On June 4-6, 2015, Ashesi faculty and visiting faculty from the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) engaged with U.S engineering institution Olin College for a workshop on Design Thinking and a Culture of Teaching and Learning. The workshop focused on how educators can “design and facilitate learning experiences”, moving away from the conventional practice of delivering knowledge
Leading the workshop was Olin design professor Benjamin Linder and three of his former students, Katherine (Kari) Bender, Katherine (Kate) Maschan (both mechanical engineering) and Anna Konstantinova (engineering with a concentration on bioengineering). Over the three days, faculty got a feel for design thinking, learning culture and student centered, and experiential teaching.
The workshop was carried out through a series of group projects interspersed with mini lectures and student examples presented by Olin alumni. Ahead of Ashesi starting its new engineering programme, the workshop brought helpful lessons for the ongoing process of curriculum development and renewal, and kick-started the collaboration between the two Ghanaian institutions.
"I think it was good that the workshop was partly facilitated by former students because they have experienced what you have here at Ashesi, and at Olin, and it is good for us to get to know what they have learned,” said Cynthia Boye from UMaT.
The interaction also provided opportunities for Ashesi to learn more about UMaT; faculty learned, for example, about UMaT's "zero student failure policy" that says if students were to fail a course, it had to be less than 10% of the entire class; if the number was higher, faculty would have to provide a detailed explanation of the circumstances.
"I have learned valuable teaching skills and methodologies to help me improve my teaching in the classroom,” said Nana Baah Gyan, lecturer at Ashesi. “There are so many examples that I had not thought about, but that could be really useful in getting students' participation and their attention in class."
Professor Linder explained that At Olin College, the belief was that all students were engineers "from day one, just not so experienced! Ashesi is feels very much like Olin. Hopefully, both Ashesi and UMaT will offer a similarly generous and student centered learning environment.”
By Kajsa Hallberg; Photos: Steve Buchele
