Welcome to Online Pedagogies - Community of Practice Page (OPCoP)

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What is OPCoP?

The Online Pedagogy Community of Practice (OPCOP) provides regular PD opportunities for ECAE faculty, ECAE students and the wider community. It aims to facilitate interactions and exchanges among participants to enhance and support teaching, learning and assessment practices in both online learning and blended learning environments

 

The OPCOP Program: Aims and Rationale

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for schools and universities in terms of teaching and learning pedagogies and methods. In response to these challenges, many UAE K-12 schools and higher education institutions have adopted new online pedagogies to mitigate the pandemic effect on student learning. However, most of the students as well as some of their teachers/instructors have limited experience in online teaching and learning approaches. In this context, a group of practitioners in the Emirates College for Advanced Education (ECAE) has taken the initiative to establish an online professional community of practice (OPCOP) aiming to support students, teachers and some local schools in their transition to online learning. The OPCOP also seeks to create a space for teachers and students who have a passion and an interest in experimenting with online pedagogies, sharing their best practices as well as engaging in joint research projects exploring the use of these online pedagogies. The OPCOP includes ECAE faculty members, students, teachers and instructors from UAE public and international schools and universities. The OPCOP members meet regularly to discuss, share ideas and conduct training sessions related to online pedagogies. The following are the aims and priorities of the OPCOP: 

Priority 1: ECAE faculty

  • Support the ECAE in its transition efforts to online/blended learning. 

Priority 2: ECAE students

  • Provide a space/platform for creative ideas on the use of online learning. 

Priority 3: Learning

  • Discuss strategies for creating engaging learning environments. 
  • Produce effective online learning experiences. 
  • Share ideas, experiences and challenges with the aim of maximizing the online learning experience.
  • Share innovative assessments ideas, applications, and experiences. 

Priority 4: Knowledge Creation

  • Mobilize knowledge internally and externally

Priority 5: Research

  • Conduct research on the policies, practices and challenges of online learning. 

In addition, our goal is to develop an online resources space on Teams to provide all the resources related to online pedagogies to internal and external faculty members, teachers and students

Activities

OPCOP activities include:

  • Discussion groups and debates
  • Presentations and demonstrations
  • Guest speakers from schools and reputable national and/or international educational institutions or organizations preferably affiliated to a university.
  • In-house guest speakers to deliver workshops, seminars, or hands-on training.
  • Specialized workshops or seminars on:
    • Online instructional strategies and technologies to foster teaching skills for online learning environments.
    • Learning assessments
    • Rubric and feedback
    • Innovative pedagogies
    • Thinking skills
    • Blended learning
  • Training on the use of online instructional technology, software/applications related to meeting educational goals.
  • Research Discussions
  • Other areas to be identified by the OPCOP members

OPCOP Program Goals

This program aims to:

  • contribute to the development of ECAE faculty member.
  • create a space for ECAE students to share knowledge and skills.
  • develop teachers’ competence and forge collaborative relationships.
  • broaden professional network and relationships with the wider community.
  • distribute teacher professional learning across career stages and extend teachers’ professional development beyond the preparation and initial induction programs.

Communication among the OPCOP members

  • Communication can take many forms, such as face-to-face or via an online platform such as Microsoft Teams.