Workshop: Coursebook Design of Outcome Based Education
The Center of Assessment and Quality Assurance at Nawroz University held a workshop on course book design. The director of the Center of Assessment and Quality Assurance delivered a comprehensive presentation on how to develop a well-structured and effective course book meeting international standards of higher education. The presentation covered several important aspects that should be taken into consideration when designing a course book, including course objectives, learning outcomes, teaching and learning methods, and assessment strategies. At the end, all of the teaching staff were asked to design their own coursebook according to their majors and should be ready to make a presentation the following day.
At the 2nd day of the workshop, a number of teachers were asked to make a presentation about their course book. By the end of each presentation, feedback was given by the director of the Center of Assessment and Quality Assurance. The following teachers participated in the presentations:
1- Mrs. Alaa from the College of Science presented her course book design, with particular emphasis on module objectives and learning outcomes.
2- Mrs. Reem from the College of Administration and Economics also presented her course book design, explaining the necessary components of an effective course book, including learning outcomes and methods for assessing students.
3- Mr. Zirak from the College of Languages presented his course book and discussed several aspects of teaching and learning methods, module objectives, as well as his assessment strategy.
The training course provided teaching staff with an opportunity to develop their course book designs, exchange ideas and experiences, and strengthen the connection between learning outcomes, teaching methods, and student assessment.
Important criteria for assessing the presentations were:
1- Was Bloom’s taxonomy taken into consideration by stating the learning objectives?
2- Was there an alignment between the course objectives and the learning outcomes?
3- Did they mention several methods of teaching?
4- Did they apply several techniques for assessment?
The findings and responses to the questions and ideas raised during the presentations of the Course Books were highly encouraging. They clearly demonstrated that the course books had been developed and designed in accordance with contemporary teaching and learning methodologies adopted by leading higher education institutions, particularly those implementing the Bologna Process, as widely practised across Western Europe.