3 Getting Started: Building a Teaching and Learning Centre

By John Gekonde, Kisii National Polytechnic

This chapter provides an overview of how to establish a TLC, as well as a number of areas to consider when just starting out.

STARTING A TLC: OPTIONS AND WAY FORWARD

Starting a TLC requires the management of the institution to properly conceptualize the idea before embarking on anything for this will determine its future success and sustainability. Even before a TLC is started, the institution must answer the following questions:

• • Why do we need a TLC?
  • Who will staff the TLC?
  • What will be the administrative structure of the TLC?
  • How will the staff be influenced to seek the services of a TLC?

But once institutions have determined that a TLC is right for them, there are different options for initiating a TLC.

Option One	Option Two
The best way out for starting a TLC in a Kenyan TVET institution may require inputs from an institution with an established TLC to mentor it, preferably called a development partner. The mentor can be from a developed country, given that it’s a fairly new concept in Kenya, or a developing country, though there are a few TLCs in Africa, too.	In the absence of an established mentor, an institution can benchmark locally or abroad or even do ‘online benchmarking’ and borrow the best practices that can be adopted to start the TLC. Though this may be a tall order given that the TLC concept is new to the institution. However, whether with or without a mentor, online benchmarking will enrich the institutions seeking to set up a TLC.

 

For the case of the Kisii National Polytechnic (Kisii NP]) it is TLC being mentored by Vancouver Island University (VIU) from British Columbia in Canada, and the mentorship involves the provision of a subject matter expert (SME) or consultant and funding of equipment for the TLC.

The initiation of the TLC has its roots in the 2017 study trip to Canada. Establishing a TLC in the Kisii NP was a recommendation contained in a report written by the Kenya Education for Employment Program (KEFEP) Lead, Mr. John H. Gekonde.  This recommendation was made in November, 2021 following a study tour of Canada by the Kisii NP’s KEFEP project team led the then Principal, Mr. Athanas Mokaya. The study trip involved the Kisii team visiting VIU, the Canadian partner in the KEFEP project. The recommendation was endorsed by the KNP Governing Council.

The idea of establishing the TLC was incorporated into the Kisii NP’s Strategic Plan (2018-2023) by the KEFEP Lead, Mr. Gekonde, but did not take off due to lack of capacity.  To that end, on April 26, 2019, the KEFEP Lead wrote an email to Vancouver Island University (VIU) to help set up the facility.  This subsequently led to the arrangement for training of personnel to run the TLC.

In June, 2019 five trainers who attended a CBET training from Selkirk College (BC, Canada) were selected and trained as TLC champions in Kisumu National Polytechnic alongside those from Kisumu and Sigalagala National Polytechnics. The trainers were John H. Gekonde, Benjamin Ongoro, Geoffrey Nyachiro, Shem Kereu and Caroline Masara. The training was facilitated by Selkirk College under the auspices of KEFEP. The champions were to eventually run the CBET resource center.

In October, 2019 the Kisii NP Principal, Mr. Nyariki, accompanied by Mr. Gekonde to VIU and among the key agenda was to re-visit and strengthen the idea of establishing a TLC at KNP by consolidating the gains made so far. Following this visit, in February 2020, VIU sent Dr. Kathleen Bortolin to Kisii NP to bring the TLC to its feet by conducting further training of the TLC champions and conducting strategic planning sessions to design a pathway for TLC development.  At the conclusion of that trip, Dr. Bortolin along with TLC champions facilitated a session for key HoDs and administrators to sensitize them to the TLC. The TLC at KNP had officially started. Since then, the TLC at KNP has had a dedicated staff member, Caroline Masara, who organizes the running of the TLC, liaises with various HoDs and other administrators, and facilitates many of the workshops, sessions, and consultations the TLC is responsible for.

WRITING A VISION AND MISSION STATEMENT

Vision and mission statements are very crucial in determining the direction the TLC will take, why undertake such a move, the pace at which it will move, and with who, and will also influence the level of motivation of stakeholders. Creating vision and mission statements requires a consultative forum and therefore it must be an inclusive process. The vision and mission statements will subsequently determine the creation of other statements such as the mandate and core values and also the drafting of the plan of the TLC. Some questions to consider when writing your vision and mission statement include:

Criteria for Selecting the TLC Staff

There are actually many criteria for selecting TLC staff, some of the common ones are listed below.

a) Skill requirements/specialization of the staff to run the TLC.

b) Qualifications of the staff: should they be trained teachers or not? The Kenyan situation may require one to be a trained teacher/professional teacher.

c) Experience of the staff.

d) Attendance in past training on CBET/methodology: only attendees stand chance.

e) Departmental representation across one per department.

f) Gender consideration based on the 1/3 rule.

g) Having passion for work.

h) Staff who can perform and hence are committed.

i) Self-driven trainers.

j) Patriotic trainers/no vested interests.

k) Ability to work in a team.

l) Great interpersonal skills.

Overview of  TLC Development Training (February 2020)

by Dr. Kathleen Bortolin

Introduction

From February 10, 2020, until February 21 (10 days), the Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) team from Kisii National Polytechnic (KNP) engaged in training and capacity building to support their efforts in opening their first TLC, a goal they have been working toward since 2017.  The intention to start a TLC was inspired in part by a 2017 trip to Vancouver Island University (VIU) under the KEFEP program.  At that time, John Gekonde, a key stakeholder behind the creation of KNP’s TLC, met with VIU’s CIEL and then-director, Liesel Knaack.  It was during that meeting John decided that a TLC at KNP could support a broad methodological shift related to CBET.

Hearing about this opportunity from Darrell Harvey, I decided to apply for a Global Engagement Grant to create and deliver a training program to support KNP’s TLC team. I was awarded the grant and used my VIUFA PD time to take 10 days to travel to Kisii and engage the team in training.  The training schedule and content were developed prior to my departure from VIU in consultation with KNP stakeholders, VIU colleagues involved in the KEFEP project, and my own ideas. What follows is an overview of the training, followed by a more detailed description and reflection of the ten days.

KNP TLC Training Team consisted of HoDs (KEFEP and TLC); a TLC coordinator and numerous CBET Champions.

Getting started at KNP : An example of Early Capacity Building at TVET TLC:

• Started with an introduction to our work and a general discussion about TLCs.  This helped champions discuss their understanding of TLCs and the goals they wanted to achieve by developing one.  This discussion supported the group in working toward a shared vision for the TLC.
• Facilitated a strategic planning session with TLC champions to get more specific about what the goals of the TLC were in the first year, and creating a pathway with clear, articulated steps to achieve those goals.
• Delivered capacity building workshops to TLC champions on a variety of pedagogical approaches including engaging students in the classroom; how to design a workshop; effective summative assessment; using formative assessment in the classroom; group work in the classroom, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
• Reviewed TLC Wishlist and created a committee to source items and find quotations to submit to partner institutions for procurement
• Discussed how to market a TLC: pamphlet, website, social media and HoD meeting
• Planned and participated The soft launch: Introducing the TLC to key KNP stakeholders: meeting and open forum. 

For the case of the Kisii NP, a needs assessment was done focused on what the TLC should be doing and getting the opinions, facts, and misconceptions of the trainers about the TLC by directly interacting with them. Both types of trainers were involved, i.e. targeting those with teacher-training backgrounds and those without, based on the inclusive criterion.

Questionnaires, one-on-one interviews, and instructor feedback evaluation forms can be used to collect data about the TLC. The correct data assists in drafting the strategic plan, deliverables, policy document, and service charter. The needs assessment should be done during the conceptualization phase and training phase after establishment. This also provids a glimpse of frequently asked questions about the TLC as well as the creation of templates for use in the TLC.