The Honored Dr Badria Al-Shihi, the Deputy Chair of Omani State Council and the CPS  Director, delivered the welcome speech in which she emphasized that this awareness-raising  day is in line with Oman Vision 2040 since we are committed to improving educational  outcomes and increasing the quality of foundational and higher education. She also stressed  that learning and learner centered approaches to education should be employed to facilitate the  development of life-long learning and the 21st century skills of communication, critical thinking,  collaboration and creativity. 

Dr Zahra Al-Lawati, the CPS Deputy Director for Academic Programs, introduced the SQU  Operational Plan in relation to Active Learning and the CPS measures. She said that the first  strategy prioritized by order on the second SQU Operational Plan of 2021-2025 is “Enrich  curricula with active learning techniques and student-centred activities”. The Key Performance  Indicator (KPI) is the percentage of courses with active learning techniques and activities. The  target for 2025 is to have at least 40% of the CPS courses implement active learning in their  teaching, materials, and assessment. 

Dr Khalid Al Saadi, Assistant Professor at the College of Education, Department of Instructional  and Learning Technologies, delivered a plenary training session in which he shared his  experience and expertise in using active learning strategies and techniques, encouraging  attending teachers to apply them in their teaching practice.  

The CPS Active Learning Team who organized the event were Dr. Nazanin Dehdary, Dr. Zakiya  Al Nadabi, and Ms. Sally Al Hurmuzi. The team briefed attendees about the active learning  project findings and achievements as well as future plans for enhancing active learning at the  CPS. The team reported the outcomes of the multi-phased active learning project they have  been working on since Spring 2021 including the findings in relation to the status of active  learning in the CPS curricula, the challenges reported by teachers, and the actions taken by the  CPS so far and future plans. The team also introduced some examples of active learning  strategies and techniques. A published Google Site on active learning at the CPS was launched  at the event. The site has been developed by the team to facilitate the integration of active  learning into courses by providing resources and information about active learning, its  importance, strategies and techniques that promote active learning, and so forth.  

The CPS Active Learning Team also introduced the initiative, a Technology-Enhanced Active  Learning (TEAL) classroom and how it is planned to be set up with furniture and technologies that support active learning and student-centred activities. The team then moderated a focus  group activity called Discussion Circle, in which teachers worked together in teams as they  engaged in discussion circles to do the following tasks: design active learning activities aimed to  achieve learning outcomes; identify opportunities provided by their suggested active learning  activities; evaluate the implementation challenges; and recommend ways to mitigate these  challenges. The teams for the discussion circles were formed based on the teachers’ programs,  i.e. English/Math/IT.  

The team emphasized that this active learning awareness-raising day event is one of the  training opportunities that are aimed to raise teachers’ awareness about active learning and  improve teaching practices.