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AN ASSESSMENT OF VOCATIONAL CURRICULUM WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PRODUCTION ENGINEERING (DPE) AT THE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGICAL STUDIES, KUWAIT
Dr. Salah Al-Ali, Associate Professor, College of Technological Studies,
Kuwait
The importance of reviewing and up-grading vocational curriculum to meet local market requirement is highly stressed in the related literature. (Kathryn
Ecclestone, 1996, the World Bank, 1995) In fact, it is always believed that the success of technical and vocational institutions would rely mainly on the quality of curriculum. In addition, there is no doubt that courses particularly those dealing with science and technology must undergo a continuing review and up-dating since the world of work is exposed to the invasion of new techniques and methods that can be at the mercy or a curse to human beings. The need to link particularly vocational and technical education with industry is extensively discussed in the literature. (UNESCO 1979, BHEF 1988, Patrick 1990) "In recent years, progress has been made not only in expanding technical and vocational education to meet skilled manpower needs, but also in terms of broad reform directed at making education as a whole more responsive to social and economical requirements." (UNESCO 1979). This paper examines the performance of the College of Technological Studies, CTS, particularly the department of Production Engineering in achieving its objectives. Attention would be devoted to examining the consistency of the curriculum taught with market requirements. The study would be based on extensive fieldwork that encompassed a review of the related literature, questionnaires and personal interviews with the dean of the CTS, and selected staff and students. In addition, to obtain a wider view of the subject under investigation, personal interviews with key figures and direct supervisors in the industrial sector were also conducted. The aim was to investigate and assess the methods applied in forging linkage with local industry, especially those directed in reviewing and up-grading curricula. Finally, the paper argues that unless the CTS strengthens collaboration with local industry, the standard of graduates would not be improved thus increasing dependence of expatriates.
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GENERATING UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN CONTENT EXPERTS AND MULTI-MEDIA DESIGNERS: SOME PEDAGOGIC INSIGHTS FOR WEB-DESIGN DERIVED FROM RESEARCH INTO A CD-ROM PRODUCTION PROJECT
Scot Aldred, Mark Sinclair & Richard Smith, Central Queensland University
Flexible leaning entails the use of packages such as CD-ROMs, in addition to and often in tandem with Web-based materials. There is always a need to build pedagogy into these learning media, but the task is not straightforward. This paper offers some insights from a funded research project that investigated precisely this sort of task in relation to the interactions of content and multi-media design experts engaged in the production of a blueprint for an ESL CD-ROM. The paper first outlines the particular project that served as the vehicle for the investigation, and explains the generic applications of the project to education technology more broadly. It then draws on some of the data elicited during the project to focus attention on the ways in which content and multi-media design knowledge can be progressively integrated in order to develop the pedagogic power of a product. It pays particular attention to reciprocal changes in the project's content and multi-media design participants' conceptions of each other's expert knowledge and abilities. It concludes by outlining some arguably generic strategies for formalizing such realizations in an educational technology design protocol.
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MEASURING THE LEVEL OF TEACHER'S STRESS AT EARLY YEARS SCHOOLS IN KUWAIT
Dr. Sawsan Ali-Tarkait, Assistant Professor, College of Basic Education, Kuwait
Frustration and pressure caused by the daily fast-pace and ever-changing surrounding has caused stress to become a part of everyone's daily living. Stress is actually the body's reaction to the stresses we face in our lives (Kaiser &
Polczynski, 1982; Terry, 1997). The stress experienced by teachers is no different
(Bruke, Greenglass, & Schwarzer, 1996). Kuwaiti teachers of early years have been complaining of stress of work and it's been a topic of discussion over the years. The extra responsibilities for the classroom duties have become increasingly difficult. Kuwaiti Ministry of Education recognizing the harmful side which might affect the teaching of early years process and its impact on the personal lives of teachers and their students has tried to adapt a new technique of teaching early years to reduce stress on both teachers and children. This paper examines the level of stress experienced by teachers at early year's schools in Kuwait in addition to evaluating the effect of stress on the standard of learning environment and the surrounding educational materials. The study also examined the collaboration (if any) between the College of Basic Education and the Ministry of Education, particularly in the actions taken to reduce the level of stress to its minimal level. The study is based on a field work that contain an extensive review of the related literature, questionnaires and a personal interview with the head of the early years department both at the University of Kuwait and the College of Basic Education, as well as staff members in higher education. A personal interview with the head of the research Department of the Ministry of Education was also conducted to explore the reasons hiding behind the lack of collaboration between the Ministry of Education and higher education. Finally, the paper would argue that unless stress is reduced to an acceptable level, teachers at early years schools would be able to achieve their objectives thus affecting the quality of learning for early year's school.
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