On Thursday, 2 February 2022, the Staff Development Committee, in collaboration with the Research and Consultancy Committee of the Information Technology Department, organised a workshop titled “The Art of Writing a Research Paper”, presented by Dr Suresh (faculty of the Information Technology Department). The workshop intended to enhance research writing skills among our staff. The workshop was inaugurated by a welcome message delivered by the SDC coordinator, Mr Shaik Asif Basha. Afterwards, the speaker presented several research writing tricks throughout the workshop and demonstrated several best practices on managing papers submitted for possible publication. The workshop covered selecting the correct paper type, finding the potential journal, and finding the corresponding literature.
Moreover, the speaker highlighted the importance of simplifying the writing style and using high-quality figures and detailed tables. Additionally, the speaker presented some of the key tricks to add value to the research paper making it publishable in high-quality journals. The workshop concluded at 1:30 PM.
Feedback was collected from the participants on a scale of 5, the result of the feedback was 4.75.
The Staff Research and Consultancy Committee of the Business Studies Department organized a webinar titled “How to Conduct an Action Research” on Thursday, 17th February 2022 from 10 to 11:30 AM. The webinar was delivered by Dr Bahzad Zamani from the University of Mazandaran Azad, Iran. Dr Abdulrahman Al Ismaili, the head of the department, welcomed the speaker and introduced him to the participants. The speaker focused on different aspects related to the webinar topic, including the use of action research concept, overview of the action research and addressing the challenges faced by teachers. He also discussed the criteria of selecting an idea, writing a reflective memo, translating an idea into research questions, carrying out the literature review and drafting the report. The webinar was highly interactive. At the end of the webinar, Dr Surender Vaddepalli delivered the vote of thanks to the speaker.
The Staff Research and Consultancy Committee of the Business Studies Department organized a webinar titled “Conducting Systematic Literature Review” on Thursday, 24th February 2022, from 10 to 11:30 AM. The webinar was delivered by Dr Zuraina Ali, Assosciate Professor at the Department of Modern Languages, Universiti Malaysia Pahang. Dr Laly, an accounting lecturer, welcomed and introduced the speaker to the audience. The speaker explained different aspects related to the webinar topic, including basic searching techniques, searching process, the use of wild card in searching and article filtering. The speaker has also demonstrated how to use Scopus and Taylor & Francis database to conduct the literature review. The webinar as highly interactive. At the end of the webinar, Dr Surendar delivered a vote of thanks to the speaker.
ELC at UTAS-Ibri conducted an online workshop on Thursday, February 10, 2022 on “How to Overcome Struggles during the Acquisition of a New Language” by Lourdes Sarita Alzamora Vargas, Peru. It was organized by Staff Professional Development- English Language Centre at University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Ibri-Oman.
Ms Laurdes focused on integrating Emotional Intelligence in language classrooms to achieve learning outcomes. She emphasized on making EI as part of language curriculum as it helps students to overcome traumas, resilience and unexplained fears while learning English as a foreign language. She further stated that teachers play a vital role in creating a conducive learning environment and sustain the interest of the learners, especially during pandemic times.
Profile
Ms Lourdes Sarita Alzamora Vargas has been Teaching English for over 18 years at different private schools, institutes and universities. She runs a school of her own and conducts English and Spanish online sessions.
On 17 February 2022, a team from the Information Technology Department visited Mazoon Dairy in Al Sunainah. The team was accompanied by the HoD – Information Technology, Dr Amal Al Abri, and the following members:
Dr Pugalarasu Rajan (HoS- Math Section)
Ms Fatma Al Shamali (HoS- IT Section)
Dr Qais Al Janabi (IT – Lecturer)
Mr Abdullah Al Shukeily (IT – Lecturer, coordinator of the Public Relations and Marketing Committee)
When the team reached the company, they were received by Mr Rashid Al Muqbali, the administration manager, and his team. At the start of the visit the team had a meeting where Mr Rashid welcomed the team and then spoke about the company structure and the different parts of the project. He discussed future expansion plans for introducing new products and the transportation of the products to different countries. Then he explained the technologies used in the production lines as well as in the logistic processes. After that, the discussion was on how cooperation can be established between both sides on the following:
- OJT opportunities for IT student.
- Ideas for course projects.
- Research and consultancy.
- Type of systems used in the factory to automate the production process.
From the discussion we realised the following:
- Advanced technology is used to control and monitor production lines using the SCADA system.
- An ERP system is used to manage administration operations.
- There is a data centre secured with backup systems to enable services to be available 24/7.
- A DR is located at the head office in Muscat.
- A research and development team is in operation.
- Weather detectors stations maintain a safe climate for the cows.
Opportunities of cooperation between both sides:
- Research can be done by IT Department staff to help the company to detect the expiration of the products on the shelfs (Smart Shelfs).
- Research to reduce the miss-use of expired distributed products.
- Case study of the ERP system used by the company as a student project to give ideas for development.
- Develop HRMS as a project to be done by students.
- Develop a virtual tour for the production lines as project to be done by students.
- The company can offer OJT opportunities to IT students.
- Student visits can be arranged with the company to get some ideas for project and research areas.
After the meeting the team had a tour, accompanied by the administration manager and operations manager, to the different factory sections to see the production lines dairy products.
Assessment is a crucial element in enhancing the overall quality of teaching and learning in higher education. What and how students learn depends to a major extent on how they think they will be assessed. Online academic programs are becoming more prevalent across the world. All assessments lead to student learning, but a fundamental challenge lies in stimulating the right kind of learning. Therefore, assessment practices must be designed to send the right signals to students in shaping the effectiveness of student learning – about what they should learn and how they should learn.
The English Language Centre of UTAS-Ibri hosted a webinar titled Adopt, Adapt, Improve on January 27 2022. The guest speaker Kinda Abd Al Rahman highlighted the pivotal role of assessment in online academic programmes in her presentation. She emphasized the importance of assessment and considered it an important means of measuring a student's progress, achievement, and feedback while pursuing online credit courses. She underlined the significance of summative and formative assessment, interactive assessments and self-assessment. Challenges like academic integrity, high workload, technical issues and students' isolation were also discussed. The audience could relate and found the know-hows effective and practical.
Profile
Kinda Abd Al-Rahman is an Authorized Imperial UK English teacher. She is an English teacher with a BA in English Literature, and she has ten years of experience in teaching English to different ages of students. She has conducted various communicative workshops and designed teaching materials for personalized courses.
UTAS-Ibri conducted an online workshop titled Unlearn Online Teaching by Rozan Kuryyim with the collaborative efforts of the English Language Centre and the Business Studies Department on February 3, 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered significant changes in education systems worldwide, and it was challenging for the teaching community. Teachers worldwide are yet to gain a strong foothold to make their virtual classes appealing to the student community. Although online teaching started as a medium to survive and continue during the pandemic, it proved to be an appreciated and prized possibility in challenging situations where in-class teaching might have failed to take place. The workshop drew the participants' attention to misunderstood notions and beliefs associated with online classes facilitated them to understand new prospective insights in remote teaching.
Profile
Rozan Kuryyim is a graduate teaching assistant at the ELI, University of Jeddah. She holds a master's degree in Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the University of Sydney. Rozan has almost nine years of experience in teaching English as a foreign language. She is passionate about innovative teaching and curriculum design that suits language learners' continuously changing interests and needs.
The English Language Centre of UTAS-Ibri held a webinar titled How to use Masader to Write Literature Review? on February 3, 2022. The speaker Dr Laly Antoney shared a list of parameters to define a researcher and literature review as an art of expressing oneself through awareness of the know-how of the research process.
She highlighted the significance of literature review as it provides the basis upon which the researcher establishes the research context, formulate research problems and develop the research design and data collection tools. She cautioned the audience to look for credible scholarly sources and acquainted them with the list of indicators. A few tips on keeping track of citation through Refworks, Endnote, Zotero, Mendley were highly appreciated.
In her presentation, she shared the literature review process and ways to search for scholarly literature in Masader, the virtual library database of the University. Both amateurs and experienced research scholars were immensely benefitted as the information shared was of immediate use.
According to Dr Laly a committed researcher is aware of the established school of thoughts, current knowledge, proven research methods, and tools prior researchers have adopted to address the current or similar research topics. She further stated that researchers ought to be conversant with the skills to search for credible scholarly sources to synthesize and portray the relevant literature's current status in their chosen field of study. The English Language Centre thanked her immensely for her efforts and contribution.
Profile
Dr. Laly Antoney is a faculty member of the Business Studies Department, UTAS –Ibri, and has more than 24 years of international teaching experience (India, Bahrain and Oman) in Business education. Dr Laly holds a doctorate in Commerce from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India. Dr Antoney's professional philosophy is to continually develop teaching and research expertise through active engagement with professional bodies. She also aspires to utilize these skills to positively impact and constructive changes in education, research, academic fraternity, students and the larger community.
The Staff Development Committee of the Business Studies Department organized a workshop titled “PLS-SEM-Model Development: Assessment & Reporting” on Thursday, 10th February 2022 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at the VIP Room. At the beginning of the workshop, Dr Muhammed Faisal, an HR lecturer, gave a welcoming address, and then introduced the speaker, Dr Tamilselvan, an accounting lecturer, to the audience. In his presentation, the speaker focused on how to develop an SEM model with different variables. He also gave new insights into the measurement and structural models. There was a group discussion facilitated by the speaker to create and develop the model based on a given worksheet. At the end of the workshop, some participants raised their enquiries to the speaker on the discussed topic. A total of 22 faculty members attended the workshop.
The Staff Development Committee of the Business Studies Department conducted a webinar titled “Using Computational Methods” on Thursday, 10th February 2022 from 1 to 2 PM via MS Teams. The webinar was delivered by Prof. Soumya Ray, a Distinguished Professor at Taiwan University. The webinar started by a welcoming address by Dr Manjula, then Dr Tamilselvan introduced the speaker to the audience. In his presentation, Prof. Soumya focused on the modern computation coding and relevant software and programming applicable to business research. He also emphasized the coding to be used in developing structural equation models with multiple constructs and indicators. At the end of the webinar, the participants raised some enquiries related to the discussed topic to the speaker.
