Would parents risk allowing their children to attend face-to-face classes?

Several universities in the Philippines were granted permission to hold face-to-face classes. However, at this time when there is a spike or surge in the virus infections, it may be difficult to convince many parents to send their children to the university. Moreover, while these universities have made extensive preparations to ensure the safety of the students in the campus, there are still concerns regarding the students' protection while in their lodging houses or while commuting to the university. Parents would rather prefer online study for their children or other modes of out-of-campus study like a blended approach. A blended method allows the students to study independently through modules and virtual classes (if possible – Zoom, Google Meet, MS Teams, Facebook Group Video Chat) and require the students’ presence in the university only during the major examinations or laboratory tests.  These modules could be sent to the students’ email addresses, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc. Just like the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), university professors can utilize the features of Google Classroom or Moodle for free. These learning management systems (LMSs) can be used to send quizzes and other course activities.    

Hence, these universities who have been granted authority to conduct face-to-face classes have to plan alternative ways if college students still refuse to take the risk and attend in-campus classes.

Guidelines for Designing Effective English Teaching Materials

 

Guidelines for Designing Effective English Teaching Materials

1: English language teaching materials should be contextualised

2: Materials should stimulate interaction and be generative in terms of language

3: English language teaching materials should encourage learners to develop learning skills and strategies

4: English language teaching materials should allow for a focus on form as well as function

5: English language teaching materials should offer opportunities for integrated language use

6: English language teaching materials should be authentic

7: English language teaching materials should link to each other to develop a progression of skills, understandings and language items

8: English language teaching materials should be attractive

Howard, J. & Major, J. (2004). Guidelines for Designing Effective English Language Teaching Materials. 

How can students learn easily? Neuroscience may have the answer.

 The question facing many educators is "How can my students learn easily?" 

Dr. Marial Hardiman may have the answer. With the principles of neuroscience in mind, Dr. Mariale Hardiman, a former school principal and who is now professor at Johns Hopkins, developed a teaching framework designed to help teachers, teach the way the brain learns. She recommended that if educators teach the learners based on the process that the brain learns, then learning can be greatly enhanced. The author wrote the following steps in teaching based on how the brain learns: (1) establish the emotional climate for learning, (2) creating the physical learning environment, (3) designing the learning experience, (4) teaching for mastery, (5) teaching for the extension, and (6) evaluating learning.  The author further explained that “learning only occurs when the student can connect new information to old information." Recently, Eric Jensen and Liesl McConchie wrote a book entitled "Brain-Based Learning: Teaching the Way Students Really Learn (2020)" which explores the role of neuroscience in learning. 

(I presented this study at the 3rd Annual Teaching and Learning Conference held at Sohar University, Sohar City, Oman on September 14, 2017.)

Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Risk Management

Should there be one Risk Management Committee to identify all the risks and opportunities?

While working as assistant coordinator of our department's quality assurance committee, I finished the internal auditor course (ISO 9001:2015) with SGS Oman. In 2018, I then made a research comparing the processes in ISO 9001:2015 with the audit being conducted by the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA). One of the findings of the study revealed that our university/college has a distinct and separate Risk Management Committee/Unit for each of the departments. These committees are tasked on identifying the risks and opportunities of each department. However,  ISO 9001:2015 has adopted the "risk-based thinking" and "risk assessment is a main component of the process at each level of the system." 

The study then recommended that each process in the department in the university/college identify its own risks and opportunities. For example, the "Exam Committee" identify its own risks and the other committees also identify their own risks. Risk-based thinking requires companies to evaluate risk when establishing processes. As such, one committee should not identify all the risks and opportunities in a department.

(I presented the results of this research at the Smart Education and Technology Symposium (SETS) 2018, held at Ibra College of Technology, Ibra, Oman, on March 27, 2018.)

Can we teach the English language using the native language of the place?

 Can we teach the English language using the native language of the place? 

Yes. One of the techniques in teaching the English language is the Grammar-Translation Method (GTM). In this method, "the meaning of the target language is made clear by translating it into the students’ native language. The language that is used in class is MOSTLY the students’ native language." [Larsen-Freeman, D. & Anderson, M. (2016). Techniques and principles in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.]. The extent of the use of the native language in teaching also depends on the previous exposure of the learners in the target language. So it doesn't mean that the native language will be used as the SOLE language in teaching the English language if the learners have some experience with the target language. In this case, the native language is merely used to make the meanings of the English words or phrases clear if the beginning learners are having a difficulty in comprehension. For example, I want to learn Arabic. At the start, my teacher will teach Arabic to me in English since I am a beginning learner. Eventually, the use of English in teaching Arabic decreases as I become proficient in the language. The goal of the GTM is to enable the learners to read and translate words/phrase/sentences from English to the native language since it is believed that one of the signs that the learner understands the target language is to be able to translate it to his/her native language.  

Cart before the horse: Integrating Technology in the Classroom.

Simply put, "putting the cart before the horse"  means doing things in the wrong order.  

The cart represents "technology" and the "horse" represents "pedagogy."  The figure above illustrates how some people tend to decide first the kind of technology to be used for teaching rather than on the reason or purpose for using the technology. Instead, pedagogy should dictate how to use the technology and what kind of technology to be used in online learning.  For instance, the first consideration in an online learning is how to put the following processes in teaching into online:

Face-to-face Learning	Online Learning	Technology to be used (What technology can be used to electronically send/deliver the files/activities to the students?)
Syllabus/Delivery Plan   (The hard copies are given to the students.)	How should the materials be given/delivered to the students online?	email?
Books/Hand-outs/Worksheets (The hard copies are given to the students.)	How should the materials be given/delivered to the students online?	email?
Classroom Teaching	How should teaching be done? fully online? blended?	MS Teams? Google Classroom? Zoom?
Quizzes and Examinations	How should quizzes or test be administered? fully online? blended? How to prevent plagiarism?	MS Forms? Google Forms? Moodle?  How to prevent plagiarism?

(The author has presented this study at the 20th Oman International ELT Conference last October 14-15, 2020. The author hopes to publish the full paper/research.)