Intern initiates the KASU Pod Project

In his bid to make a transformational impact in higher education at Kaduna State University, Dikko Yusuf, an intern scholar with the Department of English and Drama has developed the KASU Pod-Cast Project (KPP).

Yusuf was sponsored by the Kaduna State Scholarship and Loans Board to undergo an M.A. programme at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. On his return to Nigeria, he served one year of his two-year bond with KASU, thus making the University the immediate beneficiary of the Kaduna State Government initiative in funding human capacity development.

Dikko returns to the UK to pursue a PhD degree and will continue the next phase of his internship by leading a research group at KASU virtually. 

The project was developed as a supplementary learning resource, in the form of an on-demand video podcast for 100-level students of KASU. The podcast is to run a four-part lecture series called "worlds between words," an hour-long episode. 

The podcast format was considered an effective means for teaching in higher education because 12.5% of students who performed well in the Department of English and Drama, watched and referenced the online resources. 

The objectives of the project are as follows:

1. Assess the viability of adopting new media in teaching English studies in a Nigerian higher education institution (HEI),

2. Introduce KASU students to new and leading ideas in the literature regarding the texts that they are studying in class and

3. To establish an academic relationship between the Department and a world-leading UK HEI. 

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abdullahi Ibrahim Musa, expressed his delight about the innovation as efforts are being made by the Management to transform Kaduna State University into a world-class university, especially as the success of the project can be adopted by other Departments and HEIs. The project has a natural appeal to the current digital generation of students in HEIs. 

It is important to add that the podcast will increase KASU's visibility and positively impact its academic standing for driving innovation in Nigeria's higher education, seeing that it will promote the use of the university's computer clusters and enrich the e-library with learning resources. 

Exciting new ideas that are engaging, like the video podcast, are also good means of generating interest in the university and its activities from potential commercial partners and prospective students. 

A video podcast, also known as a vidcast or vodcast, is a multimedia digital file or series of files distributed over the internet, typically in episodic form available for streaming or download. 

Signed 

Adamu Nuhu Bargo

P.R.O-KASU