Dr. Misida Al Jahwari,

An assistant professor of Organizational Change and HRM, from Sultan Qaboos University

Dr. Misida Al Jahwari presented a talk on “Course assessments: The what, why and how and sharing what I have learned so far” on Tuesday, 31 May 2022, to engineering staff of UTAS-Al Musannah.

In this webinar. Dr. Misida started by highlighting the reasons that call for teachers to talk more about teaching, assessments, and learning in higher education institutions. She shed light on assessments, why we assess students, and the levels and types of assessments in higher education. Dr. Misida focused on the importance of viewing feedback as a process, and she shared research findings on the nature of feedback and what effective feedback is. She also presented tips on how to be a reflective teacher and encouraged her colleagues in the teaching field to critically think about the way they teach and assess students. Further, Dr. Misida explained the steps in the assessment process and discussed some common biases and errors in assessment design. Towards the end, the speaker shared how her assessments changed over time from 2002 to 2022. The changes clearly indicated a move towards more formative assessments that are better aligned with the intended learning outcomes, a preference for student-centered teaching, and a focus on preparing students for success in their personal lives and careers.

The webinar ended with some questions to ponder on assessments and a call for teachers to critically reflect on instructional approaches and assessments and professionally develop themselves because better teachers mean better students and eventually better decisions and a happier world.   

Mr. Abdul Hamid Al Hinai, HoD of the Engineering Department welcomed the presenter and attendees and also conveyed his vote of thanks to everyone who participated in the event. There were about 80 participants in this webinar organized by the HRDC- Engineering Department.