Being committed to developing the educational process at Staam bin Abudalaziz University, the Deanship of Development &Quality organized a workshop entitled “Teaching and Assessment Strategies in the Light of the Educational Philosophy”. It was presented by Prof. Yassein Kandel, the chair of University Education Development Center.
The workshop discussed a crucial issue, the educational philosophy of the University, and pertinent teaching and assessment strategies that suit the University educational philosophy. Dr. Yassein explained that the proposed educational philosophy of the university should be focused on the students as the center of the educational process. He explained the major differences between andragogy and pedagogy. He also shed light onto the cognitive characteristics of the adult learners and their training needs as per the teaching strategies centered on the student.
The trainees have participated in answering some questions concerned with the differences among teaching, learning, and training in line with clarifying whether their academic departments have followed a certain educational philosophy yet . In addition, they articulated their opinions with regard to the characteristics of learning, teaching strategies; the nature of the university student and his/her needs in accordance with the proposed educational philosophy of the University.
Dr. Rashid explained the importance of bridging the gap between the assessment, objectives and the course learning outcomes. Accordingly, the instructor would be capable of designing a teaching strategy suitable for each learning outcome, which has to be focused on the student’s interaction and response to the teaching/ learning context. In addition, it has to be consistent with the educational philosophy of the University.
It is worth mentioning that the workshop requirements has not been completed by the end of the training course time as the trainer charged the trainees with making assignments related to the subject of the workshop to be sent by e-mail within a week as deadline starting from the date of workshop. This came as response to activate the training policy being centered on the trainees, derived from the educational philosophy of the University.