1. ORSEA Conference 2014, Nairobi, Kenya, 16 th and 17 th October 2014 Adoption of Self-Study for University Education in Kenya By:- Elizabeth M. Muli, Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya, Elisha T.O. Opiyo, SCI, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya, William Okello-Odongo SCI, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. 1

2. The participants should appreciate the:- 1. Background of the study 2. Statement of the problem 3. Objectives of the Study 4. Conceptual framework of the Proposed self study Centre 5. The Methodology used 6. Prototype Modules 7. Prototype evaluation 8. Conclusions 2

3.  Education and training is one of the social pillars of the vision 2030, thus the responsibility of the education sector to create a knowledge-based society that uphold justice accountability and promotes result-oriented engagements.  The call to reform the education sector and match the pool of graduates with the skills demand of the industry to ensure effective synergy  The need to integrate Science Technology and Innovation in national development process to meet the demands for global competitiveness and sustainable development  The study seeks to develop an Agent-based Self study centre system to enhance learning and improve access and quality of education for all 3

4.  Learning disparities amongst learners resulting to poor performance and eventually they opt to drop out  Learning disruptions such as learners strikes, industrial unrests, busy schedules at work and program transitions  Skills constraints in specialized scientific areas as a result of rising gap between senior and junior scientists, engineers, technologists and researchers  Formal education is limited and cuts out many who cannot qualify due to poverty  To address these challenges this study proposes Self-study which is defined by Knowles, (1975) as “ A process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating their learning outcomes p.18”. 4

5. Research Objectives i. Investigate the learners experience with the current education system ii. Find out the readiness of the education system towards adopting self study iii. Assess the impact of using agents in self study Project Objectives i. Perform a system analysis process, design and develop the Agent- based self-study centre ii. Provide support to learners such as enrolling for units or take exams, assistance from tutors iii. Provide a forum where administrators can monitor the interactions of the learners and the tutors 5

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8. i) System Access Module To access the system all the users’ require a user name and a password where authentication is done and access granted as shown below:- 8

9. ii) Administrator Module Using the Administrator’s module an administrator of the system sets and manages the system variables such as setting academic year, number of semesters in an academic year, the course units to be offered in a given semester among others. Below is the administrator user interface with all the system variables. 9

10. iii) Learner Module When all the system variables are set learners can register for courses for available courses as shown below:- 10

11. Once learners have registered they can log in to the system and access their portals where they are able to study units, access learning materials and take exams as shown below:- 11

12. iv) Tutor Module This module enables the tutors to select course units they will support by providing learning materials, manage exams and tests and also offer support to learners. 12

13. The Agent based self-study system was evaluated by a team of fifteen (15) evaluators which composed of students, lecturers, one ICT officer and two Administrators. The prototype was evaluated based on the following :- i. System Usability ii. System functionality iii. System Performance Below are the results of the evaluation:- Table 1: System Usability 13

14. Table 2: Prototype Functionality Table 3: Prototype Performance 14

15.  The education sector is charged with the responsibility of creating a knowledge based society but it is also faced by several challenges. Competition is also on the rise with many universities coming up and to remain competitive modern learning techniques have to be adopted to offer flexibility and at the same time maintain quality of education and training.  This study shows that the Agent-based self-study centre will provide a solution to some of the challenges facing the education system. Multi agent systems also offer enhanced performance due to parallelism. 15

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