REVIEW ON THE DELIVERY OF GENERAL STUDY SKILLS MODULE: A TUTORS’ EXPERIENCE

Teaching delivery is an approach based on professional identity that creates a distinct classroom culture. Delivering General Study Skills (GSS) as a core modules in the Faculty of Foundation Studies (FFS) of Gulf College (GC) combines the difficulties of teaching with institutional expectations and students’ demand for quality instruction. This study aimed to assess the delivery of GSS module and its impact on the module outcomes for General Foundation (GFP) students. It also identified gaps in the delivery of the module that contributed to the performance of the students and came up with suggestions for improvement that would help programme leaders and module leaders modify the module descriptors and device teaching and learning activities (TLAs) suited to the level of the students. Looking at the module outcomes, of 325 students who took GSS for the Second Semester of AY 2017-2018, there were 237 or 69.8 percent passed the module and 66 or 20.4 percent failed. Of the total number of students, 32 or 9.8 percent did not submit the requirements for the module or no attendance at all. Using a Focused Group Discussion (FGD) among the participants, the researchers found six (6) important themes such as student’s motivation, students’ capability, challenging role, patience, heavy assessment methods and level of difficulty. In student’s motivation, the students are not serious in their studies and they are not attending their classes regularly as most of them are working students; in students’ capability, the students faced difficulty in understanding the lessons and can’t cope with the requirements of the module due to inability to understand English language; in challenging role, the teachers need to focus on teaching the basic of research as the modules requires a research-based outputs. A big challenge is that the tutors are expected to deliver the module in such a way that students should be able to come up with a portfolio containing 800 to 1,000 words research based written report subject for turnitin. Patience of the tutors is challenged in handling this module. Despite of this challenge, GSS tutors were able to transfer learnings as far as the required learning outcomes are concerned. They believed that patience played a vital role in teaching this module that helped a lot to deliver the module with maximum efficiency; in assessment method, three heavy assessments are expected for students which they find it difficult as it requires a lot of time, preparation and research skills. Thus, the tutors are challenged to meet a 100 percent module. The module’s level of difficulty is too high to the students’ level of intellect. Considering that, the students are still in the foundation level, yet they were bombarded with research-based activities which is already done by the undergraduate students in their terminal courses. GSS as one of the core modules of GFP is difficult on the part of the students. It implies that the module needs to be reviewed in terms of its expected learning outcomes, module assessment, teaching and learning activities. In addition, students’ level of communication skills and attitudes towards their studies need to take into consideration. To address the gaps, FFS with its Programme and Module Leaders should review the current curriculum of GSS to meet the desired outcomes. The module descriptors should need to be redesigned in such a way that it should meet not only the OAAA and the partner university requirements but also the needs of the GFP students. The teaching and learning activities (TLAs) particularly the activities included in the portfolio need to be reviewed and lowered its level of difficulty.  Article visualizations

READING ABILITY OF EFL LEARNERS: THE CASE OF LEVEL 3 STUDENTS OF GULF COLLEGE, OMAN

This study was conducted to analyze the reading ability of EFL learners which focused on the comprehension skill of level 3 students of Gulf College enrolled in academic English: ELP and EAPSS during the first semester of academic year 2016-2017. The aims of this study was to find out the level of reading comprehension of the students and identified what factors contributed to the poor comprehension and come up  with an  intervention to help students of level 3 students. In an effort to determine the reading comprehension of the level 3 students, the researcher used descriptive method of research and purposive sampling technique to identify their reading comprehension. A diagnostic reading test was administered to the two batches of level 3 students under him and all these students were the respondents of the study. These groups of students were given a teacher-made reading test to identify their comprehension ability in terms of noting details, inferring, predicting outcomes, getting the main idea, and vocabulary building. Result showed that 78 percent of the students are poor in predicting outcomes and getting the main idea. Inferring (75.6 %) was also another skill that students are low garnering 75.6 percent. Followed by vocabulary building and noting details with 56.2 percent and 53.6 percent respectively. This implies that the students have not developed their higher order thinking skill in reading and that most of the L3 students are struggling readers. Their high comprehension ability needs to be reinforced.     Article visualizations

A magnetic liquid deformable mirror for high stroke and low order axially symmetrical aberrations

We present a new class of magnetically shaped deformable liquid mirrors made of a magnetic liquid (ferrofluid). Deformable liquid mirrors offer advantages with respect to deformable solid mirrors: large deformations, low costs and the possibility of very large mirrors with added aberration control. They have some disadvantages (e.g. slower response time). We made and tested a deformable mirror, producing axially symmetrical wavefront aberrations by applying electric currents to 5 concentric coils made of copper wire wound on aluminum cylinders. Each of these coils generates a magnetic field which combines to deform the surface of a ferrofluid to the desired shape. We have carried out laboratory tests on a 5 cm diameter prototype mirror and demonstrated defocus as well as Seidel and Zernike spherical aberrations having amplitudes up to 20 microns, which was the limiting measurable amplitude of our equipmentComment: To appear in Optics Expres

Double-Duty Actions: Seizing Program and Policy Opportunities to Address Malnutrition in all its Forms

Actions to address different forms of malnutrition are typically managed by separate communities, policies, programmes, governance structures, and funding streams. In contrast, double duty actions, which aim to simultaneously tackle both undernutrition and problems of overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (DR-NCDs) have been proposed as a way to effectively address malnutrition in all its forms in a more holsitic way. This paper identifies ten double duty actions that have strong potential to reduce the risk of both undernutrition and obesity/DR-NCDs. It does so by : 1) summarizing evidence on common drivers of different forms of malnutrition; 2) documenting examples of unintended harm caused by some undernutrition-focused programmes on obesity/DR-NCDs; and 3) highlighting a few examples of first double duty actions undertaken to tackle multiple forms of malnutrition. We find that undernutrition and obesity/DR-NCDs are intrinsically linked through early life nutrition; dietary quality; food environments; and socioeconomic factors. There is some evidence that undernutrition-focused programs have raised risks of poor quality diets and obesity/DR-NCDs, especially in countries undergoing a rapid nutrition transition. The paper builds on this evidence to develop a framework to guide the design of double duty approaches and strategies, and defines the first steps needed to deliver them. With a clear package of double duty actions now identified, there is an urgent need to move forward with double duty actions to address malnutrition in all its forms

The Value of Art

Art is the concrete/tangible/substantial materialization of the human creative impulse to convey her/his most vital desires and needs. Art is the channel that facilitates the release of humanity´s imaginative urge that makes life more liveable and more worth enhancing. In a broader sense, we may even contend that human life in its truest essence is art itself. It is the artistic spirit of humanity that sees beauty in the natural environ of earthly existence. The course of life on earth provides magnificent inspiration to the creative human being in the furtherance of the world which s/he started to create millennia ago and has been the focal point of her/his most determined struggles to survive, to improve and to make life more meaningful despite myriads of troubles, adversities and tragedies

Is Philosophy A Fiction?

Looking at philosophy—and I mean western philosophy to be more specific—in the course of its historical development that goes back to ancient Greece, it emerged as a thematic phenomenon in the spontaneous course of broadening the scope of the sphere of human intellectual achievements at the time when the ancient Greeks were deeply immersed in and dimly shrouded by the superstitions and mystifications that characterized its mythological religion dominated by the Olympus-based pantheon of gods and goddesses led by the ¨almighty¨ Zeus. If we want now to talk of fiction, ancient mythological Greek religion was hardcore fiction. And the emergence of the first so-called philosophers was a welcome relief in the lives of a people fed up with the exploitative machination of a hyper-superstitious religion enslaving them for so many generations

The Gap Between Teaching and Learning

The gap between teaching and learning occurs likewise and exclusively in the human condition, though—as we have pointed out earlier—not in all instances because human sensitivity to the fundamental character of the nature-to-culture trajectory will prevent the chasm. To be more specific on this issue, it is in the formalization of the teaching-learning event in the hands of human initiators that the gap gets in as a resultant disorder—even a syndrome. In this sense, formalized teaching doesn´t always result to learning. In certain cases, formalized teaching (as in a school classroom) simply gets so far as the level of a mental assent—a theoretical approximation of a subject matter whose empirico-pragmatic location in real life is nowhere found. Learning—if we could call it as such—in this case is hence short of realization

The Risks of (Doing) Philosophy

Philosophizing is at risk in the face of dogmatism, either political or religious. In political and/or religious circumstances where freedom of expression is curtailed, the risk of critical and discursive philosophizing (pursued both analytically and synthetically) is extremely far above the ground. As a case in point, getting into a balanced critical and appreciative philosophical deliberation (reflection and discourse) on the Israeli-Palestinian political conflicts and controversies right inside Israel with politically fired-up Israelis both intellectual and non-intellectual alike is a risky engagement. What is specifically tolerable in such a particular context is ¨imbalanced philosophizing¨ (which is an oxymoron) wherein one is only allowed to DISCURSIVELY APPRECIATE the merits of just one side of the political divide over the other and never to be critical of the downsides discovered on the same side. Of course, the other philosophical operation of REFLECTIVE CRITICISM doesn´t get apparent, much less obvious, in such condition as it is forbidden to see the light of day. The risk lies in an open defiance of the restriction and could even be a matter of life and death. Similar to this was the situation in the erstwhile Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites during the so-called Cold War era. Discursive criticism even within the strict purview of philosophical analysis and synthesis of certain political principles and theories operative within the system was a proscribed exercise whose violation could put involved individuals in a gulag, a mental asylum or at worst before a firing squad

Applying the Food Multimix concept for sustainable and nutritious diets

Background: Despite a rich and diverse ecosystem and biodiversity, worldwide, more than 2 billion people suffer from micronutrient malnutrition or hidden hunger. Of major concern are a degradation of our ecosystems and agricultural systems which are thought to be unsustainable thereby posing a challenge for the future food and nutrition security. Despite these challenges, nutrition security and ensuring well balanced diets depend on sound knowledge and appropriate food choices in a complex world of plenty and want. We have previously reported on how the food multimix (FMM) concept, a food-based and dietary diversification approach can be applied to meeting energy and micronutrient needs of vulnerable groups through an empirical process. Our objective in this article is to examine how the concept can be applied to improve nutrition in a sustainable way in otherwise poor and hard-to-reach communities. We have reviewed over 100 FMM food recipes formulated from combinations of commonly consumed traditional candidate food ingredients; on average five per recipe, and packaged as per 100 g powders from different countries including Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabawe and Southern Africa, India, Mexico, Malaysia and United Kingdom; and for different age groups and conditions such as older infants and young children, pregnant women, HIV patients, diabetes and for nutrition rehabilitation. Candidate foods were examined for their nutrient strengths and nutrient content and nutrient density of recipes per 100 g were compared to reference nutrient intakes (RNIs) for the different population groups. We report on the nutrient profiles from our analysis of the pooled and age-matched data as well as sensory analysis and conclude that locally produced FMM foods can complement local diets and contribute significantly to meeting nutrient needs among vulnerable groups in food-insecure environments. Key words: food multimix, candidate foods, sustainable, food security, resource-poor, nutrition interventions

Role of livestock in human nutrition and health for poverty reduction in developing countries

Livestock keeping is critical for many of the poor in the developing world, often contributing to multiple livelihood objectives and offering pathways out of poverty. Livestock keeping also affects an indispensable asset of the poor, their human capital, through its impact on their own nutrition and health. This paper outlines the linkages between livestock keeping and the physical well-being of the poor, and examines a number of commonly held beliefs that misrepresent livestock development issues related to these linkages. These beliefs limit the scope of intervention programs to promote livestock and limit their potential contribution to poverty reduction. Recognition of the complexity of the role livestock play in household decision-making and of the opportunities foregone due to these misconceptions can enhance the ability of livestock to contribute to human well-being in the developing world