By Patrick Opio
Senior Communications Officer
Lira University participated in a two-day Mastercard Foundation/FAWE Uganda Higher Education Access Certificate (HEAC) Pedagogical Reflection Refresher Workshop held from 22nd to 23rd October 2026 at Mountain Inn Hotel, Mbale, Uganda.
The workshop brought together university leaders, quality assurance practitioners, academic registrars, and HEAC programme facilitators from universities in Northern and Eastern Uganda to reflect on pedagogical practices and strengthen programme implementation.
The university delegation comprised, from left to right: Mr. Kwizera Gad (HEAC teaching staff), Mr. Wilfred Achayo Kilama (Academic Registrar), Dr. Epila Jackie (Lira University FAWE-UG Focal Person), Assoc. Prof. Awichi Opaka Richard (HEAC teaching staff), Assoc. Prof. Judith Abal (DVC AA), and Dr. Owiny Peter (Chief Quality Assurance Officer).
The workshop provided a platform for knowledge sharing, practical learning, and institutional reflection, with interactive presentations, group discussions, case analyses, hands-on activities, and experience sharing.
Key areas explored during the refresher training
i. The HEAC Curriculum: Design, development, review, implementation, and institutional experiences in programme delivery.
ii. Human-Centred Learning: Shifting from learner-centred instruction to a holistic, inclusive, gender-responsive, and competency-based approach that prioritises learners’ wellbeing, agency, and development.
iii. Digital and AI Tools for Teaching, Learning and Assessment: Exploring practical applications of technology and artificial intelligence, including ethical use, academic integrity, data privacy, and equitable access.
iv. Authentic and Holistic Assessment: Strengthening assessment as, for, and of learning through authentic, competency-based assessment tasks and rubrics.
v. Reflexive Pedagogical Praxis: Reflecting on teaching practices and the role of EOP, GRP, mentorship, TUSEME, and other models in learner transformation, alongside developing individual and institutional action plans.
The discussions reinforced the importance of curriculum quality, innovative teaching approaches, effective assessment, reflective practice, and technology-enhanced learning in improving educational outcomes.
Brief work/academic experience of Dr. Epila Jackie (Ph.D.), the FAWE-Uganda Focal Person, Lira University
- Senior Lecturer-Chemistry, Faculty of Education
- Research Scholar, Research Methods Program 2024, Leaders of Africa Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
- UNESCO-OWSD Early Career Fellow, Trieste Italy.
- Open Doors Fellow, VIB-IPBO, Gent, Belgium.
- Visiting Scholar: Plant Ecology Laboratory, Department of Plants and Crops; and Synthesis, Bioresources and Bioorganic Chemistry (SynBioC), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium.
- Director NewGen Nursery and Primary School, Lira Uganda.
- Former Head of Department of Science and Vocational Education, Faulty of Education, Lira University.
- Former Lira University Open Distance eLearning (ODeL) Coordinator
- Tel: +256772390313/+256743403368
- Email:epilajackie@lirauni.ac.ug or epilajackie@yahoo.co.uk or jackie.epila@ugent.be
“We are a continuum. Just as we reach back to our ancestors for our fundamental values, so we, as guardians of that legacy, must reach ahead to our children and their children. And we do so with a sense of sacredness in that reaching” – Paul Tsongas.