Developing teachers: the challenges of lifelong learning

Results NOW: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning

E-learning has become a necessity in higher education institutions and is being deployed in educational establishments throughout the world. Researchers have made much emphasis on its benefits but not much is discussed on the disadvantages of e-learning technology. This paper references some of the research work on the limitations of e-learning technology, categorises it in five challenges that teachers are faced with and suggestions for a successful e-learning outcome. This paper also discusses the use of e-learning technology in Middlesex University and some of the challenges they face. Lastly this paper identifies gaps in e-learning literature and calls for further works on this subject.

https://shura.shu.ac.uk/10403/1/islam%20beer%20slack%20-%20e-learning.pdf

E-learning challenges faced by academics in higher education

The present study sought to compare the effects of training teachers in specific communication skills designed to promote thinking and scaffold learning on teachers’ and students’ verbal behaviours during cooperative group work. Thirty teachers and 826 children from years 5 to 7 participated in the study. The results show that when teachers are trained to use specific communication skills during cooperative learning (cooperative-interactional condition) they engage in more mediated-learning interactions, ask more questions, and make fewer disciplinary comments than teachers who have been trained to implement cooperative group work only (cooperative condition). In turn, the children in the cooperative-interactional groups modelled many of the responses they gave their teachers and provided more detailed explanations, shorter responses, and asked more questions than their peers in the cooperative only groups.

The effects of communication training on teachers' and students' verbal behaviours during cooperative learning

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E-Learning Challenges Faced by Academics in Higher Education: A Literature Review.

All students learn, but not all learn in the same way. Educational researchers postulate that everyone has a learning style. This article examines how cultural variability is reflected in the learning style of students in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United States. In this study, the learning styles of over 300 students in Teacher Education Institutions in Egypt; Saudi Arabia and United States of America were examined with What’s My Learning Style? Instrument developed by Steinbach (1993).

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Learning Style Preferences of Student Teachers: A Cross-Cultural Perspective.

This study focused on practical applications and examined the perceptions of elementary school teachers in Saudi Arabia concerning the effectiveness and facilitators/inhibitors of continuous professional development (CPD) activities. Professional development is a critical element that can ensure successful school change and development takes place within school systems. Professional and school development overlap and the common link relates to ongoing continuous improvement on the part of teachers and administrators. A specific objective of the study included ascertaining whether professional development programs were providing helpful knowledge and skills to teachers that could result in promoting student achievement. The results of this study reinforced the need to connect professional development efforts with relevant classroom topics and strategies that will allow teachers to gain and recognize the need for new knowledge and skills. Aligning the needs of teachers, administrators, and school objectives can promote teacher involvement, professional growth, and can lead the way to establishing mentoring relationships that can ensure continuous improvement occurs.

Continuing Professional Development: Perceptions of Elementary School Teachers in Saudi Arabia

The purpose of this study is to assess the perceptions of public school teachers in three Arab countries (Egypt, Saudi Arabia & Oman) based on the dimensions of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and related attributes. A quantitative approach is implemented using the Professional Learning Communities Assessment–Revised (PLCA-R) questionnaire developed by (Olivier; Hipp, & Huffman, 2010). The measure is administered to public school teachers in Egypt, KSA, and Oman. The PLCA-R utilizes a four-point, forced Likert Scale. A sample of (1486) subjects is selected during 2014-2015 school years. The data is analyzed through descriptive statistics. The research concluded that both Saudi and Omani teachers showed positive perceptions regarding the degree to which their schools function as PLCs; whereas Egyptians showed negative perceptions, and there were significant differences between male and female teachers regarding their perceptions of the degree to which their schools function as PLCs in favor of female teachers.

/pdf/teachers-perspectives-on-professional-learning-communities-4006yl66ue.pdf

Teachers’ perspectives on professional learning communities in some Arab countries

This paper set out to examine the issue of Literacy and Adult Education in Egypt. The paper discussed the current status of Literacy and Adult Education in Egypt and the policies undertaken by either the Government or Non- government Organizations (NGOs) to provide programs to educate Adult Learners, and face the Illiteracy problem which remains one of the principal issues that limit the development and social transformation in Egypt. The paper followed the descriptive research method, and it concluded with some recommendations to explore alternative ways of improving quality and practice of Literacy and Adult Education programs under the rubric of lifelong learning. It argued that Literacy and Adult Education programs should help adult learners to improve their lives as individuals and as positive members in the community, especially after the Egyptian Revolution which called for “Aish, Horreya, Adala Egtema'eya!” or “Bread, freedom, social justice!”.

http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/3/7/1/education-3-7-1.pdf

Literacy and Adult Education in Egypt: Achievements and Challenges

Accreditation can be seen as one of several complementary measures in a quality assurance system, and the starting point is the need to maintain and improve good quality in institutions of higher education. Accreditation can play a more or less dominant role in the field of different measures that aim at monitoring, steering, recognizing and ensuring quality assurance in higher education. The frameworks for accreditation and external quality assurance vary from country to country, but generally follow three basic forms: the European model of central control of quality assurance by state educational ministries (Egypt follows this model); the United States (US) model of decentralized quality assurance combining limited state control with market competition; and, the British model in which the state essentially ceded responsibility for quality assurance to self-accrediting universities.

/pdf/higher-education-accreditation-in-view-of-international-2ycu4l7u4p.pdf

Mohamed M. Ghoneim Sywelem

Papers

Learning Style Preferences of Student Teachers: A Cross-Cultural Perspective.

Continuing Professional Development: Perceptions of Elementary School Teachers in Saudi Arabia

Teachers’ perspectives on professional learning communities in some Arab countries

Literacy and Adult Education in Egypt: Achievements and Challenges

Higher Education Accreditation in View of International Contemporary Attitudes