"I am Moses Musonda. I am a senior lecturer and CPD coordinator at Kasama College of Education in Kasama, Zambia. As a member of the National CPD Task Team (see page 22), I try to learn from other colleges and facilitate change at my college.
Do you know TESSA? If TESSA were a lady working in an office somewhere in this country, she would have a congested office. Every lecturer would want to seek her advice on how to deliver their lessons in the most effective way.
TESSA stands for Teacher Education in Sub-Sahara Africa (www.tessafrica.net). VVOB invited TESSA to Zambia to answer our need for guidance and training in the use of TESSA /Open Educational Resources in module writing for the new Open Distance Learning Programmes in the colleges.
But there is much more to TESSA materials than this. TESSA materials are an important tool in expediting the teacher’s lesson delivery process in the classroom. The five TESSA modules (Science, Numeracy, Literacy and Language, Social Studies and Life Skills) contain very exciting class activities that actively engage your learners and which promote absolute learner-centredness in every aspect of teaching and learning.
VVOB organised three workshops, grouping three colleges at the time. TESSA sent three facilitators from the UK and South Africa who trained a total of 75 module writers from nine colleges. The TESSA materials proved to be a powerful companion in module writing, something anyone would love to embark upon.
After the training, my and two other colleges took the initiative to request VVOB for funding for a collaborative module writing exercise, in which TESSA materials would further be integrated. A new form of collaboration between colleges was born. Kasama, Malcolm Moffat and Mansa College of Education wrote ‘Module 1’ for each of the seven learning areas, rather than each developing their own modules.
When you find TESSA materials, dare to pick them up and examine the rich resources and class activities. Remember, you can adopt and adapt TESSA materials to suit your context without annoying the authors because TESSA materials are for free. Feel free to use them, colleagues! Thank you VVOB for introducing this powerful companion to us."
