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BOU team and TT & TE team from the Ministry of Education Research, Science and Technology

Botswana Open University (BOU) hosted a team of officers from the Department of Teacher Training and Technical Education (DTT & TE), a unit within the Ministry of Tertiary Education Research, Science and Technology (MOTE), on Wednesday 24th June 2020. The Team of six officers was led by the Deputy Director in the Department, Ms Dorcus Phirie. The BOU team led by the Director of Centre for Instructional Technology included the Dean for School of Science and Technology, Directors of Information Technology, Partnerships and Business Development, Corporate Relations and Marketing, as well as the ELearning Specialist.......BOU team and TT & TE  team from the Ministry of Tertiary Education Research, Science and Technology

The DTT &TE team had come to benchmark on the achievements of BOU with regard to online teaching and learning. Ms Phirie explained that they had realised that BOU’s teaching and learning processes were not seriously affected by the emergence of COVID-19 and the lockdown which was effected. She hinted that with them all systems regarding the operations of the colleges came to a complete halt at the announcement of closure of schools/colleges and the subsequent lockdown, as they had not planned for such an eventuality.

In briefing the DTT &TE team Mr Molelu explained that the University was not drastically affected by the lockdown though there was still a lot that still needed to be done. He told the team that the University had initially planned to have venue-based assessments that did not happen because of the pandemic. Luckily as the institution had already commenced its strategic change dimension of operational efficiency and incorporation of innovation through the strategic use of technology, the University was able to quickly arrange for online summative assessment and subsequently all assessment for tertiary level students was done online. This w as a great success on the part of the University as this had not been planned and was done ahead of schedule. The DTT &TE team wished that BOU could assist to get their Department utilise ICT especially for the management of college students teaching and learning activities. The two Teams agreed that it would be beneficial to both institutions to   collaborate to improve on each Department’s delivery of their mandate and as this would also encourage the sharing of limited resources which Government advocates for. The two Teams were to have further meetings after consulting their principals for formalised collaboration.