Learning Teaching: Promoting Innovative Strategies in the UAE Essay

Introduction

The transfer to the environment of e-learning has opened a plethora of opportunities for instructors as far as the information retrieval, analysis and its provision to students are concerned (Sewel, Frith, & Colvin, 2010). The significance of online tests as a specimen of the above-mentioned tools can hardly be underrated; creating premises for a comprehensive assessment of students’ skills, these tests help teachers retrieve crucial information about the learners’ progress (McCracken et al., 2011). However, instructors may have issues using electronic tools. A training program aimed at improving the teachers’ skills in online tests design will help upgrade instructors’ skills successfully and promote a better educational environment.

Method

In order to carry out the training process successfully, one will have to utilize the ADDIE model. Defined as a “foundational instructional design process that represents five basic components of planning and designing instruction” (Management Association, 2011, p. 112), the model in question allows creating an elaborate plan, identifying the key goals, and carrying out the required training in a manner as efficient as possible.

Analysis

The analysis of the participants’ current command of e-technologies in general and e-assessment tools, in particular, will presuppose a test that will involve creating an online test in English language studies for seven-graders. The teachers will have to use the QuestBase tools (QuestBase, 2015) as the key resources.

Design

As it has been stressed above, the QuestBase resources will be used as the basis for developing the assessment mentioned above. The test will include ten questions with multiple-choice answers.

Development

The training process will be developed based on the identification of the learners’ needs and specifics, as well as the current standards for English language assessment in the UAE. The training programs will incorporate information, visual aids, and exercises (Grover, 2015).

Implementation

As it has been stressed above, the tests will be administered to the teachers after they receive the corresponding instructions. The teachers will complete tests in between the training sessions and will take the comprehensive final test at the end of their training.

Evaluation

The evaluation of the teachers’ skills will be carried out with the help of the aforementioned QuestBase tools. Particularly, the participants will have to create tests for their students with the help of the tool in question.

Training

The teachers will be provided with a set of training sessions, which will shed some light on the issues related to the creation of e-tests, the opportunities that e-tools in general and the above-mentioned tool, in particular, have to offer, and the methods of designing e-assessments. The instructors will take e-tests created with the help of the tool in question after each training session the final session will end with general online assessment.

Expected Outcomes

It is expected that the training course in question will allow for a significant increase in proficiency rates among the UAE English language teachers as far as the application of e-testing tools are concerned (Bataineh & Al-Muhansien, 2012). In other words, it is assumed that the training session will lead to a successful adoption of the skills required to plan, design and create efficient assessment tools to evaluate students’ progress.

Conclusion

Teaching English is fraught with numerous difficulties for UAE teachers; these issues primarily concern the differences between the Arabic and the English languages. When being transferred into the online environment, the process may become overly complicated unless teachers adopt the e-assessment tools, which will help them evaluate students’ performance adequately. Creating online courses supported by a series of assessments will help improve the qualifications of the UAE teachers significantly, thus, contributing to an enhanced learning process and numerous benefits for the learners.

Reference List

Bataineh, R. F., & Al-Muhansien, M. A. (2012). The pedagogical value of UAE English skills textbooks as perceived by supervisors and teachers in Al-ain educational zone in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Educational & Psychological Sciences, 13(2), 12–36. Web.

Grover, V. K. (2015). Identification of best practices in transfer of training in teacher education as perceived by teacher educators. International Journal of Applied Research, 1(7), 204-209. Web.

Management Association. (2011). Instructional design: Concepts, methodologies, tools and applications (Vol. 1). New York City, New York: IGI Global. Web.

McCracken, J., Cho, S., Sharif, A., Wilson, B., Miller, J., Scalzo, D., & Crowley, C. (2011). Articulating assessment design practice for online courses and programs; cases in assessment strategy design and development. Web.

QuestBase. (2015). Assessments made easy. Web.

Sewel, J. P., Frith, K. H., & Colvin, M. M. (2010). Online assessment strategies: A primer. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(1), 297–305. Web.