Fourth AUB Faculty Seminar on Teaching and Learning with Technology

Participants in the seminar at College Hall B1

The fourth AUB Faculty Seminar on Teaching and Learning with Technology was held on May 31 in College Hall, Auditorium B1 with President Waterbury giving the welcoming address, five faculty members presenting, and Provost Heath ending the discussion.

May Mikati, instructor in the English Department, focused on the WebCT multi-section project carried out in the English Communication Skills Program. Due to pedagogical, technical, and administrative reasons, among many others, this program proved itself to be important in courses such as English 204 because of the many sections this course is divided into.

Professor Sana Marini discussed the initiation of blended courses at the School of Nursing, which aims at recreating an online nursing program that can serve the students in the region. In her presentation, Marini went back to her own experiences with such a project in a blended course that proved to be a great success.

"Moodle" was the first topic discussed after the coffee break by Dr. Rosangela Silva who explained that this new Learning Management System (LMS) will gradually replace WebCT and will help instructors teach their courses online as well as in the classroom by uploading course material, conducting class discussions, communicating with students, and holding exams online. In her presentation, Silva explained why AUB is adopting this LMS.

Professors Hassan Artail and Karim Kabalan discussed four courses introduced through Moodle and developed by faculty members from the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture as part of the Mediterranean Virtual University (MVU) project. Artail and Kabalan referred to a study conducted on the experiences of the instructors and students in the two courses offered with Moodle.