Browsing by Author "Ireri, Anthony"

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    In Vitro Antioxidant Activities of the Aqueous and Methanolic Stem Bark Extracts of Piliostigma thonningii (Schum.)
    (Sage, 2020) Moriasi, Gervason; Ireri, Anthony; Ngugi, Mathew Piero
    Oxidative stress has been recognized as a key driver of many ailments affecting humankind. Free radicals attack biologically important biomolecules, impairing their functioning, thereby initiating and exacerbating diseases. As a comeback, antioxidant therapies have been proposed as novel approaches to ameliorating oxidative stress–associated diseases including chronic ones. Antioxidants are thought to employ multifaceted and multitargeted mechanisms that either restore oxidative homeostasis or prevent free radical buildup in the body, which overwhelm the endogenous defenses. Plants have been used for many ages across time to manage human diseases, and have a host of antioxidant phytocompounds. Piliostigma thonningii is traditionally used for the management of inflammation, malaria fever, rheumatism, and insanity, among other diseases caused by a disturbed redox state in the body. In this study, in vitro antioxidant activities of the methanolic and aqueous stem bark extracts of P. thonningii were evaluated using the in vitro antilipid peroxidation, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging, and the ferric reducing antioxidant power assay methods. The obtained results revealed remarkable antioxidant activities of the studied plant extracts as evidenced by the low IC50 and EC50 values. These antioxidant activities could be due to the presence of antioxidant phytochemicals like flavonoids, carotenoids, tannins, and phenols, among others. Therefore, the therapeutic potency of this plant could be due to its antioxidant properties. This study recommends in vivo antioxidant efficacy testing of the studied plant extracts, as well as isolation and characterization of bioactive antioxidant compounds that are potent against oxidative stress.
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    Online Continuous Assessment Tests: Experiences and Lessons from Kenyatta University
    (Kenyatta University, 0202-06) Njihia, Mukirae; Mwaniki, Elizabeth; Ireri, Anthony
    Between October 2015 and April, 2017, the School of Education, Kenyatta University in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) organized three capacity building workshops for its lecturers on Integration of ICT in teaching and learning. During the 3rd workshop held in March, 2017 and whose focus was on online Assessment, it was noted that despite the university’s investment in a Learning Management System (LMS) for online teaching and learning, lecturers had not utilized it for formative learner assessment. Therefore, it was agreed that the departments of Educational Psychology and Educational Management would play the role of trailblazers in giving online Continuous Assessments Tests (CATs) in the School of Education. In the 2nd semester of 2016/2017 academic year and the 1st semester of the 2017/2018 academic year, the two departments gave a total of four online CATs in four different units to over 9,000 undergraduate students. This innovation in assessment informed this study whose purpose was to document the views and experiences of both students and lecturers on online CATs. The study embraced a mixed method design that enabled collection and triangulation of quantitative data from students and qualitative data from lecturers. The results indicated that the students were initially apprehensive before the online CAT but after they were done, a majority stated that they enjoyed the experience. The students also praised the technical support given during the CAT, the immediate feedback and the sense of control of their marks. Lecturers were initially sceptical about mounting online CATs but their perception changed after they were rolled out as they appreciated the reduced workload in terms of marking and grading as well as reduced human error. Some key challenges that hindered effectiveness of the online CATs included a few students’ registration numbers missing in the LMS, slow internet during online CATs, students using wrong passwords to get into the LMS, interruption from other students in computer lab and strict marking in the short answer items