A Middlesex University Dubai researcher has earned international recognition for her efforts to improve the techniques of teaching computer science in the UAE. Dr Uma Gunasilan, senior lecturer at the School of Engineering and Information Sciences at Middlesex University Dubai, was honoured for presenting the best paper at the Seventh Worldwide Conference on Education and Culture held recently in Rome, Italy.
The paper titled 'Towards Improving the Teaching and Learning Experience in Computer Programming: A Case Study in Middlesex University Dubai' won much acclaim at the international conference, which was organised by the Worldwide Conference on Education and Culture series, based in Virginia, USA.
Factors affecting learning
Dr Gunasilan was appreciated by academics from across the world for her effort to highlight the problems and arguments in the pedagogy of computer programming in the Middle East and outlining active elements that play a significant role in teaching and learning in the UAE. "These active elements include the fact that most of Dubai's non-government universities house more international students and educators from various education backgrounds.
"The region's socio-cultural settings and the strains of introducing a foreign curriculum into Dubai's local education system are other factors," she said. In her paper, the researcher said students should be allowed to "construct knowledge" rather than to acquire, apply and retain knowledge that is given by an educator. Although this is acknowledged and works effectively in science and mathematics education, there is a discrepancy, specifically in computer science.
"It is more apparent in Dubai where the backgrounds of students and socio-cultural setting of the classroom influence the teaching and learning process," she said. Based on this, Dr Gunasilan, proposed a curriculum framework for computer programming that focuses on the "construct knowledge" philosophy. The chair of research at Middlesex University Dubai said that the recent achievement of Dr Gunasilan affirmed that the university's research objectives incorporate working towards further growth.
