Social Effectiveness of Tertiary Education for Adults in Mid-life

No abstract available

The construction and administration of a questionnaire on children's reaction to educational television

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University N.B.: Missing pages 93-111. Possibly misnumbered

Outcome-Based Engineering Education: A Global Report of International OBE Accreditation and Assessment Practices

Outcome-based education (OBE) is a paradigm in which instructional and assessment/ evaluation are explicitly designed for ensuring the attainment and mastery of predefined learning outcomes. OBE is now the underlying paradigm followed by global accreditation efforts such as the Washington Accord (ratified in 1989). The shift to OBE is so pronounced that some education experts identify the shift to outcome-based education and accreditation as one of the top 5 major changes of the last 100 years. OBE is starkly different from the previous content-based educational approaches in shifting the aim from covering the content to a student-centric mastery that is driven by exit-outcomes and educational objectives. And while OBE is often criticized for straitjacketing education, and resisted by hesitant faculty members suspecting additional burden, studies show that the OBE movement, on the whole, has helped in improving the educational standards and outcomes by helping ensure proper planning of curriculum and assessment and their alignment with the program objectives and desired outcomes. OBE is also flexible in the sense that it does not dictate the choice of specific education strategies or teaching methods. New OBE schemes have also diversified in response to early misgiving about OBE (related to excessive paperwork, and bean-counting-like auditing) and now admit diverse types of evidence (including qualitative and quantitative, formative and summative, formal and informal assessments). In this paper, we present—as a geographically dispersed set of academics from Pakistan, United Kingdom, United States of America, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia—a global international perspective on OBE accreditation standards, practices, and attitudes. We will trace the historical development leading to the great shift to OBE in recent times and also synthesize insights from our diverse transnational experience in meeting accreditation requirements in different countries

The UAE English Pre- Service Teachers Field experience Challenges Coping to teach within a Major Curricular reform

The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges the UAE University (UAEU) English pre-service teachers faced during their field experience within a major curricular reform. The study focused on five UAEU English pre-service teachers enrolled in a practicum course during their field experience and their five cooperative teachers. A semi-structured interview, a questionnaire and an observation checklist were employed to explore the field experience challenges that the UAEU English pre-service teachers encountered. The use of multiple resources helped to create a general profile and in turn helped to improve the trustworthiness of the research findings. The implication derived from this study indicated that the UAEU English pre-service teachers viewed themselves as unprepared to meet the curriculum reform requirements. The findings revealed that although the UAEU English pre-service teachers were well prepared to teach English Language, the discrepancy between their university coursework and their field experience was apparent. Finally, the study findings revealed that most of the UAEU English pre-service teachers’ challenges were centered around knowledge of subject matter of mathematics and science and knowledge of curricular

Pharmacy education and practice in 13 middle eastern countries

The Arab world has influenced the art and science of pharmacy for centuries. Pharmacy education and practice is continuing to evolve in the Arabic-speaking traditional Middle East countries, although relatively little information has been published in the English press. Our goal was to providea high-level synopsis of conditions in this region. We selected 13 countries for review. Information was obtained by reviewing the available published literature and individual university and program web sites, as well as contacting with program or country representatives. Seventy-eight active pharmacy schools in 12 countries were identified. At least 14,000 students (over 75% from Egypt) are admitted into baccalaureate degree programs every year. The 5-year baccalaureate degree remains the first professional degree to practice. While changes in pharmacy education have been relatively rapid over the past decade, the advancement of pharmacy practice, particularly in the private sector, appears to be slower. Hospital pharmacists often possess an advanced degree and tend to have a higher level of practice compared to that of community pharmacists. Despite the adversities that face academics and practitioners alike, there is a strong desire to advance the science and practice of pharmacy in the Middle East

On assessment and evaluation of teaching computer networks to electrical engineering students by the aid of a lab course

In the era of the Internet-of-everything, learning the principles of data communications and networking is inevitable for many electrical engineering disciplines. The paper addresses the effectiveness of teaching the fundamentals of data communications and networking using a dedicated lab course as a co-requisite to a classic lecture-based course. In the introduced lab course, the students are asked to do a variety of tasks using real hardware and a network simulator. The paper introduces quantitative measures of an outcomebased learning approach applied to both courses. Based on students’ achievements, the role of the lab course in the attainment of both the course learning outcomes and the electrical engineering program learning outcomes is measured in comparison with the case where the lab course is not taken. Our findings reveal a general enhancement trend in attaining the course and program learning outcomes with a significant increase in the program outcome related to solving engineering problems. Also, a slight increase is noticed in meeting the lab course outcomes for the students who attended the lab with the course in the same semester, which indicates an improvement in gaining practical knowledgePeer Reviewe

Cycle Three English Language Teachers’ Perceptions of Their ICT Use in Teaching English Language in the UAE.

This study tried to examine the perceptions of Cycle Three language teachers’ (ELTs) of their Informative and Communicative Technology (ICT) use. It places a specific focus on awareness of the use of technology in Abu Dhabi Education Council schools in the UAE. The study was conducted on randomly selected 73 Cycle Three English language teachers; male and female, native and nonnative of different years of experience in teaching English language. A questionnaire and observations were adapted from the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS) and Performance Indicators. Results were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SSPS), and the constant comparative method of data analysis. The findings suggested that English Language in Cycle Three have low perceptions of their ICT use. Also there was no significant difference in terms of years of experience in teaching English language. However, native English teachers perceive their ICT use slightly superior to their counterpart of nonnative English teachers

Investigating Secondary School Students’ Views Regarding the Use of Strategies and Difficulties They Face When Writing in English as the Second Language

Learning writing is an important element in language acquisition. Writing is one of the tools of communication and exchanges between cultures. Many students have a negative attitude toward writing and consider writing as the most difficult skill of all. Writing in English is an issue from which many non-native students suffer. This study aims to investigate students\u27 views toward the use of strategies and the challenges they face with writing in English. This study was conducted in one of the large female high schools in Al Ain. A 45 items structured Likert-scale questionnaire was developed. It was administered to 360 students to measure their views regarding writing difficulties and strategies. The questionnaire discovered that the vocabulary and language mechanics, especially punctuation, are the most serious problems students face when writing in English. However, the students also have spelling and grammar difficulties. Moreover, the study revealed that group work, brainstorming and planning are the best techniques that improve students\u27 writing. Some students use reading as one important strategy to improve their writing. In addition, students view writing in English as a very difficult skill and they become easily distracted when writing in English. The study showed that students prefer to write in an informal language rather than an academic language. Students consider that providing feedback is valuable, but they prefer receiving feedback from their friends more than from their teachers because teachers\u27 feedback is usually associated with marks. One important suggestion based on the study\u27s findings is to focus on punctuation, vocabulary and sentence structure from the early stage of learning writing skills. Another suggestion based on the results of the study is about giving feedback for all writing\u27s mistakes. Finally, this study suggested that strategies such as planning and brainstorming are crucial parts of writing successfully, and it should be taken as one of the most important components