UEW Holds Orientation for Newly Appointed German Lecturers
The University of Education, Winneba, has organised an orientation for four newly appointed German lecturers on the 19th October 2017 to give them the necessary tips essential to their stay in the University.
In his welcome address, the Director of the Centre for International Programmes, Professor Yaw Sekyi Baidoo, said that the Centre was delighted about their stay and encouraged them to come forward with any suggestions or advice that would help in the betterment of the University.
A Professor of the Department of Physics Education, Prof. Mawuadem Koku Amedeker, reminded the lecturers that it was their mandate as lecturers of UEW to train competent professional teachers. He said their core value was to promote “academic excellence: good corporate governance: gender equity and social inclusiveness” among others.
He emphasised on the functions of a University Teacher as being, “teaching of academic programme, research and dissemination of research output, community service, production of quality graduates.”
Explaining the various modes of academic delivery, he said these include “face-to-face in class interactions, Online lecture delivery, Hybrid of F2F and Online delivery” and many more and added that, some Innovative Approaches could be helpful in their teaching.
On dealing with distressed students, the Director of the Counselling Centre, Dr. Bedu Addo said that students from the ages of 18-22 are very young and not mature enough to handle certain situations. In his words “Mature students get stressed due to work and family issues and by the younger course mates; the disabled also get stressed by the feeling of being discriminated against.”
These students have different reasons for getting distressed and therefore have different ways of handling them. He told them that it was the responsibility of the lecturer to know their students and how to relate to them without adding to their ordeal. He added that sometimes the distress could be due to academic, social, financial, mental, medical issues and many others.
He encouraged them to help these kinds of students by treating them with respect, empathizing with their ‘predicament’ and endeavouring to listen to them. He informed them that the Counselling Centre is planning on adding online counselling as well as comic books, audios, among others to help them reach a larger group.
Presenting on the Library section on the University website, the University Librarian, Mr. Vincent Buer, informed them that with a password and username, they would be able to get whatever book they needed for their classes, or whatever information they wanted.
The Coordinator of ETI at EFPO Mr. Jones Apawu, presented on the Learning Management System. Focusing on the use of the Moodle, he explained that it is a learning platform designed to provide and help educators, administrators and learners to create a personalised learning environment. An example of how it works was given by Professor Tiece Ruffin, from the University of Ashville, in the U.S.
Touching on Information Security, Mr. Kweku Kwoo-Aidoo warned the newly appointed lecturers that it was dangerous to leave your computer unattended to. He said that due to the fact that people could easily get access to the machine, it is important to create stronger passwords to prevent people from finding it easy to access your computer.
Discussing the various viruses and malwares. He advised them to be careful and to make sure they have anti-viruses which are always updated on their computers.
Focusing on the Online Student Information System, Head of the Student Records Office, Mr. Raymond Bentum Boison taught them the functions of the OSIS which included receiving payment, registering courses and so on. He stated that the Student Information System which was built to manage the data of students and largely used by the university staff and the students. Advising them, he assured them that a training session on the use of OSIS would be organised for them in due course.
A Senior Assistant Registrar at the Division of Human Resource, Mr. Ben Duadze educated the new lecturers on employee benefits at UEW. Some of these benefits include; retirement benefits, provision of accommodation, salary based on qualification and experience, entertainment, transfer grants, among others. The retirement benefit is a month’s salary times the number years worked.
As a concluding remark, he encouraged them to make use of the various offices in the University: Division of Human Resources, Division of Publications and Communication, Centre for International Programs, Office of the Pro Vice- Chancellor, and Library among others.
The workshop was coordinated by Mr. Isaac Donkoh of the Staff Training and Development Department at the Division of Human Resource
By Gloria Wemonia Logogye
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