By Yasiri J. Kasango
Uganda Christian University (UCU) has been engaged in outreaches to address community education challenges. One of the latest was led by the university’s Faculty of Education and Arts, which conducted a seminar on online learning.

Members of the faculty showed parishioners of a church in Bweyogerere, near Kampala, ways of using the internet as a tool for education.

The UCU team, led by the faculty dean, the Rev. Dr, Can. Olivia Nassaka Banja, equipped parents at St. Luke Church of Uganda with skills on how to access some of the freely available online learning materials.

Some private schools have been conducting online studies since the Ugandan government closed education institutions as one of the preventive measures to reduce the number of coronavirus infections in the country. However, government barred public schools from conducting online studies, arguing that such a move would disenfranchise learners who did not have access to computers or the internet. Instead, government distributed education materials to learners throughout the country and encouraged teachers to conduct studies through radio.

At the end of December 2021, some learners had not stepped into school since the first lockdown in March 2020.

The main facilitator at the seminar at St. Luke Church of Uganda, Patrick Lugemwa, a lecturer in the faculty, showed parents the different sites with free reading materials for children. He also showed the parents how to easily access the learning materials. Lugemwa noted that there are many good sites that provide free reading materials and video classes for children.

Some of the sites that he shared with the parents were https://etutoring.gayazahs.sc.ug/,  https://examuganda.com/ and https://e-learning.education.go.ug/en/learn/#/topics

“However, before allowing your children to access any site, you must visit them yourself, to protect the young ones from accessing unwanted literature, such as pornography,” Lugemwa cautioned, emphasizing that the internet can be both useful and destructive.

He also introduced parents to an app, Family Link, which can regulate the amount of time a child spends on the phone, as well as the type of content they can access. The app is available on Google Play Store and Apple Store.

UCU has been championing online learning in the wake of the Covid-19-related lockdown on in-person learning in Uganda. Outreaches like these are a direct response to the appeal made by Uganda’s First Lady and education minister, Mrs. Janet Museveni, during UCU’s 22nd graduation ceremony on October 22, 2021.

Mrs. Museveni, who was the guest of honour at the graduation ceremony, said she was impressed by UCU’s “robust online education program” and encouraged the university to share best practices with other institutions.

In December 2021, the university’s e-learning department hosted leaders from Greenhill Academy, a group of Christian-founded primary and secondary schools in Kampala, for a virtual learning seminar to understand more about the university’s e-learning facilities.

The community of St Luke Church of Uganda commended UCU for the outreach, especially at a time when many parents were preparing their children to resume school on January 10, 2022. 

The Rev. Abraham Muyinda Nsubuga, the Vicar of St Luke Church, encouraged parents to embrace online learning so that their children can progress with their studies since it is not clear when the world would overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Patrick Kisiibo, one of the parents, said his child had not had a chance to access any reading material during the lockdown, noting that UCU’s intervention was timely.

“I didn’t know that there are free books and video classes online,” Kisiibo said. “I can now go back home and ably guide my child on how to utilize online learning tools.”

By Ian Asabo
The Uganda Christian University (UCU) e-learning candle is spreading its light to other institutions in the country. Among the recent beneficiaries is Greenhill Academy, a group of Christian-founded primary and secondary schools in Kampala. Leaders from the Academy met with UCU e-learning staff for a virtual learning seminar in December 2021.  

During the UCU visit, Greenhill Academy officials gained a better understanding of how UCU accommodated learners virtually during the Covid-19 lockdown when in-person learning was halted in the country. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, Uganda has had two lockdowns, with some classes remaining closed to in-person learning from March 2020 to December 2021. 

Greenhill Academy Rector Joy Veronica Maraka led the Academy’s staff who attended the seminar. The head of the UCU Online Distance Learning Department, the Rev. Jessica Hughes, provided insight into how classes are taught on the platforms, highlighting how the switch to online classes has improved her work. She said students prefer having small assessments, which makes it easier to track their progress during the semester. 

“Online classes have provided flexibility in the way lectures are conducted because they can evaluate students through small quizzes and assignments, which enables critical thinking,” she told the delegation from Greenhill Academy.

The Rev. Dr. Hughes proposed the evaluation of students on a “more regular basis through videos, quizzes and questions that allow for more critical thinking to eliminate the aspect of cramming.” 

During UCU’s 22nd graduation ceremony on October 22, 2021, Uganda’s First Lady and education minister, Mrs. Janet Museveni, said she was impressed by UCU’s “robust online education programme” and encouraged the university to share best practices with other institutions.

UCU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs, the Rev. Dr. John Kitayimbwa, who also attended the seminar, said the university was ready to partner with Greenhill Academy. 

“This is a great opportunity to find ways of changing the way teaching is conducted,” Kitayimbwa said, encouraging Greenhill Academy to take the lead and show other schools that online learning is the way to go and that with it, “the possibilities of learning are endless.”

Kitayimbwa said the university has invested a lot in the networking, IT department and library database, which work in unison to provide a seamless experience for students. The university has invested about sh1.4b ($395,000) on e-learning, management information systems and networking, Kitayimbwa said. 

Recently, UCU Partners donated $50,000 (about sh170m) to the university to help it expand the e-learning platform. Mark Bartels, UCU Partners executive director, said the organization contributed the funds following a call by the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi, for external funders to support the eLearning infrastructure. 

Greenhill Academy Rector Joy Veronica Maraka thanked UCU for hosting them, stating that they will “pick ideas from the session and follow in the footsteps of UCU in evolving education in Uganda.” 

At a virtual dialogue held in August 2021 to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on education institutions in Uganda, Mushengyezi advised institutions to consider a rigorous shift towards online distance learning and service delivery, so that future lockdowns do not affect operations and learning.