African Council for Distance Education holds Quality Assurance Train-the-Trainer Workshop

By Dr. Teresa Mwoma

• ACDE was formally launched in January 2004 at Egerton University, Kenya. 
• The train-the-trainer workshop participants were drawn from 15 higher education learning institutions in seven countries.
• Collaboration and cooperation in using the ACDE Quality Assurance toolkit are to be promoted among ACDE and non-ACDE member institutions for use. 

The African Council for Distance Education (ACDE) is a continental educational organization comprising African universities and other higher education institutions committed to expanding access to quality education and training through Open, Distance and e-Learning (ODeL). 

It is registered under the laws of Kenya as an International Educational non-profit making organization and has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

The idea of its establishment was first mooted at the SCOP-ICDE[1] conference on distance education held for the first time on the African continent at the University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, in October 2002. 

It was underpinned by the desire of African Vice Chancellors to establish a unifying body that would facilitate and promote the pooling of resources, shaping and influencing continental policies on distance education. 

Additionally, it was to collectively source for and tap into resources available from the national, regional and international community for the advancement of education and training through Open and Distance Learning. 

ACDE was formally launched in January 2004 at Egerton University, Kenya. 

During the ACDE launching Conference, attended by Vice Chancellors and senior distance education practitioners from seven African countries and presided over by Kenya’s Minister for Education, an Interim Constitution was adopted, interim officials comprising Vice Chancellors elected, and Egerton University selected to host the ACDE Secretariat, a role they played until 2020 when hosting of the Secretariat was shifted to Kenyatta University. 

While the ACDE was initially meant to support member institutions that were primarily offering education through ODeL, the landscape changed with the outbreak of COVID-19. 

This is because, with the lockdowns of learning and non-learning institutions, it became apparent that using virtual modes of delivering education was a must. 

Adopting quality assurance toolkit

But the challenge was how to ensure there is quality in delivering education through this mode. 

This is where the ACDE quality assurance toolkit, which was developed in consultation with various players in ODeL, became very critical. 

It is in view of this that the ACDE Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (QAAA), hosted by the National Open University of Nigeria in collaboration with the ACDE Secretariat, organized a three-day Train the Trainer workshop to train the first cohort of ACDE ToTs who will be champions in training members of staff from their institutions. 

The Train the Trainer Workshop

The African Council for Distance Education (ACDE) Train the Trainer workshop was held at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya, from March 27-29, 2023. 

The ACDE-QAAA, hosted by the National Open University of Nigeria, organized the workshop in collaboration with the ACDE Secretariat hosted by Kenyatta University.

“This ACDE workshop will have a cohort of Champions who will ensure that high-quality stands are maintained while delivering ODeL Programs,” Prof. Paul Wainaina, Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor, said in his opening remarks.

Prof. Goski Alabi, the ACDE President and Consulting President of Laweh Open University College, Ghana, presided over the workshop as the Chief Guest. 

It was anchored on the theme: Leveraging the quality of ODeL in Africa through using the ACDE Quality Assurance Toolkit. 

Representatives from three regulators of higher institutions of learning from three African countries participated in the workshop. The regulators included the National Universities Commission Nigeria, Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and the Commission for Higher Education Mauritius.

Participants

The workshop attracted twenty-seven participants drawn from 15 higher education institutions of learning in seven countries: Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ghana, South Africa and Mauritius. 

The participants were drawn from; National Open University of Nigeria, Open University of Tanzania, National Teachers Institute Kaduna, University of Licungu, Universidade Alberta (UnISCED), University of Lagos, Kenyatta University, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Egerton University, Benue State University, Machakos University, KCA University, Daystar University, Zetech University, Nazarene University and Laikipia University.

Workshop objectives

The workshop sought to:

• Familiarise participants with the ACDE-QAAA Toolkit and how it can be used to enhance quality;
• Provide an opportunity for participants to provide feedback on the Toolkit;
• Facilitate the process of updating the Toolkit to reflect changing dynamics in distance higher education; and
• Lay the foundations for strengthening collaboration and cooperation in enhancing the quality of ODeL through peer reviews.

Key messages from the workshop

The ACDE quality assurance Toolkit was developed to enhance quality in African higher education institutions. 

There is a need to buy into its use by higher learning institutions to effectively realize the benefits.

In March 2022, the ACDE President, Prof. Goski Alabi, presented the toolkit to the National Universities Commission (NUC) Nigeria, encouraging national endorsement. 

“It is pertinent to acknowledge the significant progress recorded in Africa in regard to measures put in place to guarantee the quality of programs in the ODeL Mode,” said Mr. Chris Maiyaki, Deputy Executive Secretary, NUC.

He confirmed during the event that NUC will collaborate with ACDE for the Toolkit to be used in the 222 universities in Nigeria.

Commitment to ACDE Toolkit use

All three representatives of national regulators who attended the workshop confirmed commitment to using the ACDE Toolkit. 

ACDE encourages other countries, especially national quality regulators, to follow this example.

Prof. Alabi, the Chief Guest joining virtually, called for ACDE to adopt micro-credentialing to drive different pathways to higher education among ACDE member institutions and beyond. 

In this regard, the QAAA needs to come up with strategies for factoring micro-credentialing into the Toolkit. 

This will make it uniquely positioned in terms of responding to novel developments in higher education, which are not addressed by existing QA frameworks in African countries.

She reiterated that while we welcome the advent of technology, we need to protect our nationals against fly-by-night transnational higher education providers who mainly use technology to cherry-pick students who are able to pay upfront in African countries. 

The ACDE needs to develop ways of regulating transnational higher education provision.

Prof. Alabi reiterated that ACDE QA Toolkit should be responsive to new technological developments like ChatGPT and guide how countries can draw on the affordances of such developments to move higher education forward.

ACDE certification

The ACDE Executive Director, Dr. Teresa Mwoma, maintained that there is a need to adopt the ACDE certification program as a strategy for not only encouraging innovative use of the Toolkit but also for benchmarking performance amongst African higher institutions of learning. 

She reiterated that the ACDE Toolkit should be primarily used for self-assessment and for self-improvement rather than for compliance purposes. 

Toolkit’s online availability

For ease of use and because higher education is going digital, the Toolkit should be available online and should have an automated scoring facility.

Collaboration and cooperation in using the Toolkit are to be promoted cost-effectively. 

This helps in building capacity for quality assurance in African higher institutions of learning, including the capacity to conduct research that informs quality enhancement efforts on the continent.

Resolutions/way forward

The delegates attending the ACDE quality assurance Train-the-Trainer workshop recommend the following resolutions as the way forward:

1. Cognizant that quality is not a coincidence but a planned, systematic process that requires rigorous scrutiny of practices that encourage ACDE member institutions to interrogate their institutional practices and think about using the ACDE QA toolkit as a hallmark and symbol of quality; 
2. Recognizing the important role regulators play in ensuring quality in the delivery of education in higher institutions of learning, there is a need for ACDE to collaborate with national quality regulators to come up with a memorandum of understanding on using the ACDE QA toolkit in higher institutions of learning.
3. Cognizant of the importance of enhancing quality in education delivery through open, distance and e-learning, there is a need to use the ACDE QA Toolkit to train staff members in institutions represented in the Train-the-Trainer workshop.
4. Acknowledging that the participants in the Train-the-Trainer workshop form the first cohort of ACDE-trained resource persons and who will serve as trainers in various institutions, there is a need for institutions represented in the training to adopt the ACDE QA Toolkit for self-assessment that will lead to external peer review and assessment, leading to certification by the ACDE.
5. Resolve that after using the ACDE QA Toolkit for self-assessment, the feedback will be utilized by the ACDE QAAA to refine the Toolkit for broader use by higher education institutions.
6. Recognize that the ACDE QA Toolkit is a living document that will be continuously refined based on user institution feedback.
7. Aware that the ACDE QA Toolkit has 11 criteria in Part One and 9 in Part Two and a glossary of terms, institutions are encouraged to use the Toolkit innovatively and even customize the criteria to suit their contexts.
8. Observe that the ACDE will develop and share the process and templates for self-assessment that will prepare institutions for certification. 
9. Resolve that the ACDE will organize for the assessors training, who will serve as ACDE external assessment team for certification of institutions.

  [1] SCOP –ICDE refers to the Standing Committee of Presidents of the International Council for Distance Education.

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The writer, Dr. Teresa Mwoma, is the African Council for Distance Education (ACDE) Executive Director.