JAS 4 has been a unique experience for me. The lead-in was quite challenging, the questions around scheduling, direction of the COVID pandemic, recovering personally from experiencing COVID, and post-illness sequelae. But there was the motivation of ticking off this final stage, the promise of meeting the entire cohort again and further learning from what can only be described as a truly inspiring and skilled mix of teachers and facilitators.
Finding out JAS 4 was going to run in-country and via blended learning platforms was something of a disappointment. But I have absolutely enjoyed the structure of the programme. It was valuable to have the initial phase of online-only interaction then this intensive phase. Google classrooms was something of a challenge to navigate with its jamboard and comment sections. However, the facilitators were great at structuring the content and keeping us learners on track.
On the whole JAS 4 has been a positive experience. The residential phase has been great so far. Because I am situated in Ibadan, I would have wished we went somewhere else perhaps Abeokuta or Lagos, a place where I would be physically beyond the reach of my responsibilities. But the hotel has been excellent, my colleagues have been a great support and the sessions have been top-notch.
The experience has been invaluable to my doctoral and wider academic journey. The sessions on philosophy and structure of teaching, teaching techniques, use of software have been very useful. I believe the quality of my teaching and presentations will be significantly improved by this learning. JAS 4 like all other JAS sessions has also been quite useful from a motivational perspective.
