Halban: Bayan College conducted Media and General Foundation Program symposium organized under the auspices of the College’s Research and Consultancy Center (RCC).
The symposium that attracted both presenters and participants from different colleges and universities in the Sultanate of Oman ran under the theme; “The Role of Technology in Education and Media.” Presenting a paper on “The transition from conventional teaching to technological interaction; a case of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU)”,
Dr. Ali Hussein Al Balushi , Assistant Dean for Training and Community Service and Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at SQU said that teachers need to adopt teaching methodologies that incorporate the use of technology in creating interactivity between the teachers and the students. “We have to develop a concept or strategy on online forum where there is interactivity between students and their instructors.” Dr. Ali added.
Other topics that attracted debate during the symposium include; Effective use of ICT for education, knowledge and research, Significance of Technology in Modern Education and Learner Autonomy. Others were; Education and Technological Applications:
Case studies and Impact of Technology in Higher Education.
According to the chairperson of the organizing committee for the symposium who is also the Head of Department for the General Foundation Program Dr. Mohamed Swafat, the symposium was intended to provide a platform for researchers to exchange information and identify research needs in the area of Media Studies and Foundation
disciplines. The Acting Dean of Bayan College Dr. Nader Samy Fahim said that education and technology integrate to promote human life. Both serve
each other, in the sense that without education there won’t be technology, and without technology education will be standing still with the result that humanity will have minds that are frozen.
“The debate of today tries to resolve an imposing problem: which is more important that the other, or which comes first; the horse or the cart…in other words, technology or education?” Dr. Nader pointed out. Bayan College which is the first private Media College in Oman is affiliated with Purdue University Northwest. The College offers majors in Public Relations, Journalism, Broadcasting and Advertising under the faculty of media while the faculty of English studies offers majors in English Literature and Professional Writing.
