Avicenna Pedagogical Model Prof. Mohamed Bettaz ICT Director, MESRS, Algiers Algeria Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Introduction  Designed during the “project phase” of Avicenna Virtual Campus in the Mediterranean region, established by the European Commission and UNESCO in 14 countries ( ).  Large consensus  Flexibility,  Independency of authoring tools,  Independency of e-learning (distance learning) platforms,  Quality assurance framework. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Outline  Introduction  Avicenna Courses  Avicenna Modules  Avicenna Sessions  Avicenna learning sequences  Assessment of the produced material  Demo (online training course)  Concluding remarks Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Avicenna courses  An Avicenna course is a part of an academic curriculum in the degree program delivered by your institution.  An Avicenna course consists of online learning hours and contact hours between tutors and learners. Distribution between online training hours and contact hours can be fixed at your discretion. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Avicenna modules  An Avicenna module is a “course unit”,  An Avicenna course is composed of one or several modules (or course units),  A module is a self-contained, formally structured learning experience with a coherent and explicit set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria,  A module has a twenty (20) hours duration,  A module is equivalent to one (1) Avicenna credit. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Avicenna sessions  An Avicenna session is the “equivalent” of a chapter in traditional education.  An Avicenna module consists of several sessions. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Avicenna sessions (cont)  According to the involved documents, sessions might be classified into:  introductory (or first) sessions,  Intermediary sessions,  terminating (or last) sessions.

The first session (of the module)  Consists of the following (multimedia) documents:  Welcome,  Overview (of the current module material),  Learning outcomes (of the current module),  Previous knowledge (required before starting the current module). Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

The intermediary sessions  Consist of the following (multimedia) documents:  Diagnostic Assessment,  Overview (of the current session material),  Learning Outcomes (of the current session),  Set of learning sequences. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

The diagnostic assessment  Diagnostic assessment is required before starting the current session,  It is intended to:  probe the cognitive background of the learners, and  to remind them of relevant material. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

The last session (of the module)  Learning resources, which consists of a set of (usually) online (multi-media) documents,  Acknowledgement of the used online and/or offline, paper and/or electronic resources. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Avicenna learning sequences  The sequence is the basic unit of the instructional process (something like section in the traditional education)  Each (Avicenna) session consists of several (Avicenna) learning sequences, of twenty (20) minutes each. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Avicenna learning sequences (cont)  A sequence consists of the following:  Introduction (Welcoming trainees, introduction of the academic tutor, and definition of the learning sequence objectives),  Content (the new learning material),  Conclusion (summary of the presented content ).

The formative assessment  Formative assessment is intended to help in the formation of the cognitive mass,  It follows each learning sequence (remember that diagnostic assessment precedes each session).  Remark : summative assessment (which is intended to assess the degree of accomplish- ment of the learning outcomes), is not yet implemented in Avicenna courses. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Assessment of the produced material  Two kind of strategies are adopted: an a priori assessment strategy and an a posteriori assessment strategy.  The a priori assessment provides feedback during Avicenna course development,  The a posteriori assessment provides feedback during Avicenna course delivery. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

The assessing actors  A priori (during course development):  Internal (peers, Dept council, School council, Deans council),  External (peers, experts in distance / e-learning education, UNESCO scientific council, UNESCO accreditation committee).  A posteriori (during course delivery):  Internal (our learners, our tutors),  External (learners and tutors from other institutions). Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Advanced assessment strategies (not implemented so far)  Not only course developers and learners have to be assesses, but also:  Tutors, curriculum designers, and administrators.  tutors have to be assessed by peers and learners for feedback on their tutoring performance,  curriculum designers have to be assessed by peers and quality assurance institutions for feedback on their design,  administrators have to be assessed for their use of allocated resources. Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Quality assurance  AQUAS: Avicenna QUality Assurance System.   All needed information:  Development criteria,  Assessment,  Accreditation.  Inspired by the European quality assurance system (Bologna process, Berlin communiqué, Prague declaration, etc.). Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Concluding remarks  Many courses have been developed in AVC according to the presented model.  Philadelphia university  Fundamentals of telecommunication and computer networks  Introduction to Information Systems  Analysis and design of management information systems  Biostatistics  Cell biology  Computer architecture  Distributed information systems Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Concluding remarks (cont)  E-management and information technology  Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence  General biology  Instrumentation and measurements  Introduction to probability and statistics  Mechatronics systems  Signal analysis and processing  Software analysis and design  Training course in English  Training course in Arabic  Training course in French Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

Acknowledgement  Avicenna virtual campus portal:  Avicenna virtual campus platform:  Avicenna virtual campus quality assurance page:  Joint work with I. Alfuqaha, training course: Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq 1 st workshop Amman 8-10/11/09