scholarly journals Exploring Effective Practices in Managing Distance Learning for Teaching Art and Design in Bahrain

Author(s):  
Sama’a Al Hashimi

As universities move to virtual learning, the need to explore the most effective practices for remotely teaching art and design students became very critical. It is very important to examine the strategies universities are using to efficiently transfer skills and knowledge and meet the needs of students through an online learning environment. Art and design classes involve hands-on activities and requirements that cannot easily be met in digital environments. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the creative approaches that art and design educators adopted to transition to remote teaching. The study involved conducting an online focus group with eleven art and design educators at The University of Bahrain to investigate the experiences, perceptions, and the challenges they faced while teaching art and design remotely during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The focus group engaged the educators in a semi-structured discussion in order to gather qualitative data that would allow for a descriptive analysis of their online teaching experiences and the most effective approaches they implemented. Thus, the study is undertaken to determine the most effective practices that can be employed by educators to engage students and enhance the distance learning process in an art and design online environment. The findings suggested that the main challenges that are peculiar to art and design distance learning include difficulty in clearly seeing the value of the colors in a student’s artwork on screen and the unavailability of features that support art and design remote teaching in the currently available learning management systems.

Author(s):  
Sama’a Al Hashimi ◽  
Dalal Alsindi

As many universities transitioned to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the distance learning environment presented various accessibility challenges for deaf and hard-of-hearing students (DHH). In art and design higher education programs, the transition from face-to-face learning to virtual learning is difficult for students in general, and even more difficult for students with hearing loss. Art and design educators have explored approaches to effectively compensate for these challenges and optimize the distance learning experiences for DHH students. This paper aims to investigate these challenges and attempts to explore the international best practices in distance education for deaf learners. Action research is used as a methodology to guide the professional development of art and design educators on ways to refine and hone their online teaching approaches. Ten DHH students (5 Males and 5 females) participated in the action research for the needs of this study. Their challenges, experiences, preferences, needs and artworks were analysed in an attempt to optimize their online learning outcomes and provide recommendations that will lead to the implementation of effective teaching strategies and the design of appropriate e-learning environments for hearing-impaired art and design students. The preliminary findings of the study revealed that the main challenges DHH students and their instructors faced were communication barriers and misinterpretation of tasks, which led to difficulties in fulfilling the course intended outcomes. The recommendations formulated on the basis of the findings are to adapt the intended learning outcomes and teaching approaches to optimize the learning experiences of the DHH students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
VloreenNity Mathew ◽  
Ellen Chung

Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has been implemented in universities around the world since decades ago. With COVID-19 pandemic, its implementation has been accelerated globally at an unprecedented speed and haste. Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate the university students’ perspectives on ODL amidst COVID-19. By using the convenient sampling method, a total of 608 diploma and degree students throughout Malaysia have participated and shared their feedback on ODL implementation. The collected data covered their general feedback and what they enjoyed the most about ODL. Moreover, their recommendations on ODL implementation were analyzed by categorising the responses into different themes. The demographic data was summarized using descriptive analysis. A comparison between the diploma and the degree students’ perspectives is also discussed in the paper. The findings show that most students have positive perceptions on ODL implementation, where positive feedback and fun factors are highlighted by the respondents. Some students indicated that ODL should not be continued in the future semester, due to problems such as poor internet connection, budget constraints and time management issues. Recommendations on improvements for better ODL implementations in the near future are also provided. This study contributes to more effective ODL management by presenting the learners’ perspectives   Keywords: Open and Distance Learning (ODL), Online Learning Platforms, Technology, Teaching and Learning, University Students


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 226-235
Author(s):  
Nandyal Panduranga Sobhana

The outbreak of COVID -19 was unforeseen and it forced all the Saudi universities to close the campuses and launch online teaching. This paper focused on challenges envisioned in online teaching using Blackboard system. Analytical and descriptive methods of quantitative research was used to analyse and describe the challenges and perceptions of the faculty with regard to online teaching on blackboard, anticipating that the results would form a basis to improvise online teaching in post corona era. The sample of the study constituted 25 faculty members of the Department of English, Samtah University College, Jazan University. A closed and open-ended questionnaire was used to assess the challenges of the university faculty with regard to online teaching and online training program on blackboard. In online teaching, the faculty require digital skills, tools, and instructional strategies than in a conventional face-to-face classroom teaching. They should collaborate with each other working hands-on to integrate online teaching with instructional strategies and find effective ways to support the success of online students. It is important to note that students should be relieved from anxiety and ensured that they would actively engage themselves in online learning. Summing up this research study, the researcher has observed from the analysis of the faculty questionnaire, that the faculty were ready to accept the change from the conventional mode of teaching to modern day online teaching in the post corona era, assuming that technological issues involved are properly taken care of.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-142
Author(s):  
Vehbi Miftari ◽  
◽  
Suada A. Dzogovic ◽  
Anela Dzogovic ◽  
Blagojka Zdravkovska-Adamova ◽  
...  

The focus of this research is education during the coronavirus pandemic in Southeastern European countries (Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia). It encompasses elementary education, high schools and higher education. The aim of the research is multiple. With it, we want to present methods of distance learning during the pandemics in the above mentioned countries, challenges and advantages that have emerged, as well as potential solutions for removing faults. This is primarily qualitative research relying on several methods. We conducted interviews to understand the experiences of different stakeholders participating in the education process. This research also relies on quantitative data, i.e. researches doing by The University of Prishtina, Pedagogical Institute of Kosovo, as well as results of opinion polls and research conducted by Student Parliament and Senate of the University of Sarajevo. Their research was conducted throughout the academic year 2020/2021. Also, we compiled different texts from media, as well as statements from different stakeholders. Our method is primarily inductive – because in some cases general ideas and conclusions about distance learning in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina are based on different individual examples. Information in this research in relation to the section on North Macedonia is mainly based on three sources: Data from the website of Ministry for Education and Science of the Republic of North Macedonia; Morphosis Foundation Survey from September 2020 entitled Status and Challenges for Managing Online Teaching in Primary School; and Findings from the research with directors, teachers, and parents: Experience and Attitudes about Distance Learning, a document prepared by Reactor. Our key conclusion is that Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia were not an exception regarding to the problems that arose during the pandemic in terms of education, such as online teaching, adapting students to new learning conditions, training of teachers for teaching in extraordinary and new circumstances, assessment criteria, etc. However, the situation has also brought opportunities to re-think existing education models and to find new solutions at schools and universities.


Author(s):  
Ashleigh J. Fletcher ◽  
Mark Haw ◽  
Miguel Jorge ◽  
Kenneth Moffat

Online teaching and learning opens up great opportunities, particularly in terms of widening access to education, but also poses important challenges related to delivery, student engagement, adapting contents, and ensuring reliability of assessment. Some of these challenges assume particular relevance in engineering degrees, due to their strong practical dimension, the connection to industrial practice, and the need for programme accreditation. This chapter focuses on the example of the Chemical Engineering Distance Learning degree at the University of Strathclyde, describing its decade-long transformation from a mainly correspondence-based course to a fully online programme. The main challenges faced by course directors and teaching staff are identified, and the response to those challenges is critically discussed. Finally, a reflection is presented on the future of distance learning programmes in the context of expected developments enabled by online technologies, artificial intelligence, and collection of rich datasets on learner engagement and development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Sara A. Bader

French language instructors at the University of Bahrain faced many challenges in adapting their teaching practices during the sudden transition to online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this case study, we explore the French language instructors’ perceptions of e-learning and their attitudes toward technology during the pandemic as well as their students’ perceptions of the quality of their online teaching. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between instructors’ perceptions and teaching performance. We conducted the study during the beginning of the sudden change to online teaching and administered online survey-based data collection instruments to gather information about French language instructors’ perceptions and undergraduate students’ satisfaction with the quality of French language online teaching. One year later, we completed data collection with semi-structured interviews of the instructors’ perceptions and online teaching experience. The findings indicated that despite the abrupt switch to online teaching, instructors showed a prominent level of technology acceptance. However, the results indicated effective online teaching was highly correlated to instructors’ pedagogical preparedness and self-efficacy level. Consequently, this study outlines key factors influencing the efficacy of e-learning, including pedagogical preparedness, instructors’ self-efficacy, and information and communications technology literacy. In addition, in this study we propose implications for instructors’ preparation and development.


Author(s):  
Casey Keulen ◽  
Christoph Sielmann

COVID-19 has profoundly affected many, if not all, Canadian engineering courses during the2020/2021 academic year, many of which transitioned to online teaching. Delivering hands-on, highly interactive laboratory and design project courses is particularly challenging to do remotely. We present and reflect on experiences with remote teaching of three hands-on laboratory courses in a new Manufacturing Engineering program at the University ofBritish Columbia (UBC). These courses include MANU 230: Manufacturing Laboratory, MANU 330: Manufacturing Engineering Project I, and MANU 386: Industrial Automation. All three courses are taught in the same laboratory/classroom by one of the authors. In general, it appears that the students appreciated the remote lab experiences provided. However, it wasapparent from both survey data and informal feedback that students preferred in-person laboratory sessions. While, perhaps not an ideal method of delivering these types of courses there appears to be some place for remote laboratory classes in the future.


Author(s):  
Amran Abdul Halim ◽  
Abdulloh Salaeh

This study is to identify the involvement of academicians on the teaching of the hadith. The contribution of the academicians to the teaching of the hadith is also very much needed so that Muslims can acknowledge al-Sunnah closely. The academicians were selected from Academic of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya Islamic Studies Academy, the National University of Malaysia, the Islamic Science University of Malaysia and the International Islamic University which they are all from various fields of Islamic Studies. The methodology used in this study is a questionnaire which is group sampling. The researcher distributes the questionnaire to the academic staff at the university involved. Based on this descriptive analysis of the questionnaire, it can be concluded that academic practitioners either in the field of hadith or other fields are involved and contribute to the teaching of hadith such as in public universities and other institutions. This shows that most academicians have good knowledge related to the field of hadith. Therefore, they are among the most suitable as references to the community in solving Sunnah and bidaah issues, especially the academicians who are experts in the field of hadith. Abstrak Kajian ini adalah untuk mengenalpasti penglibatan ahli akademik terhadap pengajaran hadith. Sumbangan ahli akademik terhadap pengajaran hadith juga amat diperlukan agar umat Islam dapat mengenali al-Sunnahsecara  lebih  dekat.  Ahli-ahli  akademik  yang  dipilih  adalah  dari  Akademi  Pengajian  Islam  Universiti Malaya,   Universiti   Kebangsaan   Malaysia,   Universiti   Sains   Islam   Malaysia   dan   Universiti   Islam Antarabangsa  yang  mana  kesemuanya  dalam  pelbagai  bidang  Pengajian  Islam.  Kaedah yang  digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah soal selidik iaitu persampelan berkelompok. Penyelidikmengedarkan borang soal selidik tersebut kepada ahli akademik di universiti tersebut. Berdasarkan, analisis deskriptif soal selidik ini, dapat dirumuskan bahawa ahli akademik sama ada dalam bidang hadith atau lain-lain bidang adalah terlibat dan turut memberi sumbangan dalam pengajaran hadith seperti di universiti-universiti awam dan lain-lain institusi  pengajian.  Ini  menunjukkan  bahawa  kebanyakan  ahli  akademik  mempunyai  pengetahuan  yang baik  berkaitan  dengan  bidang  hadith.  Oleh  itu,  mereka  adalah  antara  golongan  sangat  sesuai  dijadikan sebagai rujukan masyarakat dalam menyelesaikan permasalahan Sunnah dan bidaah, terutama sekali ahli akademik yang pakar dalam bidang hadith.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. K. Samerhanova ◽  
M. A. Balakin

Introduction. The article deals with the training of professional educational program managers for work in the digital environment of a university. The digital environment of the university is considered from the perspective of managing professional educational programs and is a complex open system that integrates system components for managing content, process, resources, contingent, finance and quality of programs that ensure the integrity and continuity of the educational process at all levels and in all respects. The implementation of a digital model for managing educational programs at a university on the basis of a single digital ring of services for an electronic platform for managing educational programs at a university dictates the need for digital competencies of managers of major professional educational programs (OPOP).By digital competence of the leaders of professional educational programs we mean the ability and willingness to perform labor functions in the design, implementation and replication of an educational program using digital technologies that ensure the effectiveness of activitiesThe way to identify professional deficiencies in the field of digital competencies of the leaders of professional educational programs was the personalized design of educational internship trajectories with tutorial support for the internship. The internship trajectory of the heads of OPOP has a modular structure and is aimed at eliminating professional deficits in the field of information, methodological, communication, technological and organizational component of digital competencies. The internship site (virtual laboratory) is a virtual educational space that provides training for educational program managers and online events: hackaths, quests, webinars, etc.Materials and methods. When writing an article, the following methods were used - theoretical and methodological analysis and synthesis of available special domestic and foreign scientific and methodological literature, conceptual analysis of scientific articles and publications on the topic; study and generalization of both domestic and foreign developments and implementation of projects to create digital environments in education management; application of generalization, comparison, forecasting methods, online surveys.Results. The structure of the digital environment for managing professional educational programs at the university is presented. Functionally described is the ring of digital services for the management of OPOP. The analysis of different approaches to assessing the digital competencies of educators is presented. The concept of digital competencies has been clarified in relation to the head of a professional educational program. The content of the components of digital competency is described: informational, methodological, communication, technological, organizational.Discussions and Conclusions. The developed modular program for eliminating professional deficits of heads of professional educational programs in the field of digital competencies, based on the personalized design of educational internship trajectories with tutorial support for internships, will allow you to effectively administer and manage BEP in the digital environment of the university.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Robakiewicz ◽  
◽  
Dawn Beamer ◽  
Dawn Beamer ◽  
Jennifer Cooper Boemmels ◽  
...  

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