African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme Open Educational Framework: Course Packs, Debates & Publications

The African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme is pleased to announce the availability of open educational resources aimed at academic and professional staff responsible for strengthening research and teaching practices. The educational framework, research debates and publications are available to download through a creative commons license. The educational framework comprises of the following open educational resources:

Three research courses:

·         Orientation to Different Research Approaches: AURA Research Course 1 (R1)

·         Orientation to Researcher-led Approaches to Research: AURA Research Course 2 (R2)

·         Orientation to Research Communications in Social Media: AURA Research Course 4 (R4)

Two teaching courses:

·         Introduction to Learning Theories: AURA Teaching Course 1 (T1)

·         Introduction to Technology-enhanced learning: AURA Teaching Course 3 (T3)

The course packs were co-developed with the AURA Programme’s learning partners and are aimed at higher education institutions across Africa and other parts of the world. The educational framework proposes a blended learning approach (mixing online and face to face interventions) to strengthening research and teaching practices and can be re-used, adapted, or remixed (where indicated by the license) with full attribution. 

Download the course packs, research debates and related learning publications from: The AURA Programme Collection on IDS Open Docs (https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/8992)

The African Universities’ Research Approaches (AURA) Programme was a two-year programme, funded by UK AID, which ran from November 2014 to September 2016.  The programme was led by the Institute of Development Studies in partnership with the Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa and Loughborough University. In addition, the AURA Programme worked with four East African Universities: Jimma University, Kenyatta University, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and Strathmore University. The programme was aimed at academics working in health, business and other academic disciplines.

For more information about the project visit the AURA Programme web-page: (http://www.ids.ac.uk/project/african-universities-research-approaches-aura-capacity-development-programme). and also (http://aura.muhas.ac.tz)

Fostering competencies in interactive online teaching and learning assessment at MUHAS

About seven faculty members from the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), attended a two day workshop on teaching and learning assessment at Strathmore University from 25th to 26th July 2016. This workshop was immediately followed by another workshop on strategic planning from 27th to 28th July, 2016. The workshops were organized by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and drew on the work of the African Universities' Research Approaches (AURA) programme.

 

Both workshops were very useful to participants because participants were exposed to various issues related to e-learning, including: learning assessment approaches, how to use technology for assessment, technology based learning and pedagogical theories that could be applied in a technology-based environment. Furthermore, participants were taught about how to operationalize what they learnt when they go back to their institutions by developing Operational Strategic Plans.  

 

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Professor Lwoga holds a PhD in information studies from the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. She teaches and supervises both undergraduate and postgraduate students. She has facilitated a number of workshops and short courses.  She has published widely and has presented over 30 research papers in both international and local conferences.  Professor Lwoga currently coordinates the African Universities' Research Approaches (AURA) programme at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Tanzania, together with an additional four projects working with international partners in Sweden, South Africa and USA.

Dr. Doreen Mloka is a Medical Microbiologist/Molecular biologist. She is a Medical Education Fellow and the Director of Continuing Education and Professional Development at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Tanzania. She currently coordinates two medical education projects and several microbiology projects.