On February 13, 2019, Academic City hosted its maiden Education Conference that brought together 107 leaders (heads and counselors) from 31 major high schools in the country including Alpha Beta School, Achimota Senior High School, Mfantsiman Senior High School, Association International School, Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School, Galaxy International High School and others.
The conference theme was “Managing the Learning Process: Systems Approach to Teaching and Learning”, and sought to promote Academic City’s mission to provide and support quality education in Africa. The conference-featured sessions led by key members of Academic City’s leadership team and were aimed at exposing the participants to a variety of elements crucial for holistic student development.
Dr. Fred McBagonluri, President of Academic City, led a Systems Thinking Workshop that gave participants the opportunity to understand the importance of systems thinking in our daily lives and how its absence causes significant failures. The workshop gave participants a better appreciation of applying systems thinking to their teaching and learning environments to improve the delivery of education.
An insightful and activity-based workshop on design-thinking was led by Academic City’s Director of Strategy, Sunitha Jenarius, whose goal was to empower the participants to develop new and innovative solutions to simple problems through a process that enables them to discover the unmet human needs for problems identified and solution synthesis.
As part of Academic City’s efforts to promote a STEM-based education, Dr. Raymond Dumeh, Mathematics lecturer, co-led a session to demystify the concerns and fears about a STEM education alongside Julian Bennett, Engineering Lecturer, who engaged participants in a hands-on STEM activity to educate them on simplifying STEM concepts to make learning more impactful and exciting.
Lastly, Ruth Kwakwa, Dean of Student Affairs, offered a presentation on student success that highlighted the need for a shift in defining student success by focusing on the dynamic perspectives and interests of students instead of relying solely on the traditional and fixed views of success. Participants, through this presentation, learned to embrace the essence of redefining success according to each student’s needs to make it easier for students to enjoy their education and chart their career paths.
The conference served as a great opportunity for representatives from each high school to network among themselves and with the Academic City team to build strategic, long-term partnerships. Academic City remains committed to helping stakeholders to understand its mission and vision to redefine tertiary education on the continent.
Leave a Reply