Hi,

The gap between traditional and modern teaching methods is indeed widening in many places, including Iraq. Addressing this requires updated teacher training and systemic change.

Just shared my thoughts.

Hi Hsin-Yuan Chen

Thank you so much for your contribution.

Hello Mr. Asaad,

Would you like to share about education in Iraq

انا الآن اعلم عن التربية المقارنة في الدول الإسلامية

ومنها في عراق

Hi Matnur Ritonga

I have already shared my thoughts. Would you like to add?

I may be somewhat old-fashioned, I am still prefer the old methods in teaching. Look around you and count how many black offices for solving the exams and assignments are there.

From my point of view, e-learning alone will not succeed without traditional face-to-face learning. Furthermore, I see that e-learning hasn't achieved the desired aims or results for developing countries and traditional learning is better. At least, the hybrid learning (i.e. blended learning) of both of them is better than the traditional one.This is because there are many black offices for solving exam questions!! These offices made online learning a trading stock that resembles the slave-market.

Please see this discustion:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_your_opinion_about_standalone_online_learning_Has_it_succeeded_in_the_developing_countries_especially_at_Coronavirus_disease_covid-19

Hi Nidhal Kamel Taha El-Omari

Thank you so much for your contribution. Yes I completely agree with you in terms of electronic exams. The problems is not mainly with the exams. It is rather with the schools/ colleges/ universities administrations and with type of questions asked by teachers. I fully agree with you that there is a high rate of cheating, especially in Iraq. However, if teachers change their questions into indirect questions - i.e. questions that require learners to think and perform some mental process - the problem could be solved. So, the problem is NOT with the recent teaching method; rather, it is with the administrations and questions used by teachers.

Dear Prof. Asaad Chasib Hamood,

The unfortunate situation has intensified due to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. During this time, we have witnessed a surge in illicit practices within the education sector. One need only look around to observe the proliferation of unauthorized entities offering solutions for exams and assignments.

In my perspective, I firmly believe that the success of e-learning is intrinsically linked to traditional learning. The existence of these unauthorized entities underscores this point. Regardless, it remains imperative that examinations take place within educational institutions, with students physically present.

Furthermore, I would like to draw your attention to the following discussion on this topic:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Does-Coronavirus-Disease-COVID-19-increase-the-black-market-of-education

Thank you for your consideration.

Nidhal

Hi again Prof. Nidhal Kamel Taha El-Omari

Thank you so much for your input.

An interesting question and most interesting inputs.

There are many learning facilitation methods that range, for example, from lecturing to learning by doing to asynchronous and synchronous e-learning. What i found in Iraq, teaching at university level, was that facilitating learning required at priori a good knowledge of the context where learning was going to take place ( local culture, society, political system, etc.), how learning was conducted in primary and secondary educational institutions in the local area, the national schooling programme and where possible to conduct not a training needs assessment, but a learning needs assessment that was informal. With all this information in hand, i found i could develop training modules that (hopefully) were far more in the realm of students then, for example the text books being used. I found that lecturing was important, but orality of learning was important, and this orality was a two way system, audio books and power points that summarized book chapters. I found that interactivity was also important as was experiential learning. Interestingly in all this, ICT played a large role, especially learning set for smart phones.

Hi Martin Hilmi

Thank you very much for your input. Yes. I agree with you. Lecturing is of utmost importance as learners are not as yet ready for independent learning. They are very much reliant on the teachers - though they very much enjoy group work. Orality is also significant.

Hi Asaad Chasib Hamood yes lecturing is important especially for first year university students. Indeed group work is also important. However, as per the high diversity found at local level in Iraq, i have found that each course is a case in its own. There are some similarities, but these are rather generic. The other matter i found was trying to find appropriate text books that would fit into the context, as i mentioned in my previous post. This was far from easy as most text books i had to use, were based on developed economies and not economies in transition, with a completely different cultural and social heritage. I tried to adapt as far as possible such texts, but there were evident limitations. For example, the concept of planning is easy to understand, but has little relevance, unfortunately, in country as per its volatility. Thus i tried to adapt such a concept to the realities of such volatility.

Hi Martin Hilmi

Yes I completely agree with you. But as I understand from what you said is that you did not teach in a university context. You were running courses. And I fully agree textbooks are not designed for such a context like Iraq. However, learners seem to enjoy the topics.

I must add Martin that, though the textbooks need some adaptation, nothing is wrong with the content of these textbooks. From my personal experience in the universities I feel that learners do need to engage with these texts since most of them have never been the the West.

Hi Asaad Chasib Hamood in fact i was actually teaching at university, and also training personnel from NGOs, etc. Absolutely the textbooks are fine, and you are correct: its student engagement with them, how these relate to the context and how can they make such learning practical and apply it to their job circumstances. This is where i think, that adaptation is most required not only from the text books, but from the overall teaching provided and how what is being learning and what is learnt is then applied and made practical.

Hi Martin Hilmi

Yes.