Research Title

Applying Interactive Teaching Stimulation Methodologies (ITSM) to teachers for the 21st century in Higher Education in Palestine.  تطبيق منهجيات التحفيز التفاعلي) ITSM( للمدرسين في القرن الواحد والعشرين في التعليم العالي في فلسطين.

Primary Phase (Completed)

Erasmus+ Programme (Capacity-Building projects in the field of Higher Education (E+CBHE))

METHODS Project Website:                    www.methods.ju.edu.jo/Home.aspx

Publication:                                            www.thisweekinpalestine.com/methods/

Secondary Phase (Started)

Interdisciplinary research study reinforcing Palestinian Universities internationalization scheme through shifting current teaching methods from a “Teacher-Centered Approach to a Learner-Center Approach.

Design

Dissemination

Introduction

Nowadays, globalization poses new challenges to universities, and we as academics are aware of especially in the presence of the disabling factors (acts) that delay progress and development. Applying research in the development of one of METHODS courses under the title  HRM (Human Resources Management – BUSA314) is hands on innovation strategy for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based goals (SMART) class application. The aim is developing knowledge in the methodologies of teaching, training and coaching for best pratices and methods in teaching other courses.

Bethlehem University encourge active collaborative of academic research initiatives that enhance applying pedagogies and teaching and training methodologies in areas that involve practicums type of framework. Leading towards increase of our opportunities for professional and career development as Palestinians. Consequently, Bethlehem University and other Palestinian Universities will receive higher quality sample of academics as contribution to the Palestinian economy to become both more capable and more inclined to follow the latest educational and best qualities and practices trends.

This research initiative will transfer knowledge on how to integrate synergy, vocation, adults, fusion and disabled methodologies in our classrooms, with the support of Higher Education academics and labor force representatives from Palestine. Assessment and assistance developing  the human capital by upgrading teachers at the Palestinian Higher Education competences and capacities, and improving management skills once we conduct dessimination sessions with quality of context, preparation, implementation, monitoring and follow ups with technical skills. This will also be part of applying internationalization best practices. It is an opportunity to practically apply entrepreneurship at cross disciplinary, and facilitate the spread of experience and knowledge across academia at Higher Education, as it enables us to receive broader understanding of policies, systems and best practices in diferent domains’ of speciality.

I will take lead with local partner universities to share the idea of curriculum review in HRM course, and include the use of 21st century inclusive pedagogies and critical learning approaches that will enable future lecturers to be critical examples for tomorrow’s Palestinian citizens and workers. This is essential for the development of the country as part of long-term approach to supporting inclusive and innovative quality higher education in Palestine and creating accessible think-tank model in Palestine.

Entrepreneurship

 Due to the political crisis in Palestine, livelihood deterioration, high rates in poverty and low involvement in nascent businesses, Palestine has not experienced any considerable improvements in entrepreneurship.  The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics demands the need to spot the role of education and mentorship in promoting entrepreneurship. Accordingly, the current education system requires a fundamental shift toward providing the practical skills needed to dive into the private sector. Basic skills that can reform the education system to effectively produce successful entrepreneurs like how-to-think skills, marketing strategies, project management and financial management in a learning situation based teaching platform.

Strategy:  Bethlehem University Strategic Plan 2012-2018 Step Goal # 6 under the heading “Develop programmes that enhance student and graduate employability, entrepreneurship and good citizenship” emphasize on designing entrepreneurial-focused curricula to empower the culture of entrepreneurship and provide entrepreneurs with sharp skills needed to sustain business ventures.

Priority: Bethlehem University is in the procedure of revising its current curriculum to integrate entrepreneurship as part of it, in addition to defining and categorizing all extra-curriculum activities, my Home University host at all levels and types of lifelong learning education. Priority is given to the Institute of Hotel Management and Tourism.

Justification: This call is related to my Home University project under the title “Bethlehem University Institute of Tourism Training” (BUITT) which is expected to take off by the year 2020/2021. Bethlehem University has been given an extraordinary opportunity to purchase a parcel of land that will increase its campus by one-third. Purchasing this property will expand the present campus of Bethlehem University and will allow the University to meet future facility needs for new and developing programs, with special focus on enriching the Bachelor entrepreneurships and internships programs.

Beneficiaries: The purpose of the entrepreneurship is that the students shall acquire knowledge and abilities within the general area of entrepreneurship with particular focus on developing mind-set and business planning for new ventures. Main tools will be lifelong learning and teaching, learning outputs, project development, evaluation, assessment presented by vocational education and training professionals working towards creating benchmark to course outline.  

Taking as a demo the Human Resources Management (HRM) that I teach. Learn how entrepreneurship can be integrated (embedded) and measured within course activities. Course will be introduced at Home University within multidisciplinary, taking under consideration the difference in entrepreneurship specializations to match with course outcomes.

Aim: I aim towards developing strong experience in entrepreneurship from curriculum and co-curricular activities starting from the process of evaluation, conception and implementation in pedagogy methodologies (education practices).  The results of the entrepreneurship activities within courses will further be developed, with emphasis on the connections between the local labor market needs and demands in relevance to the content of the course.

Objectives: Working hand-in-hand with Bethlehem University main objectives to imbed entrepreneurial mind sets within Bethlehem University academic staff and students; develop relationships and collaborations between local and international University sector and private sector organizations; provide students and staff with the opportunity to practically apply entrepreneurship, both in the classroom and in a cross disciplinary way outside of the classroom, and empower research skills among students and faculty members.

In addition

- Contribute in creating a permanent dynamic entrepreneurial mind-set at Bethlehem University and Partner University through staff capacity building programs and initiatives.

- Contribute in improving the quality of Home University education with professional guidance to increase the relevance of practiced education to match with the labor market needs and demands.

- Contribute to enhance the interaction with the local and international universities, private sector, national and regional authorities leading to an open and continuous dialogue on employability and entrepreneurship with special focus on measuring the impact of best practices and policies.

- Contribute to identify, share and implement best practices via promoting entrepreneurship within local and international communities with the intervention of the private sector in the aim of bridging and promoting entrepreneurship as a tool to improve employability in the region.

Specialization: Entrepreneurship became a leading component and promoter of linkage between private sector companies, academic institutions, national and international public and private organizations. It takes courage by my Home University investing in developing entrepreneurs by focusing on establishing a healthy entrepreneurial environment, seeking professional mentorship within entrepreneurship oriented education that aim towards reducing unemployment rates in Palestine.

Target:As  an active lecturer with special interest of the of national and international networks connected to the SME and innovation sectors, this step is considered to be pioneer start that leads towards shaping my capacity towards Home University future manpower demand.  I seek to develop my experience in teaching, know how to integrate entrepreneurship element in course outline which will open a world of possibilities. Fostering an entrepreneurial mindset at my Home University, and providing up-to-date educational and training activities among students will greatly contribute not only to students but to National manpower growth.

From my position as the External Academic Relations, I embrace the mission of bridging academic exchange programs that promote regional, national and international academic development. Part of it is stimulating entrepreneurship, innovation and knowledge management and creating strategic partnerships and business mind-set relationships. The aim is to move towards empowering the element of entrepreneurship within my Human Resources Management course outline and positioning Bethlehem University through raising global awareness of Bethlehem University's local academic and non-academic programs, establish relationships with future scholars and bridge academic department in promoting their programs locally and internationally through identifying and developing new external, local and international academic scholarship and program opportunities.

Background: Bethlehem University is working hand-in-hand with The Palestinian Authority and the private sector in promoting the entrepreneurial culture in education by establishing a healthy platform in research and curriculum design. I expect this mission will contribute to position my Home University taking more leading position with joined ventures we have with number of local and international incubators and accelerators with emphasis on our Palestine Partners working in the domain of Entrepreneurship: PALTEL GROUP, Sbitany Shabab, PADICO / TAMMAYAZ and the International Youth Foundation ( IYF). The two major local youth institutions working in the domain of Entrepreneurship are: Sharek Youth Forum and Palestinian Vision (PalVision, or "Ru’ya").  Running youth programs we have at the moment for Entrepreneurship are: I SERVE Leadership Institute, Passport to Success (PTS) and TAMHEED.

By kindly considering on this research call, the Palestinian Higher Education will be part of promoting the national and international mobility scheme under the umbrella Bethlehem University towards sharing more knowledge, bridging exchange and experience outsourcing between universities and entrepreneurship programs despite of the current political situation.

Overall Outcome

Equipping Palestinian teachers  in Higher Education for global citizenship through  upgrading courses that infulance and enhance student and graduate employability, entrepreneurship and good citizenship.

Overall Objective

Modernise higher education in Palestine by restructuring the curriculum through the promotion of innovative, inclusive and critical lecturing approaches.

Specific Objectives

· Step One:  Design innovation, by restructuring the curriculum of Human Resources Development Course as a model starting with 2 universities.

· Step Two: Prepare the ground for modern lecturing innovation, by building a knowledge base of best innovative teaching strategies (covering design, resources, pedagogy and assessment) and about success cases of innovative lecturing.

· Step Three: Build innovation capacity, by developing capacity of university lecturers (working in teaching Human Resources Development course) of using innovative teaching strategies with focus on inclusive and critical pedagogies.

· Step Four: Sustain innovation, by piloting the redesigned course, with attention to local specificities and to replication potential.

Results (outputs/outcomes)

Upgraded curriculum. Piloted course with all partnering universities. Lessons learnt report to transfer the experience to other universities in Palestine and to other countries.

Tangible  results

The following main research results will be achieved:  

·         Upgraded curriculum in one course in three Palestinian universities.

·         Three Palestinian teachers’ upskilled on the use of inclusive critical 21st century teaching strategies.

·         Set of OER (Open Educational Resources) content to accompany the new curriculum.

·         Position Paper on existing best innovative teaching strategies and capabilities framework related to the course. 

·         Lessons learnt report to transfer the experience to other universities in Palestine and to other countries.

Consequently, the research will have an important milestone in all the participating Palestinian universities, both in terms of tangible results and of internal capacity building.

Problem addressed

Universities in Palestine who still teach in traditional ways resulting in a low quality education and therefore in low employability. This problem is coupled with the low innovation capacity and low international exposure of the academic communities in the field of Higher Education in the country. Changes in the working environment are occurring rapidly, knowledge is also devalued rapidly and the current formal educational system fails to respond promptly and reliably, without cost in time and money. Therefore it is urgent to create new and more flexible forms of learning, teaching and training, such as applying interactive teaching stimulation methodologies (ITSM) for the 21st century in academia in Palestine.

The main challenge encountered by recruiters is finding well qualified graduates to fill emerging job opportunities and this can be attributed to a mismatch between what employers are seeking in terms of necessary job knowledge, competencies and experiences, and what the educational programs are offering. This mismatch is a result of a theory focused curricula that cannot keep pace with the constantly changing market demands, and is not grounded on a competency based program development and delivery systems. Educational programs traditional teaching and learning methodologies and approaches that do not take into consideration the necessary Real World experiences and skills needed for the actual job market.

- Lack of educational programs that uses occupational task analysis and competency based approach in the design, curriculum development, and delivery to address appropriately the job market’s needs.

- Lack of localized educational materials, educational videos, case studies and industry information.

To improve the quality of Higher Education and enhance its relevance for the labor market and society is possible through improving the level of competences and skills in higher education by developing new innovative education programmes and fostering regional integration & cooperation across different regions.

Research approach is targeting to standardize one course on a national level as a teaching model, using interactive teaching simulation methodologies, to apply in all Palestinian universities which will require restructuring and developing course with educational assisting assignments segmented under measurable co-curricular activities.

The objective of the research is to lead the training of one course and create a think-tank accessible program to all Palestinian universities to improve their skills and learn new techniques so that they can use both basic and more advanced features and techniques in applying technology in flipped classroom methodology.

This research has three main outputs:

·Mapping research and occupational task analysis to bridge the identified gaps between the existing curricula and the graduates’ quality required by the market in collaboration with private sector representative bodies.

·Educational capacity, develop capacity building in using modern teaching methodologies and utilizing technology in education in order to provide students with the opportunity to see theory in practice, to develop analytic, communicative and collaborative skills along with content knowledge to become lifelong learners and world citizens.

·Building up a comprehensive research program in collaboration with the private sector and youth training entities in order to give real life structured feedback with clear outputs and of value to the students.

My specific role is to design, facilitate and shape new learning model with the integration of Information Technologies and Communication (ICT) by applying synergy in academia and contemporary educational reality, aside to the creation of a new educational environment with awareness to applying vocation in education, this mission is readjusted as the lecturers is expected to possess new knowledge and skills. By using virtual labs as educational systems with computers (investigative or educational), based on simulation enable students to simulate experiments, which could not be carried out otherwise or to plan and carryout new ones based on theories not proven.

Restrictions

The problem is with limited experience, expertise and research resources that would enable us to make the required changes. Through this research, with team of educators from local and international universities will come together and undergo a common design process. The process will involve investigating various collaborative educational methodologies, learning from experiences of partners and then working collectively on designing the Human Resources Development course model.

-Once the course is developed, faculty members will begin to deliver this course. The methodology will involve peer reviews and peer visits, reflection workshops, mentoring, evaluation and assessment of results, and an on-going participatory action research process overseeing the entire development, design and implementation lifecycle. The research will produce a number of results grounded on the needs of the target groups of the individual universities, and of the educational national community as a whole.

-This research will take a capability approach, against a more traditional competencies one, so as to emphasis on contextual elements enabling/disabling innovation beyond teachers' skills, in a way that is responsive to the social, economic and political reality.

Upskilling teaching staff of higher educational faculties, and especially putting them in the position of easily adopting inclusive and critical 21st century pedagogies and teaching strategies in their daily work, is probably the most pressing need of the partner universities, the research will do so starting from a set of fresh ideas and proven to succeed practices that will be exchanged and translated into a joint capabilities framework. Better-skilled teachers will be able to have an impact only if the curriculum they use is updated and upgraded, in terms of pedagogical approaches, themes and healthy underpinning teaching strategies.

My research partners will co-design this new curriculum by capturing breakthrough international practices and innovatory programmes and at the same time decolonising the curriculum, by promoting local alternatives and initiatives that are sensitive to local conditions. Also, in order to innovate one course in a short timeframe, it is necessary to rely on new and updated teaching content. The teachers that are targeted by the research will co-develop a set of new learning contents for their course to be designed in the form of OER (Open Educational Resources), meaning resources released with an open license which permits free use and adaptation by others.

Content will accompany the new curriculum, tailored to the educational context, institutional needs, teaching style and student population in classroom. Having a common teaching content-base that teachers can improve and update, released with open licenses, will present a great advantage for this target group. The new course, that will be piloted in all participating universities, will aim to improve the learning achieved by participating students and at the same time will increase the reputation and performance of the involved universities.

Finally, a report containing all the lessons learnt by the group team will be produced. This report will target all universities from Palestine and from other countries that might want to innovate the way their education curricula are designed, including capacity building.

Research proposal aim, and specific objectives

The overall aim of the research is to contribute to modernising Higher Education in Palestine by restructuring the Human Resources Management course model curriculum through the promotion of innovative, creative, collaborative critical 21st century pedagogies, within the context of the inclusive curriculum.

This aim will be tackled by working towards four specific objectives:

· Prepare the ground for teaching innovation in the selected Palestinian faculties, by building a knowledge base of innovative teaching strategies (covering inclusive curriculum design, exploration, critical thinking, active dialogue, enquiry based learning, media literacy, Open Education Practices and assessment) and existing educational excellence frameworks.

· Build teaching innovation capacity, by developing the capabilities of teachers of the involved faculties of using innovative critical 21st century teaching strategies with focus on the inclusive curriculum.

· Design innovation in pre-service and in-service teachers training, by restructuring the curriculum of Human Resources Management course in Palestinian universities.

· Sustain innovation, by piloting the redesigned course, with attention to local specificities and to replication potential.

These four objectives are closely complementary, and tackle the problems presented earlier from a system perspective by working on all the main barriers that are blocking systemic innovation in universities.

· Objective 1- (WHY should we innovate) leading partner will work on raising awareness of the need and benefits of education innovation and of the available working solutions.

· Objective 2- (WHO should innovate) leading partner will work to upskill the main actors involved that are educational faculties lecturers, making sure that education innovation can actually take place in daily teaching practices.

· Objective 3- (WHAT to innovate) leading partner will work on restructuring the curriculum of Human Resources Management model course, in collaboration amongst the Palestinian universities and with the intentional partners.

· Objective 4- (HOW to make education innovation durable) leading partner will work on the long-term potential of these innovations, both in the involved universities and in other HE institutions from the country.

Bethlehem University is convinced that only by tackling at the same time the WHY, the WHO, the WHAT and the HOW issues of innovation, that a systemic intervention can be successful. Such a systemic intervention will upgrade the way teachers in Palestine teach by stressing the importance of building inclusive and critical 21st century pedagogical approaches. The intervention will also increase the research capacity and the international exposure of the academic communities in the field of Higher Education in the country, and the attractiveness of the higher education system more broadly. Through such a transformative curriculum review future teachers will be supported and enabled to promote local alternatives and initiatives, and to be exemplary teachers helping shape tomorrow’s Palestinian citizens and workers, preserving their national identity and exposing them to international approaches.

Positioning

As a start, my Home University Research Institute strategy focuses on accelerating the university towards more and stronger presence and engagement with resource mobilization, especially in the area of capacity building. The Dean of Research aims at training Bethlehem University academics and university faculty in research design, research methodologies because such trainings are national and institutional major demand. This is of crucial relevance not only to my Home University staff members, rather to the students.

From my position as the External Academic Relations, I embrace the mission of bridging academic exchange programs that promote regional, national and international academic development. Part of it is stimulating entrepreneurship, innovation and knowledge management and creating strategic partnerships and business mind-set relationships. As  an active lecturer coming from the Business and Hospitality industry, with special interest of the of national and international networks connected to the SME and innovation sectors, this step is considered to be pioneer start that leads towards shaping my capacity towards Palestinian Universities future manpower demand. 

One of the main reasons why I want to take lead in this research is to develop research and innovation strategies for smart specialization in Human Resource Management with special focus on developing knowledge in the methodologies of teaching, training and coaching.   This will be a great opportunity to start getting outreach experience including training courses, workshops and exchange opportunities, also, to overcome the obstacles that the occupation puts to hinder the process of academic development in Palestine.

Taking advantage from this application, I will improve my competences and capacity as a lecturer, and facilitating the spread of experience and knowledge across the University academic disciplines. I will improve my management skills, and the quality in the preparation, implementation, monitoring and follow up on projects. Fellow colleagues, students and I will be able to get broader understanding of policies, systems and best practices in the Human Resource Development course scheme as we increase our opportunities for professional and career development. Consequently, our Palestinian universities will receive higher quality graduates as contribution to the Palestinian economy to become both more capable and more inclined to follow the latest educational and best qualities and practices trends.

Conclusion

Within the CBHE (Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education 2019) Curriculum Development strand, the area of education is the top priority subject area for Palestine. This research will address this priority by restructuring the way educational faculties are training future Palestinian teachers in higher education, and developing the capabilities of teachers through continuous professional development. This will be achieved through the use of critical 21st century pedagogies, underpinned by developed concepts from critical theory and related traditions in the field of Human Resources Development.

Bethlehem University with involved Palestinian universities will establish 1 central model course in their faculties of education restructured following the highest international standards in terms of pedagogic approach, use of ICT ad innovative methods, and available content. And all of this will be done by the universities themselves, and it is in fact very common in Palestine that Palestinian universities commit to work together with an open-minded approach to rethink their educational strategies and restructure a course and to produce the underlying contents.

This renovated course, that is compulsory for all students of HE in Palestine, will stably improve the educational offer of the country in the area of higher education, and will have significant contribution on the Palestinian population for many years to come. Further, the fact that all the process through the documentation of research documents that will be made available for any other university, has the potential to guarantee a force effect with a much broader impact of the research in the medium term.

Further, the teachers /professors that will participate in the research will strengthen their capabilities, both in technical terms and in behavioral and attitudinal terms. Finally, one important outcome of the research have been planned with the aim to reach beyond the partner universities in Palestine is to transfer the experience to other universities to organize our inception activities, specifically to enlarge the research impact at the individual, institutional, and higher education system levels.

Labor Force

This research is innovative because the focus is on offering a systemic intervention targeting teachers, university leaders, professors and importantly students at the interface of curricula reform within Palestinian HE, in terms of the inclusive curriculum - in which pedagogy, curricula and assessment are designed and delivered to engage students in learning that is meaningful, relevant to the labor market needs and demands and accessible to all, with, critical 21st century pedagogical approaches, with particular focus on pre-service teacher training, whose role will be in supporting learning which considers the social context whilst also stresses the importance of the liberating impact of education, required in helping shape tomorrow’s Palestinian citizens and workers.

Dissesmination

The research objectives fit with the modernization strategy of all involved Palestinian universities that are urgently seeking to modernize and internationalize their programs, while developing the local identity and societal priorities at the same time.  The following are some of the strategic objectives to which this research will have a direct contribution:

· Academic programs meet the needs of society and comply with modern international standards.

· Academic faculty attain advanced competencies and skills with distinct career paths and mechanisms for professional development.

· Advanced methodologies of teaching and learning and effective assessment and evaluation methods provide students with equal and appropriate opportunities to enhance their progress and achievement.

· Research outputs advance new knowledge and applications with direct relevance to society.

· Research will be implemented through local and international cooperation.

· Research outputs and results are in coherence with the epistemic, social and economic contexts.

 In terms of internationalisation, the research fits with the generalised priority of all the involved universities of strengthening their international cooperation activities. Further, it is in line with the National Education Sector Strategy Plan that calls for the furthering of international cooperation in cross-border higher education, university education and research programs, with the aim to enhance usefulness, quality assurance and capacity development.

Plan of Action

The research will start with an analysis and agreement-building component that is highly necessary to set a shared vision and capture the collective mind. The Position Paper guides the research in terms of principles and lines of actions. Based on this agreement, the research capacity building core will start through one Learning Lab (mobility) at Aalborg University Copenhagen and  University of Wolverhampton.

A community of motivated educational lecturers from Palestine will be exposed to ways of integrating a number of critical 21st century pedagogies, which embrace innovative, creative and inclusive ways to develop higher education teaching methods and visionary leadership to ensure equitable quality education delivery.

Two primary partner universities will work in collaboration with me in order to co-develop one course on how the curriculum of their respective Human Resources Development course can be designed or restructured / transformed (for existing course).

The agreement will represent the starting point for the course content development phase, and it will represent a meaningful active learning opportunity for the participating universities that will actually produce Open Educational Resources and will integrate them in the OER Think-Tank (Knowledge Bank).

The restructured course will then be run in all the participating universities, and the results of the pilot experience will be shared internally and with the local and international stakeholders community for innovative and inclusive teaching.

The work plan outlined is compact, linear and feasible in three (3) academic semesters 2019-2021, and at the same time guarantees a number of repetitions and self-improvement opportunities. Corrective actions can be put in place, due to the continuous work of quality and evaluation phase, to improve processes and results.

The following main research results will be achieved:

• Position Paper on existing best innovative teaching strategies and capabilities framework related to the Human Resources Management model course.

• Palestinian teachers upskilled on the use of inclusive critical 21st century teaching strategies

• Upgraded curriculum of one course in three Palestinian universities

•  Set of OER (Open Educational Resources) content to accompany the new curriculum

• Lessons learnt report to transfer the experience to other universities in Palestine and to other countries

 Thanks to these results, the research will have an important milestone in all the participating Palestinian universities, both in terms of tangible results and of internal capacity building.

At the end of the proposed management cycle, the involved universities will have 1 central model course in their faculties of education restructured following the highest international standards in terms of pedagogic approach, use of ICT ad innovative methods, and available content. And all of this will have been done by the universities themselves, thanks to the “push” received by this call and especially through a rather extraordinary collaboration effort. It is in fact very common in Palestine that Palestinian universities commit to work together with an open-minded approach to rethink their educational strategies and restructure a course and to produce the underlying contents.

This renovated course, that is compulsory for all students of higher education in Palestine, will stably improve the educational offer of the country in the area of higher education, and will have significant contribution on the Palestinian population for many years to come. Further, the fact that all the process through the documentation of research documents that will be made available for any other university, has the potential to guarantee a force effect with a much broader impact of the research in the medium term. Further, the teachers /professors that will participate in the research Learning Labs will strengthen their capabilities, both in technical terms and in behavioural and attitudinal terms.

Finally, one important outcome of the research have been planned with the aim to reach beyond the partner universities in Palestine is to transfer the experience to other universities to organize our inception activities, specifically to enlarge the research impact at the individual, institutional, and higher education system levels.