Download or read book Saudi Arabian Students Perceptions of the Importance of Critical Thinking in Their Learning Experiences in Institutions of Higher Education in the Philadelphia Region in Comparison to Their Saudi Arabian Educational Experience written by Ebtihal Abudawood and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Islamic Teachers Perceptions of Improving Critical Thinking Skills in Saudi Arabian Elementary Schools written by Mesfer Alwadai and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The intent of this explanatory sequential mixed-method study is to examine Islamic teachers thoughts on improving critical thinking skills in elementary schools in the Southwestern province of Saudi Arabia. This study involves the collection of quantitative data and an explanation of the quantitative results with qualitative data. In the first phase, a survey is administered to Islamic teachers in Saudi elementary schools to assess their opinions on improving students' critical thinking skills and to investigate the factors that influence or hinder their implementation of critical thinking instruction. In the second phase, qualitative data is collected using semi-structured interviews with a number of Islamic teachers in order to explore more fully their perceptions toward improving students' critical thinking skills in Saudi elementary schools. The reason for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data is to obtain a better understanding of the gathered information than would be possible using only one of these methods. In regard to the barriers for improving the critical thinking ability in elementary education students, the study participants reported seven major obstacles, which are student ability, teaching methods, classroom structure, Saudi society and the school community, pre-service teachers preparation programs and in-service teacher professional developmental programs, and the Islamic studies curriculum. The highest ranked obstacle was student ability, with an overall mean of 4.31. Teaching methods, with a total mean of 4.29, was the second most cited barrier. The third was classroom structure, with a total mean of 3.72. The study participants ranked society and school community as the fourth obstacle, with a total mean of 3.70, and pre-service teachers preparation programs and in-service teacher professional developmental programs with a total mean of 2.69. The Islamic studies curriculum was ranked sixth in obstacles to improving critical thinking for elementary education students, with a total mean of 2.57. These findings suggests there is a need to examine female Islamic teachers' perceptions toward critical thinking in the Southwestern region of Saudi Arabia in order to identify the similarities and differences between the perceptions of male and female teachers. It is vital to investigate perceptions of teacher of other disciplines, such as language art, social science, English, and math, in an effort to provide policy makers in the Ministry of Education with a holistic picture of the Saudi educational system. Qualitative studies, interviews with students, and classroom observation can be carried out to investigate students' perceptions as to how critical thinking is taught in the classroom and whether teaching style is a primary obstacle to it being taught. There is an urgent need to examine in depth the influence society and the school community has on teaching students' thinking in general and critical thinking in particular. Finally, more research is needed on the pre-service education programs and in-service professional training programs in terms of building teaching programs on critical thinking skills.

Download or read book Islamic Teachers Perceptions of Improving Critical Thinking Skills in Saudi Arabian Elementary Schools written by Mesfer Alwadai (‡e author) and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The intent of this explanatory sequential mixed-method study is to examine Islamic teachers thoughts on improving critical thinking skills in elementary schools in the Southwestern province of Saudi Arabia. This study involves the collection of quantitative data and an explanation of the quantitative results with qualitative data. In the first phase, a survey is administered to Islamic teachers in Saudi elementary schools to assess their opinions on improving students' critical thinking skills and to investigate the factors that influence or hinder their implementation of critical thinking instruction. In the second phase, qualitative data is collected using semi-structured interviews with a number of Islamic teachers in order to explore more fully their perceptions toward improving students' critical thinking skills in Saudi elementary schools. The reason for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data is to obtain a better understanding of the gathered information than would be possible using only one of these methods. In regard to the barriers for improving the critical thinking ability in elementary education students, the study participants reported seven major obstacles, which are student ability, teaching methods, classroom structure, Saudi society and the school community, pre-service teachers preparation programs and in-service teacher professional developmental programs, and the Islamic studies curriculum. The highest ranked obstacle was student ability, with an overall mean of 4.31. Teaching methods, with a total mean of 4.29, was the second most cited barrier. The third was classroom structure, with a total mean of 3.72. The study participants ranked society and school community as the fourth obstacle, with a total mean of 3.70, and pre-service teachers preparation programs and in-service teacher professional developmental programs with a total mean of 2.69. The Islamic studies curriculum was ranked sixth in obstacles to improving critical thinking for elementary education students, with a total mean of 2.57. These findings suggests there is a need to examine female Islamic teachers' perceptions toward critical thinking in the Southwestern region of Saudi Arabia in order to identify the similarities and differences between the perceptions of male and female teachers. It is vital to investigate perceptions of teacher of other disciplines, such as language art, social science, English, and math, in an effort to provide policy makers in the Ministry of Education with a holistic picture of the Saudi educational system. Qualitative studies, interviews with students, and classroom observation can be carried out to investigate students' perceptions as to how critical thinking is taught in the classroom and whether teaching style is a primary obstacle to it being taught. There is an urgent need to examine in depth the influence society and the school community has on teaching students' thinking in general and critical thinking in particular. Finally, more research is needed on the pre-service education programs and in-service professional training programs in terms of building teaching programs on critical thinking skills.

Download or read book Dissertation Abstracts International written by and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Shifting World Views written by Assma M. Al Thowaini and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recently, research on study abroad has received particular attention. The majority of these studies, however, involve individuals (typically American) who study in European settings or focus on studies about Eastern Asian (i.e., Japanese or Chinese) students coming to an English-Speaking country, such as, the United States and the United Kingdom. Not a single study investigates the experience of Saudi Arabians' or Middle Easterners in a study abroad context. Thus, the goal of this paper is contribute to the field of Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in exploring the journey of Saudi students as learners of English in the United States and how they see themselves changing as individuals and as learners. Also explored is how this experience of being away from one's own community plays a role in shaping one's identity and perceptions. Hence, the study aims to look at the totality of the Saudi students' experiences as people who arrived from and with a cultural, educational, and religious system that holds very different values and beliefs than those imbedded in the American culture. What would happen to a Saudi learner's social identity when inappropriate concepts within his or her culture (i.e., alcohol consumption) are encountered as appropriate within the host culture (America) or vice versa? How does his or her perception as individual and as learner change as a result of being exposed to and acquiring English as a second language in the United States? In order to answer the abovementioned questions, the following qualitative study is constructed. The data were collected by conducting extensive, one-to-one, ethnographic interviews with five Saudi participants (3 males and 2 females) using their native language, Arabic, in an attempt to fully capture the nature of their experiences. The participants were newly arrived, six months to one year, to the United States with low English proficiency and they were enrolled in intensive English program. The interviews were audio-recorded and ranged from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending upon participants' individuality. The data were then transcribed and coded in Arabic, and for presentational purposes, excerpts were translated into English. The data were coded using grounded content analysis. Using the grounded content analysis, the researcher found three super-ordinate categories: 1) educational views, 2) intercultural views, and 3) comparative views. Each of these super-ordinate categories included a number of subcategories, ranging from two to four themes, in an attempt to systematize the data and to better understand the participants' narrative. After the dissection of the data, some possible implication suggested for the Saudi English education, specifically, and for the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education, generally. The researcher personal experience as an English learner in Saudi Arabia and, later, an English learner in the US, served as one of the motivating reasons behind this study. Learning English in Saudi Arabia, where the system followed a form-based approach to language learning, focusing on structural features of the language while excluding the culture associated with the English language, had a major impact on the experiences of studying abroad in the United States. Thus, the significance of this project is to inform the Saudi English educational system the relative importance of learning cultural knowledge about the target culture and understanding English as a social practice, rather than just grammatical forms to be memorized.

Download or read book Habits of Mind written by Arthur L. Costa and published by . This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Saudi Students Perception of Peers Authority written by Maggie Sami Saba and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper explores the obstacles that students from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia face when learning English in a writing course that demands critical thinking. Based on a study that took place over five months at the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute in spring 2012, it examines how gender differences shape Saudi students' perception of their peers' authority, and how, in turn, those perceptions affect their development as writers and critical thinkers when learning in an intensive writing course at the high intermediate level. The researcher documented data through three sources: classroom observation, interviews with ESL students and teachers, and student writing samples. The findings examine in particular the data on two students, one female and one male, to provide detailed examples of the nature and impact of gendered responses to peer authority. This study found that the Saudi female students more readily accepted their peers as authorities than the male students did. While, for cultural reasons, working in groups of mixed-sex was more problematic for female students than for male students, the female students were able to progress and assert their voices as writers. On the other hand, the male students, while starting with a stronger voice when orally participating in class, were less able to demonstrate their critical thinking in writing.

Download or read book Global Trends 2040 written by National Intelligence Council and published by Cosimo Reports. This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Download or read book Teaching in the Pandemic Era in Saudi Arabia written by Amani Khalaf Alghamdi and published by Brill. This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 2020, as the world was still baffled with the unknowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alghamdi began documenting how teaching and learning in higher education changed its face as a result of the global health outbreak. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported from Wuhan, China, and soon swept the world over. Teachers across the globe, including Saudi Arabia, began undertaking a plethora of on-the-ground work to combat and alleviate the impact of the pandemic. Teaching in the Pandemic Era in Saudi Arabiapresents to educators, parents, and other interested readers a variety of perspectives, challenges, and highlights of the teaching methods that could be useful in the era of COVID-19. Its purposes are to not only document an important time of human history, education, and the outbreak of unknown pandemics but also outline strategies to serve as insights into and predictions of the unknown future of humanity, diseases, and human learning.

Download or read book Introducing Critical Thinking in Moroccan Higher Education written by Amina Aghris and published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. This book was released on 2015-09-03 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The development of critical thinking skills is a fundamental educational objective necessary for Higher Education. Students in Higher Education are expected to engage in complex reasoning and analysis activities; therefore, they need to be taught how to think rather than what to think. Critical thinking allows learners to develop the ability to demonstrate their thinking processes and to make reasoned judgment about everything they learn. It also helps students be active participants in the learning process and prepares them to be lifelong learners who are capable of facing challenges. This book emphasizes the importance of integrating critical thinking in Higher Education, and it shares the findings of a research study that was conducted in order to investigate attitudes of university teachers and students towards the appropriateness and the implementation of critical thinking in Moroccan Higher Education. The book is likely to interest researchers in Higher Education, and English Language Teaching & Learning. The findings of the study might be of use to university teachers and students. However, given the importance of the topic, the work might also interest general readership.

Download or read book Leadership and School Culture written by Philip Hallinger and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Saudi Arabian Women s Lived Experiences Attaining Higher Education Deanships written by Sarah Abdullah Alhoian and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saudi Arabian women are underrepresented in higher education leadership positions. To take advantage of opportunities and have lasting effects on future generations of women, women must learn to attain leadership positions such as academic deanships. Deans are in a uniquely influential position as they engage in many significant aspects of educational leadership, such as academics, operations, and administrative aspects of colleges and universities. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the lived experiences of female deans to understand the specific supports and challenges they faced in attaining their leadership positions. These challenges and supports are embedded in the unique structural, cultural, and familial aspects of Saudi Arabia and its higher education system. This study helps to highlight what types of supports and challenges may lead to more females attaining the deanship. The research question guiding this study was: How do Saudi Arabian female deans experience attaining their leadership role? This study was unique in that I interviewed women working in the position of the deanship, while other studies have examined different facets of general leadership. Specific structural, cultural, and familial aspects of higher education and how they are significant for female leaders to attain the deanship have been largely underrepresented in academic studies. I used a phenomenological approach to study ten female deans, and I interviewed them using open-ended questions from five regions in Saudi Arabia. Through the data analysis process, I developed nine significant themes: (a) path to the deanship; (b) structural supports; (c) structural challenges; (d) cultural supports; (e) cultural challenges; (f) family supports; (g) family challenges; (h) other challenges; (i) other supports. Under the theme of the path to the deanship, I found that female deans believe having significant academic and administrative leadership experiences, serving on service committees, and working on academic accreditation increases their chances of becoming a dean. Under the theme of structural challenges, I found that they faced unique barriers, including the criteria for selection, centralization, and lack of authority for decision making. Under the theme of structural supports, the women deans received external and internal leadership training prepared by their universities or the Ministry of Education that allowed them to engage with leaders of different levels at various universities, and who demonstrated various leadership styles. Other structural supports included the advantages of all-women colleges and universities. Another structural supports is succession training. Under the theme of culture supports, deans described a variety of supports, including the absence of a gender wage gap. Other findings under the theme of other supports, included (a) the Saudi’s new Vision 2030 governmental policy for women’s empowerment, and (b) personal characteristics and experiences. Characteristics included the ability to mingle and work with others. Experiences included excellent relationships and active mentoring. There are more challenges and supports identified in this study that could guide policymakers in supporting female deans.

Download or read book Success After Tenure written by Vicki L. Baker and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together leading practitioners and scholars engaged in professional development programming for and research on mid-career faculty members. The chapters focus on key areas of career development and advancement that can enhance both individual growth and institutional change to better support mid-career faculties.The mid-career stage is the longest segment of the faculty career and it contains the largest cohort of faculty. Also, mid-career faculty are tasked with being the next generation of faculty leaders and mentors on their respective campuses, with little to no supports to do so effectively, at a time when higher education continues to face unprecedented challenges while managing continued goal of diversifying both the student and faculty bodies.The stories, examples, data, and resources shared in this book will provide inspiration--and reality checks--to the administrators, faculty developers, and department chairs charged with better supporting their faculties as they engage in academic work. Current and prospective faculty members will learn about trends in mid-career faculty development resources, see examples of how to create such supports when they are lacking on their campuses, and gain insights on how to strategically advance their own careers based on the realities of the professoriate.The book features a variety of institution types: community colleges, regional/comprehensive institutions, liberal arts colleges, public research universities, ivy league institutions, international institutions, and those with targeted missions such as HSI/MSI and Jesuit.Topics include faculty development for formal and informal leadership roles; strategies to support professional growth, renewal, time and people management; teaching and learning as a form of scholarship; the role of learning communities and networks as a source of support and professional revitalization; global engagement to support scholarship and teaching; strategies to recruit, retain, and promote underrepresented faculty populations; the policy-practice connection; and gender differences related to key mid-career outcomes.While the authors acknowledge that the challenges facing the mid-career stage are numerous and varying, they offer a counter narrative by looking at ways that faculty and/or institutions can assert themselves to find opportunities within challenging contexts. They suggest that these challenges highlight priority mentoring areas, and support the creation of new and innovative faculty development supports at institutional, departmental, and individual levels.

Download or read book Noncognitive Skills in the Classroom written by Jeffrey A. Rosen and published by RTI Press. This book was released on 2010-09-27 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an overview of recent research on the relationship between noncognitive attributes (motivation, self efficacy, resilience) and academic outcomes (such as grades or test scores). We focus primarily on how these sets of attributes are measured and how they relate to important academic outcomes. Noncognitive attributes are those academically and occupationally relevant skills and traits that are not “cognitive”—that is, not specifically intellectual or analytical in nature. We examine seven attributes in depth and critique the measurement approaches used by researchers and talk about how they can be improved.

Download or read book Perceptions of Faculty Members on the Value of Distance Education at Two Different Types of Institutions of Higher Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia written by Alaa Abdulrahman Alsuelmi and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the current rapid and forced adoption of online teaching during COVID-19 pandemic in many parts of the globe, the need for more studies for the burden faculty members will face to improve online learning will increase. This study aimed to examine the perceptions of faculty in Qassim University (QU) and Princess Nourah University (PNU) in Saudi Arabia toward distance education. For this purpose, the quantitative approach was used using an online survey instrument, quantitative data were collected from 122 faculty members. Findings of this study may encourage administrators in the KSA's higher education institutions to make key policy and process decisions that focus on improving the quality of online teaching. Understanding the influence (positive or negative) of faculty perceptions on online learning can help inform their decisions. The sample of the study consisted of 122 faculty members of faculty in Qassim University (QU) and Princess Nourah University (PNU) in Saudi Arabia. Findings from this particular study at both Universities have shown promising evidence that faculty members had a positive attitude toward online courses to some extent. The findings failed to support the null hypothesis of no difference for perceived value of distance education, and institutional support of online education regarding the influence of institutional support of online education on faculty perceptions of distance education. The results indicated that as length of institutional support of online education increases, satisfaction with effectiveness of online learning also increases. Faculty perceived value of distance education were also found to be related to the individual's perceptions of distance education. As the perceived value of distance education were more positive, so too does satisfaction with effectiveness of online learning. Theoretically, the findings of the current study are in concert with earlier research by Herzberg (1985) whose two-factor theory attributed increased responsibility advancement, and achievement to satisfaction.

Download or read book E learning Theory and Practice written by Caroline Haythornthwaite and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2011-04-19 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In E-learning Theory and Practice the authors set out different perspectives on e-learning. The book deals with the social implications of e-learning, its transformative effects, and the social and technical interplay that supports and directs e-learning. The authors present new perspectives on the subject by exploring the way teaching and learning are changing with the presence of the Internet and participatory media; providing a theoretical grounding in new learning practices from education, communication and information science; addressing e-learning in terms of existing learning theories, emerging online learning theories, new literacies, social networks, social worlds, community and virtual communities, and online resources; and emphasizing the impact of everyday electronic practices on learning, literacy and the classroom, locally and globally. This book is for everyone involved in e-learning including teachers, educators, graduate students and researchers.

Download or read book Critical Thinking written by Gregory Bassham and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through the use of humour, fun exercises, and a plethora of innovative and interesting selections from writers such as Dave Barry, Al Franken, J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as from the film 'The Matrix', this text hones students' critical thinking skills.