A Webinar on Effective Feedback

Practicing effective comments can increase student progress by up to an additional eight months throughout the year. However, implementing comments effectively requires schools to invest a lot of time in research and and external professional learning. To save schools this time and effort, they have developed a set of commenting resources for schools. These resources provide practical support in applying effective class feedback practice to enhance student learning outcomes.

In this webinar, participants will learn how to use the comment resources in their school. What exactly are the most effective ways to use feedback in educational environments?

The presenters discussed several ways to provide students with effective feedback.

⏬Be as specific as possible: For example, feedback like “Great job!” does not tell the learner what he did correctly, and likewise a statement like "not done yet" does not give her any insight into what she said and did wrong, and how she could do better next time.

⏬The sooner the better: many studies indicate that feedback is most effective when presented immediately, rather than few days, weeks, or months. Researchers found that participants who received immediate feedback, showed a significantly greater increase in performance than those who received late reactions.

⏬Address the learner's advancement toward a goal: effective comments are often directed at a specific achievement students are (or should be) achieving. When giving feedback, it should be clear to students how the information they receive will help them progress toward their ultimate goal. 

⏬Present feedback carefully: The way feedback is presented, can have an impact on how they are received, which means that sometimes even goodwill feedback and comments can come in the right way and reduce the learner's motivation.  

⏬Involve learners in the process: the importance of engaging learners in performance-based data collection and analysis cannot be underestimated. Pennebaker says,"Students should be given access to information about their performance.... On a broader level, students need to know whether they actually master the material or not. It could be giving them information about the ways they study, read, search for, or he answers invaluable questions." 

🌟The role of the feedback has always been very essential: "When people try to learn new skills, they must get some information that tells them whether they are doing right or no. Classroom learning has no exception. Both, mastering the concept, and most importantly mastering how to think requires learning through trial and error. 

Chemistry

Taste Success!😋👩‍⚕️

"Chemistry itself knows altogether too well that - given the real fear that the scarcity of global resources and energy might threaten the unity of mankind - chemistry is in a position to make a contribution towards securing a true peace on earth." Kenichi Fukui

I am a chemist,actually chemistry is my passion and Jabir Bin Hayan the father of chemistry is my role model. In spring 2019, I was a senior student and my Chemistry Dean decided to make a chemistry competition called Jabir Bin Hayan chemistry competition. In this competition, more than 100 student were sharing from different majors and domains, and the competition was related to chemistry in which students are asked  questions and they should answer via their mobile phones. The one who answers most quickly and with more correct answers he will receive the first place, and I was the one who did it🙏❣. I answered 40/45 correct questions and I was rewarded socially ad economically, I was given 3 credits for free.
When I remember those moments I really become better, it was more than a best part in my life, It was more than WOW!🌈🌟

Hope

Shouldn't We Turn Hope into a Goal?

Hope tends to be something we desire, and if we do nothing but hope / wish, we will probably end up with only desire. Most people want their desires to be fulfilled. Desire or hope is only the beginning. It's good, but then what? 

I think she is doing
more than just hoping she
 will catch the bouquet!

When we hope, we usually think about the future. We hope or like a special birthday gift. Maybe we hope or wish a new car. If all we do is hope or desire and we get what we want, then we have what might be called a miracle. Perhaps we got it because of the imaginary godfather or angel. It is      not my intention to change your thinking as to what you believe or believe in, but I generally believe that it is better not to leave one's desires and / or hopes according to angels, fairies and / or miracles.

Should you hope for a pot of gold
at the end of a rainbow
 OR make earning a pot of gold your goal?

So what should we do? Turning hope or desire into the goal. Create a plan that specifically shows how you will reach your goal. The word "goal" is used in various sports for a good reason. It describes the end result of the desired result. If we use soccer as an example, the word goal will be used for a line that must be reached for scoring. When you play soccer, you wish / wish to reach the goal line to score. But your desire or hope will probably not get you there. Instead, your team will gather and make a plan and then try to achieve your goal to reach the goal line.

How Technology Can Help in Improving Education?

While we often hear about the negative effects of excessive screen time and the dangers of social media, we don’t always hear about the positive ways technology makes a difference in our lives, especially when it comes to learning. When used well, technology can help improve education for students, parents, and teachers.

The “old-fashioned” pencil-and-paper methods of learning are still needed in the classroom. But technology introduces lots of great tools to help students learn more efficiently. There are four ways in which technology can help in education:

1. It helps students learn more:Technology motivates students to learn. They look forward to having time on their devices to explore and learn things through websites, videos, apps, and games. Students can learn and have fun at the same time, which helps them stay engaged with the material.
2. It helps parents stay connected and help their children:Technology has considerably improved communication between parents and schools. Parents have access to real-time updates on their children’s grades, attendance, and even classroom behavior reports. 
3. It offers more opportunities for project-based learning  Nowadays, technology allows students to engage in project-based and inquiry-based learning. Students can work in groups or as individuals, and by using programs like Google Classroom, teachers and group members can chime in and provide feedback in real time. Students can live edit together in Google Docs and Slides and simultaneously create presentations or group papers.
4. It provides handy tools and opportunities for teachers: Teachers enjoy technology because it offers plenty of (mostly free) tools to enhance classroom learning, communication with parents, and their own professional development. Teachers can find materials that they can present to students or sites that can help students practice new material.

Existentialism Philosophy in Education

Existentialism is a philosophy of existence appeared in the 20^th century; it can be defined as philosophic stand point which prioritize existence over essence. The existentialist uses existence to attribute especially to human existence and believed that only materialistic things can exist. He also suggests that to be an existent one you should be capable of being conscious, where the main interest about existentialism is the possibility of man’s self-realization.

Existentialism and education:

Applying existential philosophy in education is not possible. The issues discussed in existential philosophy reveals that education philosophy is a theoretical study and believes it should give more attention to the individual of student, and allow them to realize their true value, and how to be responsible to their quality of life. Existentialists consider that the existent moment appears when public awareness is spread between the people in the world as a self, and this mainly happen at puberty. Its characteristics are the person’s recognition to his presence among other things and the development of the knowledge and insights around his own responsibility towards their actions. Existentialist education starts at the school years and continue through high school and college. Here the aim of education is to find the individual’s consciousness. Elements of experience are supposed to be subjective, emotional, and personal which rise questions about good, evil, wrong and right.

Existentialists stated that they prefer to philosophize about the human conditions instead of creating a philosophical system where classification, standardization, and injustice which reduced personal choice and individual recognition are known as obstacle. These trends are not consistent with providing chances for creativity of genuine people. There is another social source that limits the individual’s identity, is the socio-economic pressures that played a major role in changing the teaching and learning. Existentialists believe that education should drive students to awareness and this means that students must be able to select their choices freely, wisely, an independently.

 Existentialist teacher and learning method

An existentialist teacher must be democratic and uses technology and different methods in his teaching without imposing his goals to students. The teacher’s major role is to guide students. Socratic dialogue method is a suitable one for existentialists, it do not neglect the relationship between me and you, it employs dialogue approach, in which any type of question can be answered only in the sense of student’s performance. The teacher promotes students and provides opportunities so they can be able to express their minds.

In existential teaching, a teacher must encourage, facilitate learning, and recognize the individual in the broad sense of the world. According to existentialist, the teacher should not define students according to their age, status, race…etc.

The first principle of Sartre’s philosophy in existentialism is that the man is not a subject, but he is what he chooses and creates for himself who make him more responsible.

Curriculum in existentialism

The curriculum includes skills and subjects that show social facts like human sciences that tell about human selection, there are various topics like history, language, math, science… are indisputable as fields of knowledge. Although the existentialist can choose several methods in his duty, however he is not allowed to harm any of these methods among (I-you) relationship that occur between the teacher and the student, so from here we can say that no lesson is more important than the other. Training is essential to help the person have the self-realization and awareness of the world.

Pragmatism Philosophy in Education

Pragmatism and educational process:

The basics of all teaching are the activity of the child. Every experience or activity is educative and all education lies in having experience however continuous growth of experiences is not the whole education, where education is a constant recognizing of experience. Pragmatism proceed toward the problem of education from the point of view of “progressivits”, progress means change , and change means novelty, so education cannot be acquired once for all. Solving the problem is the core of education in which the educational process becomes more practical and experimental: in a word pragmatic.

Pragmatism and aims of education:

Pragmatism doesn’t set any aims of education. It believes that there are no fixed aims, life is changeable, and thus aims are also changeable. Education deals with human life. It must help the children to attain their social and biological needs. According to pragmatists, education aims at the harmonious development of the educand-physical, social, intellectual and aesthetic. Thus the purpose of education is to direct the interests and abilities toward the satisfaction of the child that he needs in his environment. Children should be able to solve their daily problems, they also should be creative and effective members in the society, and finally they must be dynamic so they can change with changeable situations.

Pragmatism and curriculum:

Pragmatists follow some principles in the field of curriculum development.

1. Principle of utility: experiences, subjects, and activities must be included in the curriculum because they are very useful to the present needs and meet the future expectations of adult life. Other subjects like history, geography, language must also be a part from the curriculum.
2. Principle of interest: in this principle, only experiences and practical exercises that provide interest for the students are allowed to be included in the curriculum. There are four types of interests: interest in conservation, navigation, construction, and creative expression. Although these interests are of big importance; on the other hand, at the early stages, reading, writing and      counting must be included in the curriculum.
3. Principle of experience: the pragmatic curriculum here is formed from three integrated varieties      represented by the activity, experience, and vocation of the child. Pragmatism curriculum must include such varieties for learning experiences which stimulate original thinking to develop purposeful and social attitudes.
4. Principle of integration: pragmatic curriculum integrates activities, subjects and experiences in which pragmatists consider that knowledge is one unit. They focus on building a dynamic and integrated curriculum that helps in developing children and the variable society as the needs and demands require.

Pragmatism and methods of teaching:

The principle of teaching in the pragmatic method is an activity or experience-based method. The core of pragmatic method is learning through personal experience of the child.

“Education is not so much teaching the child things he ought to know, as encouraging him to learn for him through experimental and creative activity”.

When a student learns about things by experimenting them by him, he becomes more creative and confident. The method used by the pragmatism teacher is experimental and the student must discover the solution by himself.

Teachers and textbooks play a secondary role in pragmatism education, they only suggest problems and leave the students to test or experiment themselves. Every child teaches himself, so we can say that pragmatic education is an auto-education.

Pragmatist teacher:

Pragmatists consider the teacher as a leader, philosopher, and guide. A pragmatic teacher must give problems to the students and motivate them to find the solution by themselves. In addition the teacher must provide chances for the students to develop their innate qualities. So the main role of the teacher is to suggest problems for the students and guide them to find answers.

Al Ghazali’s Philosophy in Education

Al Ghazali (1058-1111) was one of the most significant Muslim thinkers. He was a great theologian and philosopher of religion and ethics where he developed a theory of education that aims to improve the objectives and principles. Based on the methods and teaching and discussing the relationships, and the student-teacher relations, the concept of his education was notable inside and outside the Islamic world.

The education purpose:

According to al ghazali, the main purpose of education is to be close to ALLAH; however there are other minor worldly goals such as the love of knowledge, pursuit of wealth, social standing or power… Al ghazali divided the purpose of education into two types of terms.

·          The long term purpose:
      The long term purpose mainly is to build up a closer approach to ALLAH. The education system should have the ability to lead the humanity to awareness and getting in touch with The All Mighty. Starting from here we can say that the more the student learns, the more he gains knowledge, the closer he become to ALLAH. So it is clear that the education here is neither the part differentiating life science and religion, nor the Islamic system. On the contrary, it is an integrated education system which leads humankind to manage their obligation to be vicegerent.

·        The short term purpose:

It is the achievement of human’s career or profession based on their talents and skills. Al ghazali also talked about wealth, fame, status, position and other life joy. So far, all of these are not principles because the knowledge they have is to be much closer to ALLAH. Their first interest is to apply the law of Quran and the prophet’s mission.   So according to Al ghazali, it is clear that the purposes of education are to gain the approach to ALLAH and happiness in this life and afterlife.

Curriculum Concept:

Al ghazali related the curriculum concept to the knowledge/science and he divided it into three types. The bad knowledge which is considered to be useless now (life) and in the afterlife like black magic and fortune telling, the correct knowledge which is related to soul purifying to save human beings in this life and in the afterlife, and finally the correct knowledge if it is learnt appropriately, but it can also be wicked since by learning it deeply there will be collision between faith and hesitation as well as infidel. Philosophy is a clear example.

 Teaching methods:

Al Ghazali believed that showing the children a role model to act like him; this may improve their mental, pattern and other good characters. He divided this method into two parts.

·        Religion education:

The way in teaching religion, mainly starts with memorizing and understanding, followed by proving and believing, continued by implementing the law and finally by convincing information that can support the faith.

·        Character education:

A learning process should build up the right character. According to Al ghazali “character is a powerful attitude planted in the soul in which produce various behavior easily without a long thinking process and consideration”.

Learning method principle suggests giving your whole concentration of attention, you must also take into consideration the purpose of knowledge that will be given to students, and finally the education process must start from the simplest objective or lesson to the most complicated one. On the contrary, the teaching principle method must provide simple and clear explanation, the knowledge must be taught gradually step by step, and it must take into consideration the students’ abilities and their level of thinking. 

However, the principles of education are summarized by giving exercises and practices, advices, and helping students to stay away from bad social interaction.

Good teacher criteria:

According to Al Ghazali, a teacher is a person who provides the student with good vibes, and works to develop humankind without any rewards. Here we can find some of the teachers’ requirements with some duties: a teacher should be kind with the students and deal with them as if they are her children, prevent students from wrong behaviors and sayings, and able to discover the students’ abilities, so they can give them the appropriate knowledge. Teachers should accept others knowledge. The teacher must apply her knowledge and should not hide her words because knowledge is acquired by the heart sight; however experience is gained by the eye sight. Moreover a good teacher must be caring, sympathetic, sincere, honest, and gentle in giving advice. 

Good student criteria:

Al Ghazali also mentioned that students should have some characters; a student should have positive thinking, learn any knowledge systemically, and learn the principles…

Based on what al ghazali believed, we can deduce that the major aim of education is to be closer to Allah in order to be happy in your life and in the hereafter.

Bridge Action Plan

Bridging the Gap Between Girls and Boys in Education

When it comes to gender equality in education, countries across the world are making significant advances. According to the UNESCO World-Atlas of Gender Equality in education, over two thirds of  all countries in the world have achieved balanced ratios of girls and boys enrolled in primary schools. However, the ratio between female and male enrollment becomes skewed as the levels of education advance. In addition, UNESCO reports that in 2010 there were still 28 countries that had not achieved gender parity.

To overcome this disparity worldwide, both developing and developed countries have a responsibility to bridge the gap of gender equality in education. Only when all people have access to education, and are encouraged to think, learn, and innovate, we can expect to see advances in economic development, a reduction in poverty and better health and well being for countries, communities, and individuals.

As a result, and as a topic of interest, me and my partner Nassima, constructed a Bridge Action Plan that suggests a way to bridge the gap between girls and boys in education. 

If you are interested with this topic, kindly click on the following link to check our bridge action plan:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/124E8LLo6AW3HHzeLkZ68w_9tSthDJ524/view