Background
Six ACE Impact host Universities were competitively selected and are being supported to establish Centers of Competence in Digital Education on their campuses to promote the sustainable integration of digital education in the teaching processes, as a means of strengthening the quality of teaching as well as the competencies of graduates.
The participating ACE Centers in these universities include the Africa Centre of Excellence on Technology Enhanced Learning (ACETEL), the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Power and Energy Development (ACE-SPED), the Africa Center of Excellence in Population Health and Policy (ACEPHAP), the Center for Dryland Agriculture (CDA), the Regional Center for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (RCEES), the CEA-Centre d’Etudes, de Formation et de Recherche en Gestion des Risques Sociaux (CEFORGRIS) and the Centre d’Excellence Africain en Sciences, Mathématiques, Informatique et Application (CEA-SMIA).
The 6 selected universities are:
- The National Open University of Nigeria,
- The University of Nigeria, Nsukka,
- The Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria,
- The University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana,
- l’Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso,
- l’Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin.
Expected Impacts
- This pilot initiative will provide the participating institutions with the training and coaching to transform their educational curricula by integrating modern digital education methods.
- Each selected University will commit part of their funding from their ACE Impact project (s) towards acquisition of the necessary equipment and a venue to house their C-CoDE.
- Thirty (30) faculty professors, three (3) pedagogy engineers and two (2) technical specialists have been identified from each participating university and are being trained.
The implementation of the C-CoDEs, together with the trainings, will contribute to the sustainable integration of digital education and technologies in the instruction provided at each partner university. It should ultimately lead to the pooling of teaching between the universities.