Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 2 Timothy 3:5

The approach taken by University of Zimbabwe to introduce modular learning to all of its programs as from the year 2020 and implemented starting from 2021 has had adverse effects to the learning of students and also the quality of learning and in particular psychology as a discipline. In shift to the new system Education 5.0, from the ever trusted 3.0 a system which we argue that has up until present produced educational and industrial giants which compete on the world stage. The paper makes a coherent argument that education 5.0 remains a unnecessary experiment with human subjects and that the modular learning is there to make an incomplete student devoid of in-depth learning skills and knowledge.

Modular Learning

The modular learning which is being implemented requires learning to take place within two or three weeks then thereafter exam. The module which has been taught is written by the students and the marks determines the progress of the student and or degree class after completion of the program which is after 4 years. In between the learning and the exams students are required to do course work which usually involves two assignments at average. Our concern as Society of Zambezi Psychology is that by the nature of the depth of psychology which basically is understanding human behaviour, two or three weeks of learning cannot at any point provide the basic elementary understanding required in understanding modules in psychology, for example psychopathology and psychotherapy. The fact that most of the students do not study psychology as a subject at Advanced level during high school, hence the content will be new to them and at times difficult to assimilate.

The Exam Person

The setting of the modular teaching system at University of Zimbabwe creates a student who is exam focused or orientated, with little to non in terms of exploration in academic knowledge and innovative work during their period of academic work at university. The student would be mostly stuck at attending lectures to get content for exam and possible academic tips which come by virtue of lecturers being also examiners. The student studies are now fixated on the content being taught by the lecturers and notes given by the lecturer. Little to non-reading will be done outside the notes given by the lecturer, as this would be deemed risky as exams would be at most just 21 days away or even 14 days away even before teaching of new content. The current setting of modular learning kills wide in-depth reading and exploring in diverse knowledge. Hence it creates a person who is ever focused on writing exams and does not read for purposes of in-depth understanding which is required in understanding the complexity of human behaviour.

Writing Skills

Psychologists are well known world over by having good to extremely good writing skills, this is based to the fact that most of psychological work involves writing thus case reports, court reports on behaviour amongst diverse writings often communicating with persons who are not psychological professionals but who should understand what has been written to them. The modular teaching denies students the chance to harness psychological writing skills. This is so in that it is impossible for a lecturer to teach in the 3 week period and then administer assignments to students within a 21 day period and then give meaningful feedback in the form of marked essay assignments, then again administer exams and then assess the work. With such a university created time constrains essays will not be administered rather multiple choices and structured assignments are given which are easy to assess within the little time frame. Hence students from modular learning become very weak in psychological writing skills.

University Staff

The observations made in this paper are not new or pioneering in their nature, yes they have been voiced in various hall ways and offices. The Professors, doctors, senior and junior staff know of this dilemma posed by the modular learning. However the administration at University of Zimbabwe is currently operating on a military style of administration where commands are given by the Vice Chancellor in a “obey or be punished” fashion. Hence with such approach where there is no psychological safety for employees everyone becomes a “Yes Man” to save their jobs. Hence in such a mode, dishonesty is high as persons are afraid to tell the truth about modular learning as employees fear to prematurely end their jobs via dismissals, as they will be viewed as anti-change and not being cooperative to academic progress of Education 5.0, which in real honesty it is not progress.

What we fear as Society of Zambezi Psychology is that in 2024 we are going to start to produce “graduates without knowledge” to tackle complex issues which are found in the science of human behavior.

Prosper K Mushauri

Coordinator Society of Zambezi Psychology

Registered Counselling Psychologist