One Day Faculty Training Workshop on Teaching Practices
A one-day training session was organized for the newly inducted faculty members at Abasyn University on 6th May, 2017 by the QEC Abasyn University Peshawar. The training session was aimed at promoting competency in teaching practices and assessment procedures. The faculty development program was implemented to promote learning and application of the core competencies established by the QEC-Abasyn University.
Professor Dr. Zahid Mahmood, Dean Research-AU and Mr. Aqeel Wahab Siddiqui, Controller Examination-AU were the resource persons. The proceedings of the training session started at 9:00 AM and some additional assessment tools of the faculty development program were recommended to evaluate different perspectives of outcome. The topics selected by the experts for the workshop were diverse teaching practices, implementation of teaching programs, educational methods, and introduction of resources, assessment, and feedback.
The experts told the participants that according to the feedback of earlier workshop sessions, our faculty development program effectively increased familiarity with various teaching and assessment skills needed to teach at Abasyn University. They further elucidated that updating higher and professional education is a continuous process in response to advances in diversified avenues of knowledge. Therefore, institutions of higher studies have adapted new methodologies in the admission process, curricular design, educational strategies, and assessment.
The participating academicians were told that as new knowledge rapidly expands, the need for adjusting the teaching practices accordingly accelerates at even greater pace. The experts highlighted the need to promote change in individuals, curriculum, and institutions.
During the interactive sessions, the experts oriented the audience that at the individual level, a good faculty development program facilitates knowledge acquisition, attitudinal change, and skill development while for those who already excel in teaching, the program can enhance the quality of teaching and introduce new effective teaching behaviors and concepts of higher education. They were of the view that at the curriculum development level, teachers trained in small groups are more prone to modify teaching behavior while providing a variety of teaching skills or attitude. At the institution level, the faculty development program brings change to the teaching atmosphere and leads to quality improvement in the whole organization.
It is important to mention that the workshop proceedings consisted of small group discussions followed by demonstrations of teaching in actual settings. The participants were oriented about the mechanism of course classification into beginner and advanced levels and its conduction through panel discussions. They were taught how to use modern teaching methodology and various methods such as questionnaires, interviews and objective structured teaching exercises to assess the outcomes of academic programs.
The experts were of the view that development of technology and internationalization also changed the learning behavior of students everywhere in the world; therefore, teachers needed to be multifaceted, perceptive of society, and aware of students' learning rights, in order to cope with the rapidly changing society. They told the academicians that the new strategies and the trend of the current higher education in enhancing the quality of teachers include standardization, accreditation of training courses, assessment and evaluation, exploration of theory of education.
In concluding remarks, the experts opine that the University should ensure continuous improvement of teaching skills for academicians, who in turn should be responsible for provision of educational objectives, content, models, and assessment. When teachers became competent, they were then able to offer courses, promote learning, and create a learning atmosphere for the students. The academicians were advised to review and modify curriculum content constantly based on social needs and student feedback. In addition, regular teaching quality assessment and peer assessment should be conducted. The need to provide learners with library resources, research laboratories, equipment, and adequate study space was also reiterated during the proceedings of the workshop.
The workshop proceedings ended at 4:00 PM and the participants were served refreshments.