Short description of self and my work

I teach at TU-K since January 2017. Before joining University teaching in January 2011, I worked five years in industry as IT Technical adviser in the ministry of Health, Kenya. My area of specialization is in computer science and I mainly teach programing (Introduction to Programming (C++), Data structures and Algorithms, and Object Oriented Programming using Java and Compiler design and construction).

Since May 2017 I am director, school of Computing and Information Technologies responsible for Academic and Administrative matters in the school. In this role the main concentration tasks are currently development of new postgraduate programmes (masters level) and recruitment of PhD holders to build the capacity of the school of computing. Other active activities are in growing the collaborations portfolio of the school where we have so far managed to enter into an agreement with Huawei for professional certification in Networking.

Motivations for joining the workshop

From the success of the University of Applied Sciences model in Germany, I am particularly interested to learn on how a similar model can be applied in Kenyan Universities. Specifically this is on how curricula, learning activities, graduates’ profile and research are aligned to the needs in the industry by being application-oriented. A close linkage to the industry is a requirement for my school to produce graduates who easily find employment and/or are able to innovate and start their own small businesses. I hope to gain insights on how the whole student process from selection, admission, teaching delivery (didactics), use of tools and technology to facilitate flipped classes and leaner centered teaching all wrk together to impart on the resultant graduates. I would like to further understand the concept of technology transfer from which German Universities are entrepreneurial through the permeation of research results to the industry in the form of spinoff companies, intellectual property rights, patents and copyrights for commercialization. I believe these workshops will enable me to get the above competencies that I have strong interest in.

Relevant insights I have gained during the workshop

• Close working relations between companies and the University
• Selection of few/select companies that are able to take students on internships and projects
• Requirement for the University lecturers to undergo didactics training
• Conceptual seminar integration in the curriculum – and the presentation of issues/challenges by people in the industry to the students
• Integration of Library studies in the curriculum for all study programs (Ingolstadt Library)

Intentions how I want to apply these insights at TU-K in SCIT

• Invitation of collaboration partners to give lectures to students. Both free topic lectures but also themed lectures like: “Challenges of IT management for Telecommunications Companies” From the discussions the students will follow up to try and identify thesis topics
• Inclusion of “conceptual seminar” ideas in the new masters curriculum whereby the seminars will be designed to be co-taught with industry partners
• Cross disciplinary discussions and meetings (formally and informally) especially with the engineering and business colleagues to identify topics and themes that will enrich the computing courses towards application/practice orientation