Rakel Kavena Shalyefu
Organisation University of Namibia
Country Namibia
Region Southern Africa
Sector Research / Academia
Position/Job title Associate Professor
My experience in adult learning and education
Rakel Kavena SHALYEFU is an Associate Professor in Lifelong Learning and Community Development at the University of Namibia. She holds a Certificate in Public Administration from the Polytechnic of Namibia, a Certificate in HIV/AIDS Counselling from the University of Namibia, a Certificate in Distance Education from Pennsylvania State University, one more Certificate for Distance Education Practitioners from the University of South Africa, a Certificate in Dispute Resolution (Arbitration, Conciliation and Mediation) from the University of Namibia, a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education for Academic Developers from Rhodes University, a Bachelor of Pedagogics from the University of Fort Hare (SA), a Bachelor of Education honours level (postgraduate) degree) from the University of South Africa (UNISA), a Master Degree in Adult and Nonformal Education from the University of Massachusetts (USA), and a Ph.D. (Instructional Systems Design) from Pennsylvania State University (USA). For the past 36 years she has been a lead facilitator in academic professional development, a teacher educator, a master trainer in adult education and community development and a consultant in open and distance eLearning. At undergraduate level she has been teaching Research Methods, Needs Assessment Survey, Psychology of Adult Learning, Project Planning and Management, Education for Sustainable Development and at postgraduate level she taught courses on Advanced Research Methods, Advanced Foundations of Adult Education and the Twentieth Century Thinkers. For the last 15 years of the 36 years, she has been facilitating professional development for university lecturers in learning and teaching, curriculum development, assessing student learning, quality assurance, student supervision in research with a focus on higher education. She inspired academics for collaborative work in assessing academics’ needs and developing need-based short courses and learning programmes for continuing professional development. In the field of academics, she has been co-researching, co-learning, co-facilitating, and co-producing and assisting university teachers to become professional educators. She also supervises research projects and examine theses and dissertations at postgraduate level at national and international level. She designed a Certificate in Education for Development for NAMCOL and a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education for Academics for the University of Namibia. She has a passion in designing, developing, monitoring, and evaluating programmes and learning resources for teacher educators and university teachers as an Academic Professional Developer. She has a stake in the improvement of teaching and learning in higher education institutions and in designing self-instructional resources for both print-based and electronic environments. In addition, she serves the public in representing UNAM on various interventions such as the promotion of Quality Enhancement and Management, Education for Sustainable Development, HIV/AIDS Peer Education, Transformative pedagogy for peace building during the COVID-19 Pandemic, programme auditing under the auspices of the Namibia Qualification Authority, and a Master Trainer for Voters’ Education. Her current research interests are focusing on Higher Education Studies, Academic Professional Development, Indigenous Education Systems and Life Skills for Youth and Adults. She was awarded a Scholarship by the-USAID from 1994 to 1995 to study for a Master in Education (Adult and Nonformal Education) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and also earned a Fulbright Scholarship from 2000 to 2004 to study a PhD (Instructional Systems Design) at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA and recently she was granted a Commonwealth Professional Fellowship in 2022 hosted by Phoenix Project and the Decipher Research Centre at Cardiff University, Wales, UK with a special focus on Girls Education and Empowerment. Also, she is a Country Director for the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (IHETL), a UNAM representative on Southern Africa Universities Learning and Teaching Forum (SAULT) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). By training she is an instructional designer, a researcher, a professional educator, arbitrator, counsellor, consultant, distance education specialist, academic professional developer, community educator for social development, mental health, and the general human well-being. In sum, she is a resourceful person.
