Online courses are a rapid growing trend in today’s education. There is some skepticism as to whether online courses are just as effective and educational as traditional face to face interactions with an instructor. However, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, distance learning has become inevitable.

In October 2020, the Teacher Training Education Project funded by Ministry of Education & Sports (MoES) and Enabel launched an online General Teaching Methods (GTM) course for lower-secondary pre- and in-service teachers in Uganda. The course was specifically designed for teacher trainers and students in National Teachers’ Colleges (NTCs) that introduces them to teaching methodologies that enhance their pedagogical skills.   

The GTM course, being the very first of its kind, provides interactive and practical lessons to improve teaching practices for all NTC lectures and students. It also prepares students to teach using the Active Teaching and Learning (ATL) methodology which puts the student at the center of learning. Some of the modules this course offers are: learning and cognition; ATL; classroom management and organization; teaching and learning materials; and assessment of the teaching and learning process. According to Hannah Nayoga, the Sector Expert - Pedagogy for the Teacher Training Education (TTE) project at Enabel in Uganda, the GTM online course is not only improving pedagogy in the Teachers’ colleges but also preparing students to teach and equipping them with both Active Teaching and Learning methodologies and ICT skills due to the different media used in the course.

One of the advantages of the General Teaching Methods’ course is that it provides up-to-date digital learning resources on a variety of subjects that can be accessed remotely using a mobile device or computer. NTC teachers and students can take advantage and explore these resources and build their knowledge on the different topics at their own convenience. They can also do the online course over an extended period of time by pausing and resuming the course. Ario Fabius, a student coordinator at NTC Mubende said that with the change of the lower secondary school curriculum, the GTM has helped him teach agriculture, something he never knew is possible using online means.
“From this course, I have learnt how to design lesson plans and use ICT tools to teach. I have unlimited access to the content from which I pick ideas to use in my own class.”

The online GTM course has gained popularity in the NTCs and has been attended by many teachers, students and partner secondary schools’ teachers which have generally changed learning methods across all areas of study. So far, 2995 NTC students, lecturers and teachers from 21 partner secondary schools have enrolled in this course.
More still, 56% of the NTCs’ current population (2632 out of 4699) have successfully completed the course with a statement of participation issued.
Kibedi Abdul, the Assistant Commissioner, Secondary Teacher Education (ai) of the Teacher Education Training & Development Department of the Ministry of Education and Sports reaffirmed the Ministry’s position by saying, “We are training quality teachers which has been the main objective of the TTE project from the start. We are working towards achieving impact in the classroom to get teaching outputs that are tangible by focusing on the teacher trainer and teacher trainee as the center of learning.”
Having the online GTM course rolled out in partner secondary schools is not only beneficial to NTC students who practice teaching in these schools, but also makes teaching and learning interesting for both the secondary school teachers and their students.

To build upon the General Teaching Methods’ course, Enabel together with the NTC lecturers is creating a Technology Enhanced Learning course (TEL) that introduces essential ICT tools needed for Active Teaching and Learning. This is part of the project’s efforts to ensure the adoption of digital education technology to support the continuity of learning during and after the pandemic, but also equip them with relevant skills for the 21st century learners. 

Click the link to access the course http://bit.ly/GeneralTeachingMethods