Prof. Speranza Ndege is an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities, School of Education and Social Sciences, University of Embu. She has over 30 years’ experience in teaching, research and training. She is currently the Director, Open, Distance and e-Learning, University of Embu. She is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA), St John York University, UK.
She holds a B.Ed (Hons), and M.A., degrees both from University of Nairobi; a M.Sc.(CBIS), University of Sunderland (UK), a PhD from Ghent University, Belgium and a Post Graduate Diploma in e-Teaching, Agder University, Norway. Prof. Ndege is an e-Learning expert, and successfully implemented the first online programmes in Kenya under African Virtual University (AVU) with Curtin University and Royal Melbourne University, Australia in 2004. In 2005, she implemented the first e-Learning programmes in Kenya using the Blackboard LMS and Moodle LMS in 2007 respectively.
Prof. Ndege served in the e-Learning Africa Advisory Board for five years, and was instrumental in the success of e-Learning Africa conferences. Prof. Ndege initiated the use of Moodle Open Source e-Learning Management Software at its infancy in 2007. Prof. Ndege has much experience in management of online learning/tutoring and Instructional Design. Having initiated and successfully managed the first online programmes in Kenya, she lobbied through the Ministry of Education for the hosting of the first e-Learning Conference in Kenya by ICWE (held at Safari Park, Nairobi). She has received training in Information Communication Technology (including Electronic Document Management and Website Design). She is also a CISCO Academy Instructor. Prof. Ndege was appointed a member of the Planning Committee that led to the establishment of the first NEPAD e-School in Kenya in 2005-2007.
The success of the 7 Schools saw the dawn of e-Learning in secondary schools. In August 2013, she was appointed a member of the Technical Committee for establishment of National Open University of Kenya (NOUK). which is spearheaded by the Government through the Ministry of Education Between 2009-2013, she was the Project Coordinator for 6 projects funded by Partnership for Higher Education (PHEA. She has participated in other projects funded by Edulink and Daad among others. She has expertise in Online Tutoring, Course Content Development and Online Facilitation. She is well trained in Environmental Impact Assessment/Audit and for many years she has consulted for Royal Associates Consulting Engineers as an Environmentalist for funded road and irrigation projects.
Prof. Ndege has expertise in e-Learning, content module development, training, online facilitation and working with communities on environmental and social issues. She served as Director, Institute of Open, Distance & e-Learning (ODeL) at Kenyatta University for 10 years and University of Embu for 4 years. To-date she has trained 83, 134 university students in online learning, trained 804 university lecturers in online facilitation and digitized 2101 online courses at Kenyatta University and University of Embu respectively. She founded and managed KU-Television channel for three years. This television channel is very popular with the youth.
At University of Embu, Prof. Ndege has conducted more than 75 trainings in Content Development, pedagogy and e-Learning, Prof. Ndege has received Extra Mile Awards for her services in e-Learning. She has also served in the Top University Management Board for 4 years (2009- March 2014). She is both a Supervisor and an External Examiner for Masters and PhD students. She has a number of publications in Literature related areas.