Authorities of Salem University have organised a conference with the theme: Improvement of Teaching and Learning in Nigerian Universities for members of academic staff.
The management said the objective of the seminar was to equip academic staff with the appropriate skills to provide quality teaching to their students, help the staff to acquire new knowledge and skills and train them on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for teaching.
The event was attended by principal officers of the university.
In his address, the Director of Quality Assurance, Dr Sunday Okpanachi, said there was a global concern about the sufficiency welfare, input and output of teachers.
He stated that the making of a successful lecturer or teacher goes beyond the mastery of the subjects but also includes the delivery skills as well as the creation a suitable learning atmosphere for learning. .
In his opening remarks, the Vice- Chancellor, Prof Joseph Fuwape, noted that the theme of the seminar was aimed at exploring the role of teaching techniques in the improvement of teaching skills to enhance the capacity of lecturers. He noted that for any organisation to successfully drive its vision, it was important to build the capacity of the workforce.
Prof Fuwape noted that most lecturers did not have formal skills in teaching, a situation which, he said, made most of them to adopt the old system of teaching. He said the seminar was organised to improve the teaching skills of lecturers.
In his presentation entitled: “Preparing for a new session as a lecturer in Salem University”, Dr D.J. Omale said lecturers needed to create opportunity for students to apply their knowledge to solve practical problems. He explained that demonstration in the classroom could raise student’s curiosity while reinforcing memory retention. He added that at the beginning of every course, students must be made to know the purpose of the subject and what is expected of them.
Dr Omale encouraged the need for group assignment and team building activities, saying that students got more excited about a task when working as a team. Through group discussions, he said, students could generate fresh ideas, which could enhance their performance.
He affirmed that oral presentation in class also helped students to improve their communication skills. Dr Omale noted that contemporary lecturers are encouraged to use the didactic or inclusive pedagogy method rather than the orthodox pedagogical method.
He encouraged lecturers to use multi media lecture aid such as Power Point, saying it would enable the students to easily grasp spellings and pronunciation of words.
In a lecture ebtitled: Understanding students for effective learning, Dr D.O. Oluwade said students had different levels of motivation, attitudes about teaching and learning, different responses to specific classroom environments and instructional practices, stating that the more instructors understand the differences, the better chance they had at meeting the diverse learning needs of their students.
She noted that active learning could be best promoted in a safe environment supported by the teacher in which expectation and positive relationship were fostered, adding that teacher should motivate students and nurture their desire to learn.
She recommended that teachers should give examples as much as possible when teaching courses that deal with things that are not common to everybody.
“Teachers should recognise the differences among students so as to know the appropriate teaching style that meets the needs of student and should exercise patience with slow learners,” she stated.
Speaking on The use of ICT to enhance learning experience, M. K. Aregbesola said that the use of ICT in teaching is a strong part of the Transformational Academic Revolution (TAR) agenda of Salem University.
He said students learn more in classes in which they receive computer-based instruction.
