The Centre of Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) organised a workshop on ‘Using interactive technology to engage students in deeper learning’.
The sessions were led by Dr Patrick Guilbaud, director of Extended Studies & Summer School and associate professor at the Graduate School Winthrop University in the US.
The workshop aimed to help instructors strengthen learners’ participation, engagement, motivation and achievement through the careful integration of pedagogically grounded interactive tools and technology in their courses. The workshop lessons helped the participants to understand learning theories that are relevant to the use of interactive technology in support of effective instruction and appraise effective teaching and instructional approaches that are focused on increasing learners’ participation and engagement.
The sessions were helpful to create active and enquiry-based learning activities that are grounded in pedagogy and supported best practices in teaching; understand the need to utilise a variety of instructional activities to address different learning styles; and select and employ technology for attaining the desired learning outcomes.
The workshop included six sessions: Pre-session, four instructional sessions, and a wrap-up session. The Pre-session focused on introductions and faculty teaching styles. The Session 1 covered a few learning theories while the Session 2 discussed pedagogy and instructional approaches. The Session 3 consisted of hands-on ‘Interactive Tool for Mastery Learning; Individual Level’. The Session 4 included hands-on ‘Interactive Tool for Mastery Learning; Group Level’. The last session included a survey to assess the outcomes of the workshop.