Muscat: Due to the current health situation and the suspension of educational institutions, Oman Tourism College (OTC) recently organised training sessions for its faculty members, from March 25 to 26. This initiative is also part of the college’s efforts to introduce a curriculum more focused on remote-learning.
Commenting on the importance of the training sessions, Dr Abdulkarim Sultan Al Mughairi, Dean of OTC, said, “At OTC, the health of all our staff and students is the highest priority. We believe that the decisions by the Supreme Committee was necessary to mitigate the spread of the pandemic. However, despite this, the education of our students’ should not be delayed. Therefore, we have decided to adapt a new method of teaching, which involves the use of technology, to be able to provide our students with the opportunity to gain requisite knowledge from the comfort of their home. To be able to do that, it is important that our faculty members become familiarised with different software and online teaching mechanisms, which will, in turn, help them in their respective courses. The sessions will not only enhance their teaching skills but also create a positive impact on the educational offering at the college.”
The training sessions included topics related to the use of MS Teams and E-learning for Online teaching by Dr. Riah E. Encarnacion, the use of MS Streams and Screencast-O-Matic software for Video Recording by Dr. Anna Sheila Crisostomo, and the use of Learning Apps by Ms. Sophie Lafont.
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“Moreover, teaching staff are delivering classes as per the regular timetable, with the provision of support materials, including online tutorials. Class hours have been reduced so that there are lesser connectivity issues faced by students studying from home. So far, we have seen excellent feedback from both our staff and students alike. We are also keeping in touch with all students and listening to any feedback that we receive, regarding any issues that they may be facing and how to resolve them. Lastly, we are also offering students who are unable to study online, the opportunity to defer their course until the next semester,” Dr Abdulkarim added.
OTC makes use of Microsoft applications and E-learning (Moodle) to engage with students through virtual classrooms and provide a professional learning experience. The Microsoft Team application enables face-to-face interaction with teachers and students, bringing conversations, assignments, files, and apps together in one place. Teachers deliver online classes according to the scheduled time table, and recorded sessions are available on Moodle for future reference. OTC students are provided with an Email, 1TB of Cloud storage and free licenses for Microsoft MS office applications, as well as practical softwares like Minitab, Lobster Ink and Red Hotel Simulation, to learn and practice using their personal computing devices.