Consultancy: ICT and ICT integration in Education Instructor

The African Virtual University (AVU) www.avu.org is an equal opportunity employer. Application must include an application letter and a detailed curriculum vitae with: a telephone number; email and residential addresses; and names with contact addresses of three professional references. Applications should be sent to mcabral@avu.org and must have Short - Term Consultancy: ICT and ICT integration in Education Instructor as the email subject. Inquiries should be sent to mcabral@avu.org The successful candidate will be based at the AVU Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The closing date for these applications is on or before October 21st 2013 at 18:00 East African Time (UTC/GMT + 3) Note: ONLY shortlisted candidates will be contacted

TERMS OF REFERENCE

1.0. INTRODUCTION 

The African Virtual University (AVU) is a partner in the Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER) project. (BHER) that is a development initiative that aims to improve the education situation in Dadaab, Kenya, by bringing university education to refugee and local communities in Dadaab, Kenya. It is a multi‐institutional collaboration of institutions based in Kenya, African Virtual University (AVU), Kenyatta University (KU), Moi University (MU) and Windle Trust Kenya (WTK); and institutions based in Canada, York University (YU), University of British Columbia (UBC), and World University Service of Canada (WUSC). In the next five years, 2013‐2018, project partners will collaborate to develop, offer and deliver university level certificate, diplomas and degrees primarily to incentive and local teachers, and other eligible youth.

The AVU Business Plan 2009-2014 has two main thrusts: (a) Educational and support services provided on a fee basis; and (b) Not-for-profit development services. The Not-for-profit development services aims at building the capacity of AVU Partner Institutions (PIs) with an objective of increasing access to quality education through the following activities: updating and developing content; Open Educational Resources (OER) Development; AVU Capacity Enhancement Program (ACEP); set up/upgrade ODeL centers; developing professional networks through Communities of Practices; Research and Development; and Quality Evaluation and Benchmarking.

The AVU will be delivering its Certificate course on Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) as part of the Increased access and Skills for Tertiary Education Program (InSTEP) a remedial program that prepares students to pursue one of the degree programs offered by the Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER) university consortium. The course will take place in Dadaab, Kenya and will be delivered in two parts. AVU is looking to hire 3 instructors to teach its Certificate course on ICTs based on AVU modules on Introduction to ICTs Basic Skills and ICT Integration in Education. The instructors will be expected to update and adapt the modules as needed to the teaching context. The delivery of the first ICT course is expected to begin in mid‐November and run for 4 weeks. The next course will be delivered in April 2014 and run for 4 weeks.

2. Scope of Work for the Instructors

The Instructors will teach and deliver the modules of the curriculum as stipulated in the Policy Guidelines for Course Delivery (Appendix 1)

3. Deliverables of the Instructors

The Instructors will teach and deliver the modules of the curriculum of the AVU Certificate in ICT Basic skills. This will imply the following:

• Teach lessons as planned
• Coordinate practical sessions, if any
  Give support, direction and feedback to learners, during the courses (using mails, forums, chat, etc.)
• Give assignments
• Conduct/coordinate assessments
• Correct and grade marked assignments and assessments

4. Qualification of the Instructors

1. Preferably a Masters or Ph.D in a relevant domain of Education or Information Technology
2. Qualification in Computer Science
3. Experience in teaching, preferably at university level
4. Relevant experience in pedagogy and course development
5. Mastering of Microsoft Office Software, or their equivalent (e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.)
6. Excellent communication skills in English

5. Modalities of Work and Duration
The Instructors shall participate in a virtual meeting with the AVU Coordinators on a mutually agreed
date, prior to the beginning of each teaching session.

• The Instructor will coordinate the practical sessions when/as required
• The Instructors will submit activity reports, course materials and grading sheets in an approved format to the AVU Coordinator, Academic Programs Unit
• Upon receiving comments from the AVU, the Instructors will implement the recommended improvements (if any) and submit feedback to the AVU regarding the implementation
• The Instructors will spend approximately 60 hours to actually teach/deliver each module (i.e. coordination of laboratories, not including correction, student support, etc.); each module will be delivered over a 4‐week period approximately

6. Terms and conditions
The Instructors will be paid per program basis, upon successful completion of the program and submission of an acceptable end-of-program report to the AVU coordinator, USD 3000 for each of the 4-week sessions.

Appendix 1

POLICY GUIDELINES FOR COURSE DELIVERY

Instructor's characteristics

• Instructors are specialists in the subject area
• Instructors should undertake adaptation/completion of core content if necessary
• The AVU will guide the instructors on requirements
• Other stakeholders may also be involved in the delivery

Ownership

• The core materials (content developed by the AVU and made available to the instructors for the delivery) used for the curriculum delivery were developed on behalf of and belong to the AVU
• The AVU shall have ownership of any new materials developed by instructors during the delivery since it will have been developed on behalf of the AVU

Adaptation of Materials

• Adaptation of what is already available should be encouraged
• Materials can be adapted if they meet the required objectives and if they contain the relevant content

Intellectual Property rights (IPR)

• All the Intellectual Property Rights shall belong to the AVU

Pedagogical Principles

• Instructors will allow the reuse and reproduction of lectures
• Instructors should promote high levels of interaction with learners
• Instructors should provide quality practical sessions
• In‐built classroom activities should be incorporated into assignments and should be counted as part of the study course
• The Course should be outcomes‐based with assessment clearly linked to those outcomes

Deliverables

• Instructors will send an electronic copy of each of the course presentations to the AVU and the PIs, prior to the course
• The Instructors will submit activity reports, course materials and grading sheets in an approved format to the AVU Coordinator, Academic Programs Unit
• Instructors will submit a report at the end of each module verifying completion of specific syllabi, an assessment of the way the course was conducted as well as learners achievements vis‐à‐vis the course objectives. The report should also state any problems/concerns encountered and suggest remedies.

Quality Assurance

• Well designed and agreed upon curricula
• External assessors or reviews of the study material and course delivery
• Validation of the course material
• Approval of the courses being delivered
• Pilot testing of the study materials (in Kenya)
• Regular evaluation and revision of the study materials and course pedagogy

Other Guidelines

• The key task of instructors shall be to teach the designed content and conduct the assessment of learners
• Teaching shall reflect emphasis on practical elements by specifying the minimum number of theory and practical activities per section in the module; at least 3 activities
• Production of new learning materials shall be in both web downloadable and text formats ; thus although the content shall be the same, the web and text materials will be different in style and form