ICT-Driven Competency-Based Education and Training: College of Health Science, Kampala International University, Uganda.

Profoundly, the essence of Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) hinged on the notion of a paradigm shifts from teacher-centered methods to learner-centered methods. Contemporarily, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is proposed as one of the key enabler of student-centered learning environments. However, to maximize student potential, and make learning more pleasurable and effective, it would be prudent to identify students’ learning styles and match them with appropriate learning strategies as guided by the CBET principles. Hence, this study was intended to support the cause by identifying and putting together some of the key requirements needed to support CBET curriculum development process. Procedurally, VARK Questionnaire version 8.02 was used to gather data from 330 Health Science students. Overall, 72% of the responders were Male, while 28% were Female. Using SPSS version 27, quantitative data and narrative review process were used to identify, and analyse the relevant ICT and CBET requirements. According to the research findings, Aural (28%) was reported as the most preferred learning mode among the students, followed by Visual (26%), Kinaesthetic (25%), while the least preferred learning mode was Read/Write (21%). Relatively, 70% of the students prefer a multimodal learning strategy, while 30% prefer a unimodal learning mode. The results generated through Chi-square (x2) shows low significant association between Gender and Aural (p = 0.002); Read/Write (p = 0.050); and Kinaesthetic (p = 0.041). While Kruskal-Wallis test did not yield any significant result between Programme and VARK (p > 0.050) for all the VARK categories. Altogether, a successful learning strategies that meet the needs of the students, and improve their capacity would require awareness of these learning preferences. Hence, with respect to ICT and CBET requirements, the study was intended to develop a blueprint for ICT-driven CBET curriculum development process for College of Health Science (CHS), Kampala International University (KIU).