The Network of Quality, Teaching and Learning (QTL_net) offered its tenth but first-ever online Teaching and Learning Enhancement Workshop (TLEW) from November 17th -25th, 2020. TLEW aims to support participants develop increased competence and confidence as facilitators of learning as well as provide them with resources to be more reflective about their teaching. Twenty-three (23) faculty members and academic support staff from different disciplines across AKU participated in the seven (7) invigorating half-day synchronous sessions of the workshop.
“I am actively involved in teaching undergraduate, postgraduates of Medicine and nursing since long. I believe learning is a lifelong process, and it is important to enhance our knowledge and practice by newer techniques. Since the COVID pandemic, things went online, and I got a chance to attend some QTL activities. I found the online teaching workshops interesting in particular due to the facilitators who were very encouraging and helpful. This motivated me to attend TLEW.”, said Dr Saadia Tabassum (Assistant Professor- Medical College, Pakistan) who attended this year’s online TLEW workshop.
Through diverse and interactive group sessions, TLEW engaged faculty in real-time teaching experiences to provide them with the opportunity to translate their knowledge about teaching into practice. Moreover, the multidisciplinary nature of the TLEW workshop created an atmosphere of mutual respect where faculty could learn from each other’s experiences, build understanding and explore avenues to stimulate their thought process about issues related to teaching and learning. The mini-lessons in small groups was the highlight of the workshop as it created a safe and realistic learning environment for faculty members to plan and deliver their lessons using the BOPPPS model, experiment innovative teaching methods and enhance their understanding and skills of providing constructive feedback. One participant noted in their post-workshop evaluation: “My confidence has increased as I moved along TLEW, especially practising in safe small groups, where we could make mistakes and learn from them. There will be a lot of changes and improvements I will take from TLEW. It was my first formal teacher training, and I feel much more confident about lesson planning and delivery."
By the end of the workshop, the faculty members demonstrated their willingness and motivation to apply their learning in their classrooms and suggested changes they will make in their teaching practices to make it more learner-centred. Dr Aliya Aziz (Associate Professor, Medical College, Pakistan) said:
“I feel so good investing these seven days in TLEW. I feel I learnt so much here in terms of how to use BOPPPS effectively in my lessons. I am so excited to be able to use my newfound skills in my daily teachings. The collaborative learning experience was very good and satisfying.”
The Network of Quality, Teaching and Learning (QTL_net) offered its tenth but first-ever online Teaching and Learning Enhancement Workshop (TLEW) from November 17th -25th, 2020. TLEW aims to support participants develop increased competence and confidence as facilitators of learning as well as provide them with resources to be more reflective about their teaching. Twenty-three (23) faculty members and academic support staff from different disciplines across AKU participated in the seven (7) invigorating half-day synchronous sessions of the workshop.
“I am actively involved in teaching undergraduate, postgraduates of Medicine and nursing since long. I believe learning is a lifelong process, and it is important to enhance our knowledge and practice by newer techniques. Since the COVID pandemic, things went online, and I got a chance to attend some QTL activities. I found the online teaching workshops interesting in particular due to the facilitators who were very encouraging and helpful. This motivated me to attend TLEW.”, said Dr Saadia Tabassum (Assistant Professor- Medical College, Pakistan) who attended this year’s online TLEW workshop.
Through diverse and interactive group sessions, TLEW engaged faculty in real-time teaching experiences to provide them with the opportunity to translate their knowledge about teaching into practice. Moreover, the multidisciplinary nature of the TLEW workshop created an atmosphere of mutual respect where faculty could learn from each other’s experiences, build understanding and explore avenues to stimulate their thought process about issues related to teaching and learning. The mini-lessons in small groups was the highlight of the workshop as it created a safe and realistic learning environment for faculty members to plan and deliver their lessons using the BOPPPS model, experiment innovative teaching methods and enhance their understanding and skills of providing constructive feedback. One participant noted in their post-workshop evaluation: “My confidence has increased as I moved along TLEW, especially practising in safe small groups, where we could make mistakes and learn from them. There will be a lot of changes and improvements I will take from TLEW. It was my first formal teacher training, and I feel much more confident about lesson planning and delivery."
By the end of the workshop, the faculty members demonstrated their willingness and motivation to apply their learning in their classrooms and suggested changes they will make in their teaching practices to make it more learner-centred. Dr Aliya Aziz (Associate Professor, Medical College, Pakistan) said:
“I feel so good investing these seven days in TLEW. I feel I learnt so much here in terms of how to use BOPPPS effectively in my lessons. I am so excited to be able to use my newfound skills in my daily teachings. The collaborative learning experience was very good and satisfying.”