Health Research Foundation Buea (HRF) and Biaka University Institute of Buea in collaboration with Drexel University – USA, are defying the Covid-19 Pandemic effects on education and using that to springboard the capacity in Online Learning for administrative and academic staff. The initiative is funded by the United States Embassy in Cameroon.
The programme which successfully started in January is scheduled to run for 12 full weeks and designed to be executed in two strategic phases:
- The first half will be an introductory session to get the staff familiar with the online learning environment, online learner’s engagement skills and various required technological tools.
- Secondly, the academic staff are drilled on how to appropriately and successfully deliver online courses while the administrative staff get knowledge on online education policy development amongst others.
The official launch event took place on Thursday 28th January 2021 and present were the Public Affairs Officer US Embassy Yaounde, Dean College of Nursing and Health Professions Drexel University, Vice Chancellor Biaka University Institute of Buea and the Vice President of Health Research Foundation. 40 participants from 9 higher institutes in the country also took part in the launch.
All these leaders expressed full commitment to supporting the project team to achieve its goals and this is imperative for Cameroon in the digitalized era and the implementation of E-learning. HRF is proud to be a leading partner of this initiative. This is so that schools can easily move operations online and still excel when there arises a need to switch it up. It also opens up students to international learning standards which is a plus for those who seek to pursue further education with international institutions.
To ensure the spread of this vital knowledge and its full sustenance, an open-source for content and online education community of practice will be established for academic and administrative staff.