Office of the Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources
International Programs
University of Florida – CIAT
2039 McCarty Hall
PO Box 110282
Gainesville, FL 32611-0282
Telephone: (352) 392-1965
SUNCOM: 622-1965
Fax: (352) 392-7127
Web site : http://international.ifas.ufl.edu
E-mail: ipifas@ifas.ufl.edu
Strengthening Environmental and Agricultural
Capacity through
Distance Education (SEAC-DE)
Report on Guest Students Initiative
Fall Semester, 2005
SAEC-DE Pilot Project in East Africa
in partnership with
Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
An Equal Opportunity Institution
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University of Florida – CIAT Partnership
Strengthening Agricultural and Environmental Capacity through
Distance Education (SAEC-DE)
Report on Guest Students Initiative - Sep-Dec 2005
Submitted by:
Lisette Staal, Assistant Director, UF/IFAS International Programs, January 30, 2006
Background
The UF/CIAT joint USAID Africa pilot project entitled “Strengthening Agricultural and
Environmental Capacity through Distance Education (SAEC-DE),” which includes
partners in two African countries (Kenya – University of Nairobi and Uganda- Makerere
University), carried out a second phase of testing with guest students in Fall 2005.
Building on the previous test phase which focused exclusively on CIAT in Colombia, we
expanded the guest students to include the two educational partner institutions in Africa
and CIAT researchers located in Africa and Colombia.
Courses, professors and guest students
Core members of the SAEC-DE pilot project in each location recruited
researchers/students to participate as guest students in four different UF distance
education courses taught by different instructors and using different methods and
platforms. The students selected courses of their preference and Lisette Staal, Assistant
Director of the UF/IFAS International Programs arranged their participation with
respective professors. In addition, at the request of a faculty member at Makerere
University, we had a class of 5, under the professor’s guidance participate as guest
students. This was the only class which was taught by an UF professor that had
participated in the previous guest student initiative. The professors, departments,
courses, and students are noted below (and in attachment A):
Dr. J. Capinera, ENY 6905 Insect and vector management
 Brenda Aluda, University of Nairobi
 Peninah Wambui Njenga, University of Nairobi
 Gloria Valentine Nakato, Makerere University
 Henry Mziray, CIAT, Tanzania
Dr. H. McAuslane, ENY 6203 Insect Ecology
 Arturo Carabali, CIAT, Colombia
Drs. R. Brown and E. Hanlon, SOS 5234, Environmental Soil Water & Land Use
 Bernard Fungo, Makerere University
 H.O. Ndukhu, University of Nairobi
Dr. Paul (Skip)Choate, ENY 6166, Insect Classification
 One class under the direction of Dr. Samuel Kyamanywa and Herbert
Takwaba: James Peter Egonyu, Benedict Ssekyanzi, Maureen Solera,
Christine Munduru, John Baptist Amega
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The SAEC Core Management team in each location provided on-site support as needed.
This included Dr. Geoffrey Kironchi and Prof. Agnes Mwang’ombe at University of
Nairobi, Dr. Moses Tenywa at Makerere University, Dr. Edith Hesse at CIAT, Colombia
and Ms. Lisette Staal at University of Florida.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Several methods were used to monitor this process. An initial baseline brief
questionnaire was sent through email. The UF coordinator stayed in close touch with the
SAEC-DE management team to monitor any issues as they came up. In addition, for the
first time in this project, an on-line monitoring and feedback tool was designed and
implemented on a web-based format. Two surveys were administered, one for the guest
students and one for the faculty members.
ISSUE: Educational Materials - During the communications in the initial stage of the
guest student initiative, the majority of issues related to the ordering and receipt of
training/educational materials. As a result of late identification of participants and
courses, the materials needed to be acquired at UF and sent to the students. This incurred
an unexpected cost and time delay.
RECOMMENDATION: To be sustainable, it must be easier for the students
to manage their own access to the materials. Choice of courses should be
made in enough time for the students to order the appropriate books and
class materials. In some cases, this may mean the need for local institutional
support.
RECOMMENDATION: Management of funds for student books, materials
and research funds should be managed through the student’s supervisor in
tandem with the advisory team.
ISSUE: Several faculty and core team members felt that it would be better to have the
students receive some sort of recognition for their participation in the courses as part of
the guest student initiative. The "guest student initiative" objective was to test the
feasibility of the program and help to find weak areas and an official letter of certification
or completion was not part of the program. Following the email discussion of the
instructors and my direct discussions with Dr. Luzar, Assistant Dean for the College of
Agricultural and Life Sciences, rather than raise the expectation of the guest students, and
to inadvertently give the idea that credit was being received for participating in a course
that was not paid for, I had backed off the idea for the program. I decided that a
"certificate" was not appropriate at this time. However, I suggested that individual
instructors could communicate privately with their students about their level of
achievement in their particular course.
RECOMMENDATION: For similar activities in the future, consider the
award of a simple certificate of participation for the involvement in the
initiative with no evaluative nature.
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ISSUE: Having agreed to take on even more guest students than anticipated due to the
interest of a “class” taking it at once, unfortunately there was little or no interaction with
the professor at Makerere University during this course. In addition, although, the
response rate to the survey was 100%, only one student of the “class” that participated in
Dr. Paul Choate's class ENY6166 responded, indicating that he had appreciated the
materials, which he rated highly. It is a pity that we were unable to gain more from this
experience. Luckily, Dr.Choate, who had already participated in the previous Guest
Student program, and the program, as it contributes to working and thinking
internationally, with positive impacts on future courses.
RECOMMENDATION: Maintain much better communication and
accountability to ensure committed participation in the program.
Student Feedback
Several questions were posed to the students at the outset of the guest initiative. They
included 1) How would you rate your current computer literacy? 2) What barriers do
you think you face in e-learning? and 3) Have you ever taken a course by distance
education through e-learning? All students rated their computer literacy as good or very
good. They identified access to reliable computers, internet access and downloading
capabilities as the key barriers. One student noted a delay in obtaining course materials
as a potential problem. None of the students had participated in a distance education
course previously.
Following the distance education experience students were asked to participate in an online survey. There was 100% response, excluding the “class” noted previously.
The responses indicated that the students found the most useful technology tools to be
email, books, CD, and e-lectures. Although over half did not use web-based tools or
power-point, of the three that did, these were rated very highly. The least used
technologies were on-line chat and bulletin boards, as well as virtual labs. However,
when these were used by the instructors, they were highly rated. The UF library and
telephone was not used at all by the guest students which is not surprising as they have
very little exposure and experience on how to use electronic library resources and was not
required for the course work.
Students noted that they had spent more time on this e-learning course, compared to
regular face-to-face courses and that there was less interaction with fellow students.
However, there was even access to the materials and although they had less access to the
instructor, they actually felt they had received more feedback from them. Overall quality
of instruction was considered higher by some and not so high by others. The majority felt
that the personal learning or learning outcome was the higher or the same compared to a
traditional class.
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Although one of the initial concerns noted before the program by students was the access
to appropriate infrastructure, only two felt that this was below average. Most indicated
average and one noted excellent. In one case, arrangements were made for a student by
CIAT to access a computer through ILRI, a CGIAR center located at walking distance
from the University of Nairobi agricultural faculty. Below are some further comments by
students:
What was your best experience with SAEC-DE guest initiative?
 Interacting with people from different parts of the world
 Studying independently, at own pace, own time, leaving personal time for
research
 High quality learning materials including lectures on CD-ROM
 Experiencing a new educational model
 Getting personalized attention.
What were your greatest challenges for participating in this program?
 Reading straight from computer (having to print out so many materials)
 Computer limitations: Access to computers (on weekends and evenings), lack of
fast-connection internet system and financial support, unable to open narrated
slides, reading materials
 The special project - searching for info about particular pests in different
countries
What would you suggest to improve the program?
 Unlimited access to computer facilities
 Fast connection internet and necessary computer
 Financial support for acquisition of learning materials and printing
 Improve interaction between instructors and students and among students
Would you recommend this type of experience to your peers?
 Yes, learning and self improvement, time management, interactions, self
discipline
 Yes, manageable in terms of time and money
 Yes, improve listening skills, reading, thinking and searching information
 Yes, this kind of education is going to be the pioneer
 The only No response was one student who participated in the “class” at
Makerere University and since there was no interaction from there to the UF
instructor, this is not really meaningful.
Other comments
 Great experience.
 More programs should be introduced
 Our coordinators did not do enough
 Participating students should be enrolled for advanced degrees
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Faculty Feedback
The times that the faculty had taught an e-learning course varied from one to over 6
times. Regarding course delivery or management systems, the Entomology department
used CD and email, while the Soil and Water Science department used WebCT Vista, the
standard University Course Management System, which requires better internet access.
Instructors’ comments on the usefulness of the various types of technology tools mirrored
those of the students indicating that phone and library were not used at all, CD and email
was most useful, and for those that used WebCT the internet was important.
In comparing standard face to face courses with e-learning courses, the faculty noted that
the amount of time was the same or more, the demand on the instructor was the same,
interaction with students was the same or more, and the personal learning was the same.
The instructors also felt that the students’ access to appropriate infrastructure was average
or below.
What was your best experience?
 Pleasantly surprised with quality of communication skills and background
 Students performed well after solving issues of internet access and textbook
issues
What were your greatest challenges?
 Students lack access to text and have problems to print supplementary readings
 Lack of initiative on part of student on conversation regarding term project.
 Poor internet access
 Developing materials relevant to the region, spent more time locating materials in
preparation
What would you suggest to improve the program?
 Materials - Provide a book allowance and make books available up front; address
textbook and hardware problems before course.
 Communications - Need regular weekly email correspondence to ensure student
keeping pace, direct and regular communication from students and coordinator at
the sites.
 Credit or recognition – Have students take course for credit, give students tangible
reward for their efforts, in order to find out whether they do poorly due to lack of
effort or lack of training.
Would you recommend this to your peers?
 There was strong positive response to this, except from the instructor working
with the “class” rather than individual students.
 The experience of this “class” instructor was not rewarding in that he did not hear
from anyone during the course, so he had no way to measure any success or
activity. His hope is that at least the materials were used and helpful. Since there
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was not feedback from the sites involved, the instructor is hesitant to recommend
this to other colleagues.
What is needed for successful participation by international students that may differ in
any way from domestic students?
 Discussion sessions must be asynchronous due to different time zones and chats
may not be as useful due to language, time zones and hardware issues.
 The sites need to be aware of the limitations of delivery of course materials and
better internet/email capabilities are needed.
 The issue of a tangible reward for student efforts was mentioned again.
 One instructor commented that there is an issue of students plagiarizing electronic
material on exams, and that this has occurred with other international students on
campus. Professors and administration must stress the importance of referencing
sources.
RECOMMENDATIONS for CIAT, University of Florida and Partner Institutions








Students need priority access to the computers in their computer lab, allowing
them to work several hours in a row or project computers should be acquired
(Partner Institutions and CIAT)
Access to appropriate level of computer connectivity is critical for the success of
the student and the program (Partner Institutions and CIAT).
Maintaining good contact and communication with the student as well as
institutional coordinator. (supervisory team)
Determine an appropriate management system to ensure access to books,
materials and research funds in a timely fashion. Handle this through the
supervisory committee (SAEC-DE Core management team)
Encourage more frequent email communication to keep up on student
participation for those classes not currently doing that (University of Florida)
Address issue of plagiarism with students (faculty and supervisory team)
Consider a “tangible reward” or certificate for participation in similar programs in
the future (University of Florida)
Ensure commitment on the part of the participating “classes” if this is to be done
again. Excellent response and participation was found with all individual
students. (Partner Institutions)
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Attachment A
Guest Student Initiative
August 2005
List of Guest Students and Courses
Strengthening Agricultural and Environmental Capacity through
Distance Education (SAEC-DE)
USAID funded Pilot Project for Eastern Africa:
CIAT and University of Florida in partnership with
University of Nairobi and Makerere University
Aluda, Brenda Anne
Carabali, Arturo
Fungo, Bernard
Mziray, Henry
Nakato, Gloria Valentine
Ndukhu, H.O.
Njenga, Peninah Wambui
ENY
6905
ENY
6203
SOS
5234
Insect and vector
management
Insect Ecology
Capinera
b_aluda@yahoo.com
McAuslane
arturo.carabali@gmail.com
R. Brown
and
E.Hanlon
Capinera
bfungo@forest.mak.ac.ug or
bfungo1@yahoo.com
ENY
6905
ENY
6905
SOS
5234
Environmental
Soil, Water and
Land Use
Insect and Vector
Management
Insect and Vector
Management
Environmental soil
water and land use
Capinera
nakatogv@yahoo.com
hndukhu@yahoo.com
ENY
6905
ENY
6166
Insect and Vector
Management
Insect
Classification
R. Brown
and
E.Hanlon
Capinera
Univ. of
Nairobi
CIAT
Colombia
Makerere
University
hendryandrea@hotmail.com
CIAT
Tanzania
Makerere
University
Univ.of
Nairobi
pwanjeng@yahoo.com
Univ. of
Nairobi
Dr. Samuel Kyamanywa
(Professor))
Dr. Herbert Takwaba
(Professor)
Egonyu James Peter
skyamanywa@agric.mak.ac.ug
Ssekyanzi Benedict
ssekyanzibenedict@yahoo.com
Solera Maureen
maureensolera@yahoo.co.uk
Munduru Christine
cmunduru01@yahoo.co.uk
Amega John Baptist
alphamega@agric.mak.ac.ug
Makerere
University
Makerere
University
Makerere
University
Makerere
University
Makerere
University
Makerere
University
Makerere
University
CLASS OF FIVE
Choate
haltalwana@yahoo.com
egip@agric.mak.ac.ug
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