Assessment of a Peer Mentoring Program to Build Capacity for Course Development and Delivery

Building capacity in higher education in developing countries is critical for meeting many of the country development objectives. There have been numerous approaches to improve the abilities of professors to prepare and deliver courses. Structured independent learning using published resources (e.g., books, online), workshops, seminars, and mentoring are among the most common. This paper describes a peer mentoring program to build the capacity of water resources and environmental engineering professors in Pakistan. The program is delivered using an online learning management system, Canvas. The peer mentoring is conducted through weekly interactions via video conferencing with additional learning facilitated through Canvas. Structured instruments guide mentor review and feedback on the creation of syllabi, lesson plans, learning activities, assessments, and teaching. The program has been delivered each semester since Fall 2015. This paper will present an assessment of the impact of the program on course development and delivery. Mentor and instructor assessments and reflections from 2.5 years of the program are analyzed to identify effective program elements and areas for improvement. Ideas were compiled and used to design a transition of the program to a semi‐autonomous course‐ development and delivery‐mentoring platform that will be available online. Introduction The United Nations (UN) introduced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 as the framework for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 17 SDGs build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) introduced by the UN in 2000, and they seek to illustrate the universal approach needed to eradicate poverty and heal the planet1. Significant progress was made on the MDGs, but the SDGs seek to go further to address the root causes of poverty and the universal need for development that works for all people2. The SDG agenda recognizes that ending poverty must go hand‐ in‐hand with strategies that build economic growth and addresses a range of social needs including water, education, health, etc. SDG 4 is focused on education, seeking to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. Target 4.3, equal access to technical/vocational and higher education, is specifically tied to higher education with the target being “By 2030, access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.” Higher education is also interconnected to other SDGs related to poverty (SDG1), health and well‐being (SDG3), gender equality (SDG5), decent work and economic growth (SDG8), responsible consumption and production (SDG12), climate change (SDG13), and peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG16). Indeed a case can be made that higher education plays a significant role in each of the SDGs, providing the basis for an advanced workforce and the informed society necessary to implement the activities necessary to achieve the targets of the SDGs. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has long supported programs to build capacity in higher education in Pakistan in the areas of energy, water, and food security. Recently, the Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) program was launched by USAID and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) to strengthen a culture of applied research in Pakistan. The CAS program set up three centers: (1) Agriculture/Food Security at University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, in partnership with University of California, Davis, (2) Water at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), in partnership with University of Utah, and (3) Energy at National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, and University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, in partnership with Arizona State University. Similar to many places in the U.S., Pakistan faces a multi‐faceted water crisis taking the form of scarcity, floods, degraded quality, public health risk, salinity and water logging of agricultural lands, and conflict. These challenges are intensifying as population grows, economies transition, populations migrate, and climate changes. The U.S.‐Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS‐W) was established to help achieve water security in Pakistan. USPCAS‐W promotes integrated, equitable, sustainable, and efficient use of water in Pakistan and other countries and transfers the knowledge gained back to problems in the United States. USPCAS‐W is headquartered at MUET and is being developed with the technical assistance of the University of Utah (U). The U has established a project management unit at MUET and works in collaboration to deliver capacity building activities with numerous supporting organizations including Colorado State University (CSU), City College of New York (CCNY), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), UNESCO Institute for Higher Education, and others.