The Staff Development Committee of the Engineering Department organised a programme on “Blended learning (Future of the Education)” on 10 June 2020 from 10 to 11.30 am. Dr K. Elangovan HoS (Mechanical Engineering) delivered the presentation for the benefit of the staff members. He gave a general introduction to blended learning and its framework. His presentation mainly focused on procedures related to newer teaching methodologies, BL models, instructional design considerations, ISD models, and blended design approaches. He also explained about the benefits and challenges of blended learning, and its framework. The presentation is well received by the staff with good interaction. A total of 50 staff members participated.
The Staff Development Committee of the Engineering Department organised a programme on “Assessment through E-learning” on 11 June 2020 from 10 to 11.30 am. Dr Ilankumaran, HoS (Electrical and Electronics), delivered the presentation for the benefit of the staff members. He delivered a general introduction to E-learning online assessment and its framework. His presentation mainly focused on preparing the quizzes and question banks and various types of questions like multiple choices, fill in the blanks, calculations etc… It is useful to conduct online quizzes and assessments through E-learning Moodle. He also explained sample quizzes through E-learning and explained benefits, challenges, and its framework. The speaker finally concluded the presentation with Assessment through E-learning. The staff members felt that the presentation was very much useful and effective. A total of 69 staff members participated.
Date and time: 13 April 2020, 4:00 PM-5:35 PM
A group of lecturers from the Information Technology Department, Ibri College of Technology, attended an IEEE webinar entitled "Successful Scientific Publishing: From the Project to the Advertising". The webinar was organised by IEEE CIS/GRSS Hyderabad Section, IEEE CIS/GRSS Jt. Chapter. It was delivered by Prof Alejandro Frery through the Cisco Webex Video Conference service on 13 April 2020, at 4:00 PM.
Prof Frery is a full professor at the Federal University of Alagoas (Ufal), Brazil. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters for the period 2014 to 2018. He was one of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) Distinguished Lecturers from 2015 to 2019.
The main goal of the webinar was to review the good scientific practices that may lead to more success and less stress for the active researcher. The webinar also intended to emphasise on the importance of reproducibility in every step of the research process: from the conception and writing of the proposal to the publication and support of the results.
The speaker started defining the key elements of a scientific publication and discussed the impact of accessibility on researchers. Moreover, the speaker shed light on the difference in reproducibility and replicability of a research paper, and the influence of these two terms on the research community.
The second part of the talk was about the cornerstones of scientific research. The speaker identified three elements by which scientific research is built on: ethics, state-of-the-art and contribution. The speaker emphasised the code of ethics a researcher should follow and presented some real-life examples of malpractice done by some researchers and publication institutes. After that, the speaker stressed the importance of conducting a systematic literature review to provide a critical assessment of the current state-of-the-art.
In the third part of the webinar, the speaker presented the main elements of a research project and how to develop the research idea and convert it into a successful project. Forming right research questions, doodling the research idea, organising the main concepts of the research and managing the time and expenses of the project were covered in this part. Moreover, the speaker gave a simple overview on how to prepare a manuscript using Latex.
The last part of the webinar was on how to choose and approach a scientific journal highlighting the main differences between paywall and open-access journals. Additionally, the speaker shed light on how to carry out self-advertisement to spread your ideas to the rest of the world.
The webinar was attended by 220 participants from all over the word, out of which 12 participants were from Ibri College of Technology. The webinar concluded at 5:35 PM after the Questions and Answer session.
The Research and Consultancy Committee of the Information Technology Department, Ibri College of Technology, conducted an online workshop on Thursday, 16 April 2020 at 12 PM entitled “How to Write a Successful Research Paper”. The main objectives of the workshop were to highlight some of the best practices and strategies used in writing a successful research paper. The workshop was conducted online through Zoom Video Conferencing and attracted around 30 staff members from the Information Technology and Engineering Departments. It was delivered by Assoc. Prof Dr Hasanain Faisal Ghazi Habasha. He is an associate professor in Management and Science University (MSU), Malaysia. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journals and conference papers and is the author of five books related to research paper writing and publication.
The workshop was conducted in two sessions. During the first session, the speaker gave insights on how to construct and write a good quality manuscript. Furthermore, he shed light on the general rules a researcher should follow while preparing a manuscript. Additionally, the speaker illustrated the publication process from the publisher’s perspective, highlighting the types of journals available today.
In the second session of the workshop, the speaker introduced some online services provided by various publishers to help researchers select suitable journals. Among these services are Journal Finder from Elsevier, Journal Suggester from Springer and Journal Selector from Edanz. Moreover, the speaker gave an overview of predatory journals and how to detect these types of journals; in addition, he explained why researchers should avoid these journals. Additionally, the general stages of the journal’s review process were presented. The speaker also emphasised how to respond to the reviewers, in case your manuscripts have been conditionally accepted.
Lastly, a minutes were allotted for questions and answers, where our guest speaker answered attendees’ questions. The session concluded at 1:45 PM. The recordings of the two sessions are available online on the following links:
IbriCT, represented by the Dean, Dr Hamdan Al Manthari, head of the IEU, Mr Mohammed Al Sakiti, head of the HSAG, Ms Sumaya Al Jassasi, HSAG staff, Mr Ali Al Ghafri, three members from the Student Advisory Council, and three students from each academic department, participated in the 9th Students’ Forum of the Technical Colleges held at Al Musanna College of Technology from 1 to 4 March 2020. The key theme of the forum was “Where Technology is Invented”. The main purpose of the forum was to give students from the seven technical colleges the platform to exchange knowledge, thoughts, ideas and experiences to learn from each other.
IbriCT participated in three competitions as follows:
1-Markathon Competition: Students need to market an innovative product or service through new and advanced digital marketing tools.
2-Datathon Competition: Students need to utilize open data to develop an innovative solution for a major problem faced by the local community.
3-Robotics Challenge Competition: It is an event where a robot competes with other robots to be the best after completing specific tasks.
IbriCT students won three prizes as follows:
1-IT students won the first prize in the Datathon Competition and 1000 OMR prize money from Oman Arab Bank. The following students represented the IT Department:
I. Salim Ali Salim Al Badi
II. Akram Salim Hamed Al Shukaili
III. Haitham Ali Bati Al Yaqoobi
2-Business Studies students won the third prize in the Markathon Competition and 350 OMR from Omantel. The following students represented the Business Studies Department:
I. Noor Bader Salim Al Gharibi
II. Safiya Humaid Said Al Ghafri
III. Haneen Hamed Salim Al Kalbani
3-Engineering students won the third prize in the Robotics Competition and 350 OMR prize money from the National Bank of Oman. The following students represented the Engineering Department:
I. Usama Abdullah Zayed Al Shuaili
II. Al Basil Sarhan Nasser Al Yaqzeedi
III. Salah Al Deen Mohammed Ali Al Shuaili
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The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit (IEU) would like to congratulate Rouh Company for qualifying to the final stage of Injaz Oman Competition 2020 as one of the top 15 student companies in Oman. Rouh Company is the only one representing IbriCT in the final stage. There will be an assessment for the performance of all student companies by Injaz Oman and the first three winners will be announced in April 2020.
A team of 12 staff members from Ibri College of Technology visited the Mazoon Dairy Company on Thursday, 27 February 2020. Mazoon Dairy Company in the Sultanate of Oman is one of the largest companies in the country with a capital of OMR 100 million, founded on 18 October 2017. It is located in the Al Buraimi Governate and is spread over 15 square kilometres. The dairy farm has a capacity of approximately 7000 cows and the central processing plant is capable of producing million litres of milk each day. The farm began with 3500 milking cows. It is predicated that the plant will increase the milking cows’ number to 25,000 by 2026. Currently, 15 sheds maintain a temperature of 25 0 C through a cooling system.
The faculty members who visited the plant were Mr Arthur Davis (Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering), Dr Rehna V. Jameela (Lecturer, Electronics Engineering), Ms Subha Bharathi (Lecturer Electrical Engineering), Dr Sharmila Deve (Lecturer Electrical Engineering), Mr Ganesh Reddy(Lecturer, Electrical Engineering), Mr Veera Sivakumar (Lecturer, Electrical Engineering), Mr Rajesh Goud (Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering), Mr Krishnakumar (Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering), Mr Mangesh Ramdasji (Lecturer Information Technology), Mr Ali Al Alawi (Head of OJT), Mr Shafi Al Shukri (Technician) and Mr Reynaldo Franco (Technician).
The main purpose of the visit was to:
- establish industrial relationships between Mazoon Dairy Company and Ibri College of Technology
- do collaborative work in finding solutions related to plant process problems
- get opportunities for OJT and industrial visits for students
- find Research and Consultancy Opportunities.
Insights from the visit
After reaching the power plant, the plant manager welcomed the visitors and gave an introductory presentation. The team visited the HVAC System in the plant which uses compressed ammonia for cooling the water and maintaining the required temperature, elaborately demonstrated by Mr Charles Rahjasekaran, the process manager. All the system-processing operations are controlled through SCADA.
The water treatment plant in the facility uses RO technology to reduce TDS levels in the water and uses more than eight levels to reduce TDS levels. Plant uses 4-5 litres of water in order to produce one litre of milk. The company is expecting the water recycling plant with TDS levels below 100 in order to reduce water requirements.
All automatically required hydraulic operations in the plant are carried with three compressors which maintain a pressure of 7.5 -8 bar. 400V Delta connected three-phase squirrel cage induction motors are used to drive the compressors.
A fire tube boiler heats the water to a temperature of 1800 C for bottle packing, cleaning operations, etc.
Our team found serval opportunities like RO plant for reducing TDS, bio-gas plant and assistance in maintaining the automated systems.
Another visit is planned for the near future to establish an industry to institutional relationship.
An orientation programme on specialisation choice was conducted on Tuesday, 10 March 2020. The purpose of this programme was to help students of the Information Technology Department who will move from Diploma Year-I to Year-II and Diploma year-II to Advanced Diploma during the summer semester of AY 2019-2020 to choose their specialisation.
Mr Rajasekeran, Registration Committee coordinator, and Mr Shaik Mastan Vali, Academic Support Committee Coordinator for the Information Technology Department, arranged this programme. In this programme, department students Mr Salim Ali Salim Al Badi, Ms Aya Bashir Salim Al Hadhrami and Ms Zainab Awadh Mohammed Al Saadi discussed with the level movement students the courses offered, marks, grades, and credits and briefly explained the content of each course in each level under different specialisations. During this programme, they gave detailed information about each specialisation, its scope and job opportunities, etc. At the end our department registrar, Mr Rajasekaran, discussed with the students the different criteria (CGPA FDL4 score and IELTS score) for moving levels, IBRICT-offered specialisations and the deadline to submit feedback. He concluded the session by clarifying the students’ doubts and providing important guidelines and advice that help students choose their specialisation.
Ms Samiya Al Yaqoobi, IT-Coordinator, provided support to complete the successful completion of the programme.
Only four students attended the programme. The programme started at 12 noon in Lab-A119 attached (Hardware Lab) and ended at 1 pm. The Registration Committee and the Academic Support Committee of the IT Department organised the programme.
The Project Committee of the Information Technology Department held a workshop on, “Writing a Literature Review Report “on Tuesday, 10 March 2020 from 12:15 to 1:30 PM in room A201. The speaker for the session was Dr Mohammed Amir, ELC Lecturer. The course project students from all the levels attended the session. Dr Amir gave insight on how to write a literature review report for the course project. He informed that a literature review represents the main work done by the researchers and review of that is to give a self-opinion on the literature. He further enhanced the understanding saying that the literature review is to build, present and update the knowledge of readers of your project. He suggested students to seek the opinion of the supervisor as to how they would like to see the literature addressed. He emphasised saying that reading is the key. He also threw light on tips to select good content to contribute to the literature. At the end, he used an activity for students to check their understanding in selecting good content for the literature review. The students demonstrated a good grasp of the subject. It was an interactive session. At the end, Ms Sana Fathima, member of the Project Committee, provided a certificate of Appreciation to Dr Amir thanking him for his efforts and time.
An academic advising workshop was conducted on Tuesday, 25 February 2020 and Thursday, 27 February 2020. This workshop helped the Information Technology Department lecturers to gain detailed knowledge about the academic advising policy, procedures for various academic advising processes, CGPA calculation, CIMS and AMS utilisation.
Ms Fatma Al Mandhari welcomed all the lecturers with a short introductory speech about the purpose of the workshop. She explained Article 25 that describes the role of lecturers, the detailed information about the academic advising policy, the purpose for this workshop and discussed the feedback from the probation students.
Mr Rajasekeran, Registration Committee coordinator, discussed the advising producers and rules, course withdrawal policy, appeal procedure, resit examination procedure, probation status updates, IELTs updates, OJT criteria, number of courses advised and registered by the students, criteria for registering additional courses, and transcript issues in the first session. This information is very useful to lecturers to handling the advising process. In the second session, Mr Rajasekaran distributed sample transcripts to the lecturers and showed them how to calculate the GPA, probation level and identify the issues in the student’s transcript. Apart from this, real time explanation was given to show the facilities available in CIMS and AMS related with advising and the registration process. Both sessions were interesting and useful to the lecturers and advisors.
All the Information Technology lecturers attended the workshop for both sessions. The programme started at 12 pm in Lab-A109 and ended at 1.50 pm on both days. The Registration Committee of the Information Technology Department successfully organised this programme and we would like to thank them for their efforts.
