Five Courses Developed for Instructors and Students to Train in the Platform’s Applications.. “E-Learning” At UoB Anticipates Offering Professional Practice Certificates on the Blackboard Platform

Sakhir – University of Bahrain (Ali Al-Sabbagh)

9 November 2021

The E-Learning Center at the University of Bahrain (UoB) announced that it is anticipating launching professional certificates for e-learning and distance learning practices through the Blackboard platform, pointing out that it launched five integrated training courses on the Blackboard Learning Management platform last week; Two courses for students, and three for faculty members.

The Director of the E-Learning Center at the University, Dr. Sheikha Fai bint Abdullah Al Khalifa, stated that: “The development of the five courses aims to provide options for instructors and students with limited and medium experience to develop their skills in dealing with the educational platform,” noting that “these training courses come in parallel with the training workshops that are periodically organized by the Center”.

Also, she noted that the presence of the self-learning option makes it easier for instructors and students to learn the aspects they need, and does not make them restricted to certain times to engage in periodic workshops.

The courses offered for instructors are: E-learning (basic course) for the original interface, and another course for the Ultra interface from the learning management system, for faculty members with limited experience in using the system, and it contains four training modules: building courses on the learning management system, enhancing communication in the e-course, the mechanisms for evaluating learners, and the rationale for evaluating the course.

The course aims to teach participants the principles and processes when creating an electronic course from A to Z, and how to use communication tools effectively to increase student participation in distance courses.

While the third course is concerned with learning e-teaching (advanced course) for the original interface of the learning management system for faculty members with experience in using the system, and it contains three training courses: monitoring student performance, building electronic communities, and designing attractive content for courses.

The course aims to provide participants with in-depth knowledge of tools and features that help them monitor and evaluate student performance, explore the concept of building virtual e-learning communities in courses, and learn new strategies for effectively designing and organizing content, to increase student participation in distance courses.

As for students’ courses, the Director of the E-Learning Center stated that one of them deals with the original interface, while the other is on the Ultra interface of the student learning management system, and aims to introduce them to students in order to make them follow the best practices in studying and succeed in electronic courses. The two courses contain five training units, which are: An introduction to the Blackboard learning management system, distance learning, system navigation, communication, assignments submission, and student performance tracking.

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