News & Event

The activities of the second edition of the Educational Research Forum, organized by the Ministry of Education, represented by the Specialized Institute for Professional Training for Teachers, and the Omani National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, began with the presentation of a number of working papers and training workshops, with the participation of speakers from international organizations (UNESCO, ICESCO, ALECSO, and OECD), the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States, and a number of governmental and private higher education institutions. The opening ceremony of the forum was held under the auspices of HE Dr. Madiha bint Ahmed Al-Shaibaniya, Minister of Education.

The opening ceremony of the forum included the Ministry’s speech delivered by Dr. Intisar Ambosaidi, Director-General of the Specialized Institute for Professional Training for Teachers, in which she said: “Organizing this forum reflects our national commitment to investing in educational scientific research as a means of developing education and achieving the goals of Oman Vision 2040, in our belief that education is the basic pillar that drives development, and scientific research is the fuel and engine towards innovation and progress.”

She added: “The Specialized Institute for Professional Training for Teachers pays great attention to action research as a basic element in all its strategic programs, and an effective tool that provides teachers and educational practitioners with a deeper understanding of the daily challenges in the educational environment. Action research enables the teacher to be a researcher in the classroom and school, and a student and examiner of the educational reality.”

Dr Melissa Mothan from the OECD delivered the keynote paper for the forum entitled: “Evidence-Based Conversations Among Teachers: OECD Research on Learning Conversations.” She stated: “Learning conversations are a form of reflective group inquiry, where teachers go through a process of identifying a problem to be solved or addressed, and a collective lack of relevant evidence, followed by developing theories or hypotheses about why the problem persists, and then, taking actions based on the evidence gathered. These actions are then evaluated at a later stage.” The paper provides an overview of how these conversations are conducted, and their role in contributing to evidence-based teaching practices, with examples of some case studies from OECD countries to demonstrate the impact of these initiatives.

During the first day of the forum, Prof. Feng Chun Miao, Head of the Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Education Unit (UNESCO), discussed strategies for employing human-centered artificial intelligence in the education sector. Dr. Al-Hashemi bin Habib Ardawi, Advisor to the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, presented a working paper entitled: Strengthening the teaching profession within the vision of transforming education in Arab countries. Dr. Zaid Muhammad Hassan Abu Shama, an expert in the education sector at the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), discussed in his paper media education as a contemporary strategy for education and learning. Dr. Majdal bin Abdullah Al-Qahtani, Assistant Professor of the Department of Industrial Engineering at King Saud University, spoke in his paper about the future of education with generative artificial intelligence: aspirations and challenges.

The first day of the forum also included the presentation of three training workshops. The first workshop was entitled: Employing Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Scientific Research, the second was entitled: Organizing and Analyzing International Data, and the third was entitled: Mixed Research.

The second edition of the forum aims to open new horizons of knowledge for educational researchers, by highlighting the latest applications and innovations in the field of artificial intelligence and their uses in improving the quality of education, employing future skills in education, presenting the best effective teaching, and learning strategies, and enhancing the professional development of teachers through educational research. It also aims at enhancing the participation of international organizations, local institutions, and public and private universities, and benefiting from the procedural research produced by members of the specialized institute at the level of training programs, as prestigious international organizations and researchers from various parties participate in the forum to exchange experiences and develop educational knowledge.