Polish Scholar Leads Innovative Teaching Workshop at MAAUN to Promote Academic Excellence

Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria, on Monday, hosted a seminar aimed at enhancing professionalism amongst its teaching staff, focusing on innovative teaching strategies and academic publishing.

The workshop, held at the School of Social and Management Sciences, featured Dr. Sabina Brakoniecka, an esteemed scholar from the University of Warsaw, Poland.

Dr. Sabina, who is also an Honorary Adjunct Faculty member at MAAUN, divided her presentation into two key areas: Innovation in Teaching and Challenges of Publishing in High-Impact Journals.

Her participation in the workshop speaks volumes of MAAUN’s commitment to internationalizing higher education and enhancing the university’s faculty development with global expertise.

Dr. Brakoniecka explored modern, student-centered approaches to university teaching, with a focus on interactive methods and digital tools.

She stressed the need for teachers to diversify teaching methods in order to ensure effective learning among students.

Dr. Brakoniecka highlighted the significance of using a variety of teaching methods such as moderate discussion, short movies, reading assignment- discussion, group work- short presentation, smaller group- a debate at the end of the semester, among others.

She discussed in detail the common challenges in article publishing, criteria for high-impact journals, and practical strategies for preparing and submitting manuscripts.

The Q&A session allowed participants, including senior management staff and other key officials to deepen their understanding of these topics and engage directly with the speaker.

Notable individuals in attendance included, President of the University, Prof. (Dr.) Mohammad Israr, the VP Administration, Dr. Habib Awais Abubakar, VP Campus Life, Dr Hamza Garba, Dean PG, Dr. Ibrahim Ahmed Maigari, Head Human Resource Unit, Hajia Maimuna S. Bello, Head International Office, Engr. Bashir Garba, his assistant, Mrs Janvi Haresh, as well as Faculty Officers and Chairs of Departments, among others.