Staff Profile: Prof. Speranza Ndege

Abstract

Prof. Speranza Ndege is an Associate Professor at University of Embu, in Humanities Department, School of Education and Social Sciences (SESS). Before joining the University of Embu, she was a Senior Lecturer at Kenyatta University having built her career from a Tutorial Fellow. Prior to joining Kenyatta University, Prof. Ndege had taught in a secondary school for several years under the Teacher’s Service Commission. Besides teaching, Prof. Ndege is a mentor, academic advisor, trainer and researcher. She has supervised undergraduate and postgraduate student dissertations. She is also an internal and external examiner for post graduate projects/dissertations. 2 Prof. Ndege is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (UK) having graduated from St. Yorks University (UK). She holds a PhD from Ghent University, Belgium; an MSC in Computer Based Information System from University of Sunderland, UK; a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Education (Hons) from University of Nairobi, Kenya. She has a Professional Certificate in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Auditing (EA) (Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, Kenya). She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in eTeaching (Agder University, Norway & Global Virtual University) and a diploma in Professional Tour Operation [e-Tourism] (ICM, UK). Prof. Ndege has received much training in Information Communication Technology and e-Learning (including Electronic Document Management and Website Design) and Instructional Design. She is Online Tutor at University of Embu. Prof. Ndege has practical experience and expertise in ICT, e-Learning, distance learning, training, and research. She is also a Consultant in Environmental Impact Assessment/Audit, eContent authoring, Online Tutoring, and Instructional Design. She reviews and evaluates academics programmes for institutions of Higher Learning. Prof. Ndege is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (UK) having graduated from St. Yorks University (UK). She holds a PhD from Ghent University, Belgium; an MSC in Computer Based Information System from University of Sunderland, UK; a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Education (Hons) from University of Nairobi, Kenya. She has a Professional Certificate in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Auditing (EA) (Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, Kenya). She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in eTeaching (Agder University, Norway & Global Virtual University) and a diploma in Professional Tour Operation [e-Tourism] (ICM, UK). Prof. Ndege has received much training in Information Communication Technology and e-Learning (including Electronic Document Management and Website Design) and Instructional Design. She is a CISCO Academy Instructor and an Online Tutor at Kenyatta University. In August 2013, the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Education appointed Prof. Ndege into the Technical and Planning Committee for establishment of the National Open University of Kenya (NOUK). Once established, the new University will enroll local and international students from all over the world to study from the comfort of their homes and work places. The students will utilize modern technology (ICT/e-Learning) to access education. In 2010, Prof. Ndege was appointed a Commissioner of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development a position she held for five years (2015). In 2015, Prof. Ndege was re-appointed in the Commission for Sustainable Digital Development as commissioner for a further two years. In 2017, Prof. Ndege’s commitment and hard work in the Commission earned her an additional two years, making it nine years of consecutive service in this esteemed International Commission. The establishment of the Commission was a joint initiative by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Commission has high level representation from industry leaders, senior policy-makers and governments and international agencies, academia and organizations that are concerned with sustainable development. Prof. Ndege is nicknamed 'e-Learning Champion in Central and Eastern Africa’. In 2003, she boldly championed the first online programmes in an institution of higher learning in Kenya, by piloting the joint phase 2 AVU-KU diploma and degree programmes with two external universities, the 3 Royal Melbourne University of Technology (RMIT), Australia for Applied Computer Science and Curtain University, Australia for Business Administration. The success of these external online programmes led to the launch of the first e-Learning programmes in Kenya on 14 th June 2005. In November 2005, while attending the ICWE e-Learning Conference in Berlin, Germany, Prof. Ndege met the ICWE Conference Organizers and lobbied for the 2 nd e-Learning Conference to be held in Kenya after the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Conference of 2006. In the same year 2006, ICWE appointed Prof. Ndege a member of the Advisory Board for e-Learning Africa & ICT Conferences. In 2007, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in Kenya appointed Prof. Ndege into the Planning Committee that organized the 2 nd e-Learning Africa Conference, held in Nairobi the same year. This Conference was a turning point for e-Learning development in Kenya and East Africa. Tertiary institutions in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, and some secondary schools started e-Learning programmes. In addition, Prof. Ndege initiated the use of Moodle Open Source e-Learning Management Software in Kenya in 2007 when she implemented it at Kenyatta University. Today, most institutions in Eastern Africa are using the Moodle Software for online learning. During her tenure as Director of the Institute of Open, Distance & e-Learning (ODeL) at Kenyatta University, Prof. Ndege trained 73,134 university students in online learning, trained 695 university lecturers in online facilitation and digitized 801 online courses. Prof. Ndege started teaching at the University of Embu on 21st January 2020 (although her official working date was 27th January 2020