Aysha Saeed AlShamsi

By Aysha AlShamsi

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students were suddenly required to complete their assessments online. Higher education (HE) institutions and instructors likewise were suddenly forced to ensure competency achievement among students online. At many (HE) institutions, competency-based learning is mandatory. Approaching online assessment through online competency-based performance assessment is crucial to achieving institutions’ expectations. Online competency-based performance assessment is challenging; however, the use of an inquiry-based learning (IBL) allows teachers and students to involve themselves at a deeper level of instruction through differentiated activities. The assessment procedure through IBL implies an alternative view of instructors when designing their assessment, learning, and achievement of the learning objectives. The proposed conceptual framework involves a combination of competency-based learning principles, performance assessment, and IBL. In the initial stage, it is proposed to design differentiated IBL activities following the task description, considering the required competencies to be achieved. The final stage is tackling it as an assessment framework that focuses on performance for final summative purposes.

Part of the book: Higher Education

By Phil Quirke and Aysha Saeed AlShamsi

The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected many aspects of teacher training programs, which are crucial for informing research in higher education, including reflective peer observation of teaching (POT). The higher education community has adapted to this new normal and begun using phygital (blended physical and digital) spaces effectively. This requires practitioners to adapt new methodologies and hybrid approaches, which pave the way for a new future of learning in a new phygital environment. This chapter describes the implementation of a phygital community of inquiry (CoI) by preservice teachers in an undergraduate early-years education program in the United Arab Emirates. This chapter presents the authors’ observations of preservice teachers’ practices during their internship to describe them against the experience of higher education in the United Arab Emirates. Incorporating the principles of POT and CoI requires strong institutional support if creative technologies are adopted to react to the current state of practices. Specifically, the POT principles involved in CoI should expand the phygital approach to improve the reflective practices of preservice teachers. Moreover, models relevant to specific programs should provide adequate instructional support, materials, and training for preservice teachers to allow their optimal investment of POT in phygital spaces.

Part of the book: Higher Education