Eeishea Project UENR

✏️📖Exams at AAU📚

For the past weeks, we have been sharing our experiences on PBL and how to go about it in UENR. We will like to share with you our first examination experience.😊
We have been used to the exam’s settings where we sit for a few hours and present solutions, therefore, when we heard exams we anticipated a similar approach. To our surprise, we were introduced to a new approach altogether. In AAU, exams are conducted to test students’ understanding of the courses taken unlike the traditional way of conducting exams as we are mostly used to in Ghana where students have to “chew and pour”. 🙇📜

For example, during our stay at Aalborg University, we studied three courses together with a semester project giving a total of four courses. In our first exam, we were given questions and were required to submit responses in seventy-two hours (72). The good part of this was that we had our grades with feedback on our performance after one week. At AAU, feedback to students is treated as a priority. 👍
In other programs, solutions to examination questions were peer-reviewed. Thus, a student would have to comment on the answers’ a different student has given as a response to a question. With this, you need to understand what has been discussed in class to be able to comment appropriately. ✔️

Finally, in the project exam; the main exam for the semester, students were given a deadline to turn in reports. On the exam day, students are assigned to a panel consisting of students’ supervisor(s) and an external examiner chosen from the industry, usually with knowledge in the subject matter. Students then did a presentation on their projects. Discussion followed the presentation, where questions were asked to sequentially cover almost every section of the report. Through the discussions, the understanding of the project is validated. The panel discusses and agrees on students’ grades after the presentation. Students do return to meet the panel to receive their results: both on an individual scale and group scale. However, it behooves students to decide whether to take results individually or in a group. Results came with general feedback on performance and recommendations.🔄
With this approach to taking an examination, the act of “chewing and pouring” is discouraged as the question requires an understanding of what is been taught in class. Moreover, this form of examination encourages students to learn to apply what is been learned in class to the projects that they choose to do.
Thank you for reading!😊

💎Overcoming PBL Challenges 💎

In our previous post we highlighted some challenges one is likely to face as a fresh student in a PBL class just as we faced at Aalborg University. Getting used to PBL is a gradual process especially if you have been exposed to the traditional teaching and learning approach. This is because it takes time to offload the traditional way of learning and get used to the PBL model of learning.

To reduce the challenges fresh students are likely to face in a PBL class AAU organizes different activities to help them fit well in class. These activities include courses and seminars for students, such as workshops and a PBL course which aims to help fresh students develop process competencies and intercultural competencies in a PBL environment. It has been functioning effectively in terms of helping students get familiarized to the new study environment and shortening the time that has to be used for this transformation

We were enrolled in an introductory course on PBL to help us cope with the students who are already well knowledgeable in the teaching approach. This class involved all other fresh or new students at AAU. It allowed us to share and interact with other students from different disciplines. We shared experiences either positive or negative that are faced as individuals from our various groups and how we could address them.

To further speed up the transformation process, students who are used to the PBL approach are encouraged to work together with fresh students in a project group. As a result, fresh students can easily learn from the Danish students (an old student in the PBL teaching model).

Though UENR does not have old students in this learning approach, we would be a great help in sharing our experiences and knowledge gained on the PBL approach at AAU to help the students in UENR adapt quickly to the PBL method of teaching and learning.
Thank you for reading!😊

🔹THINGS YOU ARE LIKELY TO FACE AS A NEW STUDENT IN A PBL CLASS〰️CHALLENGES✔️

As Ghanaians, before anyone gets to the University he/she might have gone through the Ghanaian educational traditions and systems for at least 10 years. These experiences are in terms of the understanding of the learning method, teacher-student relationship, examination methods, etc. Many students and staff who experience PBL for the first time find it difficult to understand the philosophy characterizing it. Problem-based learning (PBL) highlights problem-solving, critical thinking, active and self-directed learning, self-management, and collaborative learning. It requires time for new students to understand the idea of learning with problem orientation and project organization and the fact that students need to take the responsibility to manage their learning instead of passively receiving instruction from an instructor.

A major characteristic of PBL is its Project component done through student groups. As a result, students are supposed to work in groups to solve a particular problem. Though working in groups has its advantages, it can be difficult for new students exposed to it for the first time to understand that group work can be an efficient way of learning. What we have been exposed to is the culture where competition is highly encouraged and individual achievement is greatly valued in an assessment and therefore group work is normally not seen as a way to compete. For instance, in the PBL approach, the creation of knowledge can come from everybody’s participation and information sharing but the student is used to the teacher-centered method. As a result of these differences, many students have diverse perceptions of the group-based assessment. New students are faced with the following thoughts as they happen in group work assessment. Some feel it is not fair to get the same exam score though in the same group since different tasks are performed. Similarly, some feel they worked better and presented better project results than other groups that did something less but got lower scores due to criteria used by different examiners. Others think individual accomplishment is not seen and does not see the benefits of collaborative learning if future workplaces seem to value individual capabilities.

In most cases, group members are made of people from different backgrounds such as ethnicity, race, religion, gender, age, etc., and thus affect people’s ways of thinking and communicating. Easily seen differences are revealed in the behavioral patterns, punctuality, means of conducting meetings, and how to deal with disagreements. In the PBL approach, supervisors facilitate as opposed to the traditional teaching method. New students mostly get confused by supervisors’facilitating questions when they are used to something otherwise and expect precise instruction. In our first supervisor meeting, a similar incident occurred where the supervisor made some suggestions but the group members ignored some of them and it was overwhelming because we (Mathew & Emmanuel ) were not sure it was right to ignore the supervisors’ suggestions and whether the supervisor would not be offended if his suggestions are ignored.

As a new student experiencing the PBL approach of teaching for the first time, you are likely to face the stated challenges and something similar but relax as we take you through how to overcome them in our next post. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading 😊👍

LEARNING IN THE FACE OF CORONA LOCKDOWN☺️
When the corona cases were getting out of hand in other countries we were having our lectures and group meetings going on smoothly in AAU. However, students who had just traveled in from affected countries were advised to stay indoors for 2-weeks.

The country recorded its first coronavirus case in late February and this we must say, brought panic to people. Not so long, the university announced a close down to physical access. All the offices of the school were closed to physical contact.

The university moved lectures, group meetings, supervisor meetings, and other activities to a virtual platform. We were encouraged to use tools such as Skype for Business, MS Teams or other alternatives to conduct all meetings. During this period students and lecturers were worried about how to get going with lectures and group meetings. After a while, most lecturers and students adopted Microsoft teams as the mode for lectures and group meetings. It was not difficult to sign up because we were already registered on the platform by the University; all we needed was to log in with our university mail and password.

During this period, it was hard to adapt to the virtual lectures and meetings, but we became used to it as time went on. All our lecturers started using MS Teams for teaching, and the same applied to our project group meetings. Now we feel online teaching and meeting are very effective and do not want to go back to the classroom.

Overleaf is used to write the semester project’s report. Overleaf is an online, real-time collaborative editor for papers, theses, technical reports, and other documents written in the LaTeX markup language. Not clear? Read more at https://www.overleaf.com/about. Google docs and sheets have been helpful to us as well as we use it to organize our files and other related activities.

We would suggest that the virtual class should be encouraged especially during these hard times. It has shortcomings but the benefits outway it. We can join class and meetings from anywhere and that’s amazing and stress-free 😊.
Thank You for reading

Emmanuel Yeboah Asuamah ( [email protected] )
Mathew Anabadongo Atinsia ([email protected] )

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😊PBL EXPERIENCE AT AAU BEFORE CORONA LOCK-DOWN😉

Did You Experience PBL before the Lock-down?☹️😷

Yes! we started the semester on the 1st of February, 2020, and the lock-down begun on the 12th of March, 2020. We had enough physical contact experience in the PBL model of teaching before the closure of physical contact due to the lock-down.

Okay, then tell me how it is done at AAU👂

In AAU, every semester has its theme that details the objectives and learning outcomes for the semester. From this, students are required to work on a semester project that supports the semester theme. In our case, the semester’s project must address the theme “Sustainable Energy Planning in an Institutional and Societal perspective”. AAU defines the semester’s project scope and expectations and suggests theme ideas for students to understand what is expected. Sample projects from the previous semesters are made available as a guide.

😋Interesting. So the students form groups and start working?

Students are guided throughout the semester. Courses are structured to support the semester’s theme. Groups are formed by students based on their interest in a particular topic and the groups are given a study space to brainstorm and work. The interesting part is that different professors are selected to handle different topics based on their experience or their background. After each lecture, questions are given to be discussed in groups mostly in relation to the project topic. Basically, there is this connection between every topic you take and the project topic you are working on. Guests from industries and companies are invited to give lectures on topics that need real-life examples to connect with the theoretical part of the course. Supervisors are dedicated to the project and are available every time.

How did you see it ?👀

It was interesting, of course, it was not easy at the initial stage but we started gaining grounds and understanding the concept.

Can UENR do this?😳

Yes, UENR can do this. There will be challenges, AAU did not start by being perfect from the beginning
but has been able to reach this far. We have to look beyond the challenges and fight for the right course. We will get there. The Can-Do Spirit 💪

Emmanuel Yeboah Asuamah ( [email protected] )
Mathew Anabadongo Atinsia ([email protected] )

😍SOMETHING BIG IS ABOUT TO HIT UENR😍

Tell Me About it 😊

UENR is going to change its style of delivery or teaching to a more advanced and efficient learning model. This model is called Problem Based Learning. They are starting next semester, just this coming September.

What is this PBL?😉

It is a style of teaching where much emphasis is placed on students solving authentic real-world problems to promote learning of concepts and principles, as opposed to traditional teaching style where lecturers come to give a lecture on topics and leave. The model includes self-governed group work and collaboration. It provides students with tools for the independent acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competences at an advanced academic level. Students will have the opportunity to cooperate with external partners on the solution of scientific problems during their studies. As students, we learn best when applying theory and research-based knowledge in our work with an authentic problem. When we work in groups we are be able to develop our communication and cooperation competencies and acquire the skills required when taking an analytical and result-oriented approach.

How will the students understand this new approach?😀

Presently, two students from UENR are guest students at AAU for the semester of February 2020 to July 2020 as part of the EEISHEA project. After completing their studies, they will be returning to UENR with full knowledge of the PBL delivery approach. They will assist the students to understand and adapt to this new but important approach. UENR is collaborating strongly with AAU to execute this approach successfully.

Do you think companies will employ students from UENR with this style of teaching?😔

The approach is internationally recognized and has, over the years, received great interest from universities, researchers, companies, and students. Companies have been involved in the process of changing the curriculum and have shown great interest in the approach. They have contributed very much to bring this approach up.

What will be your next post?😊
Our next post will be on PBL experience before Corona Lock-down😄

AAU Guest Students
Emmanuel Yeboah Asuamah ( [email protected] )
Mathew Anabadongo Atinsia ([email protected] )

😘😊HOW UENR GRADUATES WILL BE THE BEST ON THE JOB MARKET😘😊

Giving graduates the knowledge, they require on the job market or to become self-employed is the vision of every academic institution. Nevertheless, that does not come with ease, it comes with a lot of responsibilities, both on the side of the student and the institution. Mostly, however, it comes from the structures the institution puts in place to support students. This ranges from the curricula type, teaching and delivery mode, research materials available, the strength of faculty, etc.
The vision of UENR is to train the next generation of experts and provide cutting-edge research to support Ghana’s and Africa’s development of energy and natural resources.

What is UENR going to do differently? 😞

UENR has joined a project titled Enhancing Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Sustainability in Higher Education in Africa (EEISHEA). In UENR, the project is jointly funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and UENR, and Aalborg University (AAU), Denmark, is the overall project coordinator. The EEISHEA project is designed to reform Higher Education study programs in Africa, to ensure curricula that are highly relevant to the contemporary economic and social needs of Africa, equipping graduates with skills and competences for employability and self-employment. The project involves trans-African and trans-continental cooperation between Higher Educational Institutions in East and West Africa and the EU, as well as local cooperation with external stakeholders.
UENR has chosen to redesign the BSc. Renewable Energy Engineering (REE) Curriculum to integrate elements of entrepreneurship & innovation and ecological, social, and economic sustainability in the programme contents. The redesigned programme will be delivered through student-centered learning approaches, including problem based learning (PBL), and will apply relevant e-learning tools. The redesign was carefully done in collaboration with industry players to include the competencies they require from graduates. The project in UENR is led by Dr. Samuel Gyamfi, a senior lecturer in the Energy and Petroleum Engineering Department and Deputy Director of Regional Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability.
The redesigned REE programme will serve as a best practice study programme and UENR will extend this approach to other departments and programs after successfully integrating it into the REE program.

Any successes from this approach? 😀😊

UENR is keenly embracing the PBL approach to teaching and learning with a partner university that has been using this approach for many years. AAU is well known for its PBL-based pedagogical model that has become recognized both nationally and internationally by universities, researchers, and students as an advanced and efficient learning model. The US News World Ranking ranks AAU as the 4th best university in the world in terms of engineering education and UNESCO has placed its only Centre for Problem Based Learning at Aalborg University.

Who are we?😊

Presently, we are two students from UENR who, as part of the EEISHEA project, are guest students at AAU for the semester of February 2020 to July 2020. After completing our studies we will be returning to UENR with full knowledge of the PBL delivery approach.
Next, we will talk about PBL and how it’s done at Aalborg University and our experiences with PBL during this Corona Virus Pandemic.

AAU Guest Students😊
Emmanuel Yeboah Asuamah ( [email protected] )
Mathew Anabadongo Atinsia ([email protected] )