FinTan under the roof of mountain Kilimanjaro

04.03.2021

FinTan pedagogy started as a small spark at TUDARCo, but now the sparks have amazingly extended their shining lights. The two days of FinTan pedagogy training at Mwenge Catholic University (MWECAU) proved it all. Facilitators could not believe their eyes when they saw a training room with over forty faculty members. This was a huge turn-up! Big up MWECAU faculty members for your readiness.

But more exciting was the opening speech by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Filbert Vumilia.  His remarks concerning the objectives of the training were very positive. He stressed the role of active pedagogy in Higher Learning Institutions (HEI) and particularly on academia and community linkages. It was surprising that he even pre-empted the training content. It was also exciting to have a live conversation with Riikka, Emmanuel and Markku via Microsoft teams. This inspired members even more. Participants highly appreciated a short but informative presentation from Riikka on innovation pedagogy.

The colourful opening made the training run so smooth. The presentations and the associated hands-on activities were engaging such that time was not enough. During Motorola evaluation, one participant commented that “The training was good and had many new ideas on how to help students graduate with skills, but time allocation for the training was not appropriate”. The other one said, “This is a wake –up call for lecturers, especially on the modalities used to evaluate our students, but time for hands-on activities limited more exploitation”. In the end, the live plenary discussion was informative and so enriching. Ritva, Emmanuel, Riikka and Markku spared their time to respond to questions and comments from members and the general issues emerging from the training. It was amazing as this time around; connectivity was super.

Innovation pedagogy is now in the mind of the people at MWECAU. Although there still is some scepticism regarding the use of active teaching and learning methods, especially in a big class, the general impression is that it is possible with the consideration of the specific environment. The SUSIE team at MWECAU is eager to see that FinTan pedagogy is a reality in the near future. Well done, MWECAU! Now it is true that FinTan is under the roof of Mount Kilimanjaro.

view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from Moshi town

 

Gideon Enock and Getrude Ntulo