Ms. Beatrice Nelima Murila

Publications

Conference Papers

• Materials Evaluation: The long, the Short and Practical. British Council International Conference. ( 1991)
• A Study of the Language of Science in some primary schools in Kenya. A paper presented at the second International Conference on Education at Kenyatta University. ( 2011)

Workshops Papers

• Using Smart Board in teaching. Presented to Kenyatta university lecturers.( 2015)

Books and Books Chapters

• Using Science Textbooks in Kenyan Primary schools. A chapter in Missing the Meaning. The development and use of print and non-print text materials in diverse school setting .In Peacock, A & Cleghorn, A. (2014).New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Professional Background

• Teacher at Lugulu Girls’ High School in Western Province, 1979 – 1981. Taught ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels in Literature in English Language and Christian Religious Studies.
• Teacher at Ofafa Jericho Secondary School, Nairobi, 1984-1985. Taught ‘O’ and ‘A” levels English Language and Literature.
• Teacher at Alliance High School, 1985-1989. Taught ‘O’ level and ‘A’ level students in English, English Literature, Christian Religious Education and Social Education and Ethics.
• Was appointed to teach at Kenyatta University as a Tutorial Fellow in 1990 in the Department of Communication Skills.
• Was promoted to the post of a lecturer in July 1992.

Other Activities

• As a student in high school, I was a member of the school choir, the girl-guides, the senior debating club, the senior historical club and the philosophical society. I was a house captain.
• Taught as an untrained teacher after my ‘O’ and ‘A’ level examinations in a primary and secondary schools.
• While as a teacher at Lugulu Girls’ High school, I coached hockey team and was also the drama teacher.
• At Ofafa Jericho Secondary school, I was the drama patron and went up to Provincial level in drama competitions.
• While at Alliance High School, 1985-1989, I was the Senior mistress and this involved career choices, counseling and some administration like signing report cards at the end of the term.
• I was the head of department of Languages and these were English, French, Kiswahili and German. This involved co-ordinating the teaching of the above Subjects.
• Was the patron of the dramatics club which won the 1987 National Awards – first position. The club was awarded several trophies in Central province and National level.
• I participated in seminars at national levels about the teaching of the newly introduced 8-4-4 system. This was in English and Social education and ethics. I then carried out similar seminars in Central Province – They were to in-service Teachers in the above mentioned subjects.
• Was examiner of the ‘O’ levels English Literature from 1984 to 1989.
• At Kenyatta University, I have been an evaluation officer of the communication Skills curriculum. This involved designing questionnaires for both the students and the staff as well as carrying out interviews. These would then be analyzed and presented to the staff members.
• From 1991-92, I was the departmental examinations officer. This involved organizing the setting of the continuous assessment tests and the end of semester examinations. This analysis of the performance would then be presented at the Examinations meetings.
• At Kenyatta University I have been the curriculum officer, 1993. My work was to co-ordinate teaching materials which were developed by staff members. These were edited and are currently being used.
• Duties with the other University have been to carry out workshops in all the public Universities on evaluation and the communication skills newsletter.
• I have been involved in moderating professional studies for teacher training colleges with the examination council.
• Participated in organizing a national seminar sponsored by the British Council entitled “English Across the Curriculum – the Kenyan Context”. The participants were from the public and private universities, colleges, the education inspectorate personnel and secondary schools.
• Was a visiting lecturer at the University of Exeter in 1995 for six weeks. This was to teach some undergraduate and post-graduate students about education in Kenya. I presented a paper at a seminar for lecturers and post graduate students on the “teaching of Science in a Second Language situation”.
• Presented a paper at an International Conference that was sponsored by the British Council in 1991 in Nairobi. The paper was entitled “Materials Evaluation: The Long, the Short and the Practical.
• Presented a paper in July 1994 at Kenyatta University entitled “Lecturing to large classes at the University”. The seminar was attended by lectures from all the department
• Attended a seminar in Machakos and presented a paper entitled “Preparation and Adverstising”. Have been a part-time lecturer at Daystar University, teaching study skills the writing of a research paper and English
• Have been involved in teaching students of the continuing schools of education (external degree) and this also involves visiting them in their schools to help them with their work. This is an on-going exercise.
• I teach post graduate diploma in Public Relations. This involves supervising students’ theses.
• Have been involved in supervising master’s students in communication, mainly in the area of advertising.
• I am a co-author of a book called, Missing the meaning. Published in 2004 by Palgrave MacMillan.
• I teach courses in Public Relations, Journalism and Communication as well as write modules and examine students who have enrolled in the Kenyatta University Institute of Open Learning. I have been teaching at the National Defence College in Karen since 2000 on how to carry out research as well as reading and writing skills.
• Attended a conference of Kenyatta University and Syracuse University (USA) in 2009.
• I presented a paper entitled “Materials Evaluation: The Long, the Short and the Practical” at a conference that was sponsored by the British Council in 1991 in Nairobi.
• I was involved in writing e-learning content sponsored by Kenya Education Network Trust ( KENET) from 2010 to 2014. This comprised E-learning strategies & assessment
• Effective teaching & learning using mobile technology Innovation in E-learning[B1] .
• I was trained by SAIDE-AFRICA from 2012-2013 in animation in e-learning, OER deployment in e-learning and on improving animation in e-learning when writing modules.
• I have done courses that were carried out by Syracuse university in collaboration with Kenyatta university from 2012 -2017 in I It skills in teaching, Ipad use, universal design, use of moodle, creating accessible media for class, setting up a website. ICT integration in teaching, Subject methods pedagogy, technology in teaching, Professional staff development & internalization of teacher education, writing for publication.
• I have had training from 2013 to 2016 in Teaching methodology, use of the smart board in teaching, e-learning, teaching of large classes which were carried out by the centre for teaching excellence and evaluation.
• I have been trained in IS0 gms standards.
• I have written E-learning modules titled Introduction to Advertising, Journalism and Mass Communication and co-authored another one entitled Communication and Collaboration Skills. These were published by the Kenyatta University Press in 2020 and are the ones that are currently being used by students of Kenyatta University.
• I am a mentor and have had many seminars from 2012 to 2023 with our collaboration partners , Tangaza College and Depaul university ( USA) Topics like the Z generation challenges, effective mentoring, mental health of the mentees among many others have been discussed.
• I attend school of education seminars which are organized by Kenyatta University School of Education and Lifelong Learning where topics like doing research, writing proposal for sponsorship, use of technology in teaching and e-learning . These seminars begun in 2010 and are ongoing
• I led a session in a seminar of “ Wellness Training for Teaching Staff.” on the 28th of February. 2024.
• On 26 , March, 2024,I participated in the discussion of The Univesity Strategic Plan, 2023-2027 Awareness Creation Meeting.
• I attended a seminar which was organized by the Directorate of Mentoring (KU) on Tools, Strategies and Insights into Mentoring roles which specific emphasis on training peer mentor-ship which was held on 4th, April, 2024. Presentors were from Tangaza College and Strathmore University
• The National Open University of Nigeria had a webinar on the 29th, April, 2024 which I attended entitled “ Emerging perspectives of Planning and Management of Blended Learning Pedagogy in the Era of Artificial Intelligence.”

Research Work Done

• Evaluation of teaching materials in Kenyan Public Universities
• The teaching of science in Kenyan Primary Schools
• Lecturing in large classes at the University
• The reading of science materials.
• Teaching English to Second Language Speakers of English.
• The Language of science in some primary schools in Kenya.
• E-Learning of the Communication Skills among distance learning students.