REFLECTION PAPER ON: ADVANCED OBE/SCL TRAINING WORKSHOP
by Younus Wafa
Introduction
In the current century, the human beings are encountered with some global challenges (e.g: global sustainability, energy, global poverty and health and infrastructures) and they have to battle with so that to overcome on. These challenges cannot be solved without professionals and expert people and we will not have these professionals without a system of education compatible with the global system of education. Therefore, we must make our system of education as a global one to overcome on these challenges cooperatively with the world people. Thus, this paper mostly focuses on the reflection of OBE-SCL Workshop which will really produce such active professionals in a global level so that to take part for the solving of these global challenges.
Therefore, in this reflection paper I have started from my backward looking, continued with the inward looking and ended with forward looking on OBE-SCL workshop which has been conducted at UTM – Malaysia from 1st to 16th of April 2018.
Backward Looking
As a young lecturer, when I joined Kabul Polytechnic University (KPU) in 2007, I always was thinking about changing of the teacher centered method of teaching and learning to the student centered one, because I experienced during my higher education that with the teacher centered method, we cannot reach to our modern/global goals of teaching and learning and will be put in the backward of the global education.
Therefore, when I started teaching at KPU, I did not understand very much about OBE/SCL before joining to its workshop, but despite of this, I was somewhat implementing this method of teaching and learning in my courses unconsciously (without understanding the OBE-SCL terminologies). For example I was preparing a course policy and course outcomes for all courses to be taught by me at the beginning of the semester and distribute it to the students so that the students knew the goal and objectives of the course and each of them had to achieve the goal. As well as, I asked the students to actively involve the learning process inside the class through questions/ discussions and was trying to create an open space inside the class so that any students could participate to the certain discussion without any hesitation or scare. With such a method I thought that the lecture will not be boring for the students and they can learn and enjoy it. (more…)