LANDMARK UNVEILS THE MAKING OF A DIGITAL TEACHER SERIES
Landmark has again raised the antenna of its commitment to quality learning delivery and global best practices with the webinar titled "Beyond COVID-19: The Making of a Digital Teacher (I)" organised by its Centre for Systems and Information Services on Monday, 17th August 2020.
The aptness of the webinar was espoused in the context of teacher-student interaction in the digital era. The webinar actually exposed members of faculty of the University to the technological skills required for effective digital pedagogy which included communication and time management; patience, compassion and empathy; technical skills and tools; and technological literacy. The webinar also enhanced their ability to navigate the tools and skills needed for working and living in a digital society, and providing instructions to students in the same skills.
Giving his remarks at the webinar, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adeniyi Olayanju noted that the University has the responsibility of providing necessary support for the faculty to deliver quality service to her students and that was why the University facilitated a robust learning environment with the state of the art smart boards in classes and lecture theatres, stable and fast internet connections, a robust learning management system among others. In furtherance of this effort in the reality of COVID-19, the Vice-Chancellor said that it was imperative for the University to upgrade her teaching approach. “There is a need to upgrade content to meet the demands of this present digital and e-learning era as forced on us by the COVID-19 pandemic, hence the introduction of instructional design (ID) in our lecture materials,” he said. Also according to him, the instructional design is a systematic process of translating principles of learning and instruction into plans for instructional materials and activities. Therefore, for effective online lecture delivery, lecture materials are to be prepared in an instructional design format.
While appreciating the Centre for Systems and Information Services for its support toward the realisation of the vision of the University especially to flourish in the current pandemic, the Vice-Chancellor implored all members of faculty that “the Landmark post-COVID-19 teacher, therefore, needs to accept that education delivery is evolving and must be ready to adapt and communicate the evolution.”
The Registrar, Miss Fola Oyinloye commended the role of the Centre for Systems and Information Services in helping the University to achieve seamless transition from the physical classroom to virtual. She said being an ICT driven University did not make the University competent digital teacher-users but the webinar would further position the University to explore the deliverables of the ICT towards the advancement of the vision of Landmark.
Welcoming participants to the webinar, the Director of the Centre, Mr Opeyemi Matiluko, said the webinar was rather promptly organised to fully embrace the new normal of blended learning in conjunction with the benefits inherent in digitization and technology for all-round human advancement. On his team was Mr Olufemi Ojo, the E-learning Officer who took the members of faculty on the journey to becoming digital teachers.