Evaluation of the Undergraduate Program in Higher Education: the case of the Science and Mathematics Department at the Faculty of Education, Lebanese University

Yıl 2018, Cilt: 11 , 87 - 99, 01.12.2018

Suzanne El Takach Muhammad Rawas Mohammad Dokmak

Öz

The Faculty of Education is currently in the phase of
revising its LMD programs. In order to modernize and to keep in track with the
latest trends in Education, the Science and Math department made an in-depth
study that involves 30 teachers and 9 trainers, who presented their ideas for
innovation, suggestions for new courses and improvement in the present
courses.  A large scale survey was done
on undergraduate students, in order to collect ideas about the taught courses,
students’ skills and courses learning outcomes, as well as needs and
suggestions for new courses. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected
a) from 1005 students-filled questionnaires that assess 33 courses from the
Science and Mathematics Department and lasted over 6 semesters, as well as
practicum courses at schools and b) a focus group of 34 students, in their last
semester, filled a questionnaire detailing the taught courses, new courses and
comments about their learning during their 6 semesters at the Faculty. Teachers
suggested new courses like STEM and science and industry, proposed new
specializations, such as science and math teacher preparation for middle
classes, and redistribute some current courses. Students in their last
semester, for instance, were satisfied with the taught courses related to their
specialization, they complained from the redundancy in some courses like
psychology and general education and they emphasize on taking into
consideration their opinions and suggestions in the assessment of the LMD program.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Assessment in higher education, LMD program, Quality of

Kaynakça

• Ayoub (2018): واقع-التعليم-العالي-في-لبنان--الجامعة-اللبنانية-نموذجا, from https://www.annahar.com/article/825673 [retrieved on 2 July 2018] https://www.ul.edu.lb. Ayoubi, Z. (2011). Revamping Teacher Education at the Lebanese University The New LMD Curricula at the Faculty of Education. 3rd Annual Conference of Educational Research Center on Teacher Education and Educational Measurement. [PowerPoint presentation]. Broumana, Lebanon. El Takach, S. (2018a). How Do Early Childhood Education Pre-service Teachers view Science and Scientists? Manuscript submitted for publication. El Takach, S. (2018b). BMI and Eating Habits for Preservice Teachers at the Faculty of Education, Lebanese University, International Journal of Education and Social Science, Vol. 5 No. 5, pp.36-49, www.ijessnet.com. European Commission for Higher Education (2012). Higher Education in Lebanon. European Commission Report (2017). Education, Overview of the Higher Education System: Lebanon. Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The Lebanese Erasmus+ National Office and the authorities of Lebanon, DOI: 10.2797/205, Website: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/index_en.php Feistauer, D. & Richter, T. (2017) How reliable are students’evaluations of teaching quality? A variancecomponents approach, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42:8, 1263-1279, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2016.1261083 Lebanese University Website: www.ul.edu.lb Loo, B., & Magaziner, J. (2017). Education System Profiles: Education in Lebanon. World Education News & Reviews (WENR). http://www.wenr.wes.org Powell, J.W. (2011). Outcomes assessment: Conceptual and other problems. AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom. 2(2), 1–25. Rivzaa B. et al, (2015). Evaluation of higher education study programmes and their development trends as drivers of regional growth, Procedia Economics and Finance Science Direct, 4th World Conference on Business, Economics and Management, WCBEM, 26, 643 – 650 DOI: 10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00804-7. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com , http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Stitt-Bergh, M. (2015a). Three Frameworks for Successful Learning Outcomes Assessment. Conference: The Second International Conference for Assessment and Evaluation at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Stitt-Bergh, M (2015b). Graduate Programs: Shifting the Mindset from Individual-Student to Program-level Assessment .AALHE “Actionable Assessment” Conference Proceedings The Fifth Annual Assessment Conference of the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) “Actionable Assessment” June 1 – 3, Lexington, Kentucky. Rickards, W. H., & Stitt-Bergh, M. (2016). Higher education evaluation, assessment, and faculty engagement In W. H. Rickards & M. Stitt-Bergh (Eds.), Evaluating student learning in higher education: Beyond the public rhetoric. New Directions for Evaluation, 151, 11–20. Stitt-Bergh, M., Rickards, W. H., & Jones, T. B. (2016). Beyond the rhetoric: Evaluation practices in higher education. In W. H. Rickards, & M. Stitt-Bergh (Eds.), Evaluating student learning in higher education: Beyond the public rhetoric. New Directions for Evaluation, 151, 123–132. The Supreme Committee for the Development of Curricula and Programs (n.d). A Power Point on نظام التدريس الجديد في الجامعة اللبنانية Retrieved from www.ul.edu.lb [11 July 2018]. UNESCO Science report towards 2030 (2015). UNESCO Institute for Statistics (IUS). www.ius.unesco.org