Odyssey: From delivering content to interactive teaching and learning
One year ago universities across the world closed and pivoted to what became known as ‘emergency remote teaching’ (ERT). An immediate response to the pandemic has, unfortunately, become ‘the new normal’ with successive lockdowns. Many university teachers are now re-evaluating and transforming their online practices in order to improve the experiences of their students.
This short session included the demonstration of some activities and introduce a few free digital tools which could be incorporated into online teaching and beyond, when we are back in physical spaces, because the world of university teaching as we knew it has changed possibly for ever.
Azra Naseem
Director Blended and Digital Learning, Aga Khan University
Azra Naseem is the Director Blended and Digital Learning and a faculty member at the Aga Khan University (AKU). She is an experienced e-learning designer, researcher and leader, with an interest in blended online learning, mobile learning, digital inclusion and situated professional learning approaches. She is a Senior Fellow.
Title of presentation: Designing Blended Online Learning for Health Science Programmes
This presentation shared lessons learned from the experiences of online and blended learning in health science programmes at the Aga Khan University.
