Center For Critical Thinking, Teaching and Learning

DR CAROLINE OBIAGELI EMEKA-OGBONNA

Head, Centre for Critical Thinking, Teaching and Learning (CCTTL)

Email: coemekaogbonna@nda.edu.ng

Welcome to the Centre for Critical Thinking, Teaching and Learning (CCTTL). In the current state of our society, critical thinking is essential for the transformation of our country to higher level where every sector will be more functional. Critical thinking is a philosophical perspective that can help anyone to become more successful. The logic behind this belief is that everyone can benefit from becoming a better thinker and as a result, have greater control over their thinking. The Centre has a wide array of scholars resident in the Nigerian Defence Academy as well as erudite scholars from other Nigerian and International Universities. The Centre is also working on Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with other tertiary institutions both in Nigeria and abroad for the provision of an enviable pool of resource persons who would pilot the fostering of critical minds that would move the country forward.

Dr Caroline Obiageli Emeka-Ogbonna

Centre for Critical Thinking, Teaching and Learning (CCTTL)

Nigerian Defence Academy

PMB 2109

KADUNA

Email address: ccttl@nda.edu.ng

Mobile Phone Number: +2349094261437

This brief is to provide the necessary information on the operational framework of the Centre for Critical Thinking, Teaching and Learning (CCTTL), Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna. It is expected to guide those who may intend to participate in the programmes or avail themselves of the services provided by the Centre. It will be updated accordingly as may be necessary.

The Centre for Critical Thinking, Teaching and Learning (CCTTL) was established on 19 February, 2015 as an educational Centre of excellence to promote teaching excellence and enhance learning outcome in   the   Academy through critical thinking. The   Centre promotes the professional competence of teaching staff of the Academy through the provision of quality workshops, seminars, and conferences for the training and re-training of NDA academic staff and instructors as well as teachers in NDA subsidiary schools. It

runs modules and courses on strategic pedagogy which is predominantly characterized by critical thinking. The Centre has also initiated moves to establish and run Postgraduate Certificate in Critical Thinking (PCCT), Professional Diploma in Education (PDE) and Master of Arts in Critical and Creative Thinking (MACCT) through collaboration with related educational institutions. The CCTTL is located at the Postgraduate School, Ribadu Campus (NDA Old Site), Kaduna. It is flanked by the Centre for Defence Studies and Documentation and Research Monitoring and Coordination Office.

In line with the mission and aspiration of the Academy to be the gold standard for the renewal of higher education in Nigeria, the Centre for Critical Thinking, Teaching and Learning (CCTTL) was established with the core mandate of promoting the essential change in education and society through the cultivation of fair-minded critical thinking. This was informed by the need to stem the decline in the quality of education in Nigeria especially as it affects the NDA. Additionally, the complexity of warfare in the 21^st Century and the ever-changing battle space in which the officer cadets are to serve as junior commanders requires that the teaching and learning at the academy meets the global standards of excellence in higher education instruction. This standard is to be anchored on critical approaches with the belief that teaching and learning are inextricably linked as teachers are learners as well as teachers, and students are teachers as well as learners. Hence it will emphasize the acquisition of critical thinking and problem-solving skills as part of the over-arching learning outcomes for the graduates of the Academy. To achieve this, the Centre is to conduct initial and continuing professional development training for all academic staff and military instructors in the Academy. The training will be focused on the incorporation of critical thinking into the academic and military education curriculum and learning outcomes with a view to enhancing mutually-supportive learning in and out of the classroom.

Furthermore, the general malaise in the Nigerian polity sadly resulted in the downward drift in the standard of education and overall character development of the citizenry. Hence determined to reverse these attendant deficiencies especially as it concerns educational knowledge, skills and values in order to bridge the gaps in character development of the youths and the nation’s current and future leaders, the Centre is poised to extend its training services to the teaching Staff of NDA subsidiary schools as well as participants from other institutions and organisations across the nation. CCTTL is, therefore set at developing in individuals the core intellectual values and virtues necessary for cultivating high quality and true intellectual discipline. This could be achieved through promoting in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across the nation the adoption of a learning centred approach to instruction, incorporation of Critical Thinking instructional strategies in the teaching and learning processes. These are hoped to stimulate inquisitiveness and enhance the thought process, objectivity in thought and reasoning of learners and teaching staff at all levels of education. In addition, they would be properly informed, trustful of reason, open and fair minded in evaluation, flexible, unbiased, and prudent in making judgments, willing to consider and reconsider issues with clarity of mind. Thus, the Centre aims to impart on target participants in its programmes, orderliness in complex matters, diligence in seeking relevant information, application of reason in the selection of criteria, focus in enquiry and persistence in seeking result that is as precise as the subject and circumstances of enquiry permit. These attributes are imperative in the management of conflict of any kind. The Centre is therefore positioned to support NDA and other similar military and non-military institutions in the transformation and standardization of teaching and learning activities.

The Centre for Critical Thinking, Teaching and Leaning therefore, has the core mandate of being a hub for educational excellence to deliver on the above agenda; to develop effective and transformative pedagogical skills of Critical Thinking for the teaching of the cadets, and also conduct training/retraining for newly employed, teachers of the NDA staff schools and military instructors in modern teaching skills and professional competency in line with NDA Mission. The aim of the CCTTL is therefore, to have a remedial, restorative, proactive and forward looking Centre which will ensure service delivery in the following major areas:

• Enhance the professional capacity and competence of academic staff and military instructors in NDA through in-service professional development programmes.
• Enhance and standardize teaching and learning in the Academy (in response to the deplorable standard of education nationally) through the introduction of   critical   thinking approach to teaching and learning.
• Develop specialized strategies for teaching and learning in view of the NDA’s peculiar needs as a military university.
• Host capacity building workshops and conferences for local, national and international participants.
• Establish and operate a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework for capacity building and institutional strengthening.
• Collaborate with other educational agencies/institutions for mounting of relevant educational and critical thinking courses.
• Establish and maintain operational resource base for individual and institutional consultations as well as for the delivery of instruction for relevant courses at the center.
• Establish and maintain consultancy/mentoring services to other educational institutions and stakeholders.
• Stimulate value orientation where necessary.

Our Vision

The vision of the Centre for Critical Thinking, Teaching and Learning (CCTTL) is to be a world-class hub for professional development of military and non-military educationists/practitioners in NDA and across the nation towards the transformation and standardization of teaching and learning activities.

Our Mission 

The mission of the Centre is to promote teaching excellence and enhance the professional competence of teaching staff through the provision of initial teacher training, continuing professional development opportunities and consultation services in line with critical approaches. In reflection of the core mandate the Centre is to

• Develop and impact the most effective teaching and learning strategies for the Academy.
• Introduce a culture of transformative and updated globally accepted standard for teaching and learning in the Academy.
• Introduce into the curriculum of the Academy critical thinking skills necessary to prepare the cadets for future operational decision-making process as military officers.
• Upgrading the skills and values required by the cadets to serve as responsible Military officers.

Our Goals

The CCTTL aspires to achieve the following goals at varying scopes of time:

Short-Term 

In the short term, the Centre would seek to:

1. Enhance the professional capacity and competence of academic staff and military instructors in NDA through in-service faculty based Continuing Professional Development programmes.
2. Establish an Education Enhancement Team (EET) as a platform for liaising with the staff of the Academy for the promotion and implementation of CCTTL agenda.
3. Secure partnership and MOUs with other educational agencies/institutions and state governments for the furtherance of its founding mandates or as may be directed by HQ NDA.
4. Train CCTTL   staff   to   be   competent   in   delivering instruction to participants on courses at the Centre.
5. Initiate and complete the process for accreditation of the Centre’s Professional Development Certificate, Diplomas, and Postgraduate Diploma courses.
6. Organize national   and   international   conferences to promote knowledge based on the tenets of critical thinking.
7. Establish school supervision and monitoring Unit to monitor and coordinate the educational activities in the NDA subsidiary schools – NDA Staff School and NDA Staff Secondary School.

Medium-Term

1. Establish a department for the regulation, assessment and evaluation of measurable outcomes in   the  area  of teaching  and  learning  in  the  NDA  and  its  collaborating institutions.
2. Facilitate the implementation of Teaching Evaluation in the Academy towards the establishment of Academy Teaching Award.
3. Include the staff of NDASS and NDASSS in teacher-training programmes at the Centre.
4. Publish a Journal on Critical Thinking, Teaching and Learning in the Academy to promote the national and international dissemination of critical approaches in Education.

Long-Term

1. Conduct evidence-based educational research to investigate the impact of critical thinking on higher education teaching and learning at the NDA and its collaborating institutions.
2. Develop collaboration or synergy with the DICT in order to establish a functional technology Centre to train all academic staff and military instructors in NDA as well as the teaching staff of NDASS and NDASSS in the realization of technology enhanced learning/teaching.
3. Establish an Integrated Virtual Learning Environment (IVLE) for cadets’ and Postgraduate students’ use.

Academic Courses

1. Master of Arts in Critical & Creative Thinking
2. Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in Critical Thinking
3. Professional Diploma in Education

Our Human Resource Base

The Centre parades an array of seasoned and tested academics and professionals from within and outside NDA. They include resource persons from HQ NDA, the directorates, the faculties and Centres, professors and other eminent scholars from various institutions of higher learning both in and outside the country.

EMPOWERING NIGERIAN YOUTHS TO THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT ENERGY PROJECT

THE PIONEERING EFFORT OF MOUNTING OF POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA IN CRITICAL THINKING (PGCT), AND MASTER IN CRITICAL THINKING (MCT) BY THE CCTTL

RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP FOR A CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING MANUAL FOR MILITARY INSTRUCTORS/CIVILIAN LECTURERS OF THE NIGERIAN DEFENCE ACADEMY

CHRONICLE OF HEAD OF CENTRE

ACADEMIC STAFF /RESOURCE PERSONS