الملخص الإنجليزي
The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the impact of the 2-year Faculty Fellows
Program on improving the teaching practices of faculty members at Sultan Qaboos
University (SQU). It also aimed to investigate the challenges faced by participants during the
program. The Faculty Fellows Program is organised by the Center for Excellence in Teaching
and Learning (CETL) at SQU to enable faculty members from various disciplines to work
with their colleagues to improve teaching techniques in order to maximise student learning
through an intensive training program on areas related to teaching and learning. The study
employed a mixed research design method to collect and analyse the quantitative data and
qualitative data from a questionnaire and a focus group discussion. The study population
were all faculty members at Sultan Qaboos University. The study sample included faculty
members who joined the program from 2015 to 2022 (42 faculty fellows participated in the
study). In addition, four participants joined an online focus group discussion. The
quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics through SPSS, while the qualitative
data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The main findings of this study indicate that the
Faculty Fellows Program had a high impact on improving participants' teaching practices by
exercising various teaching techniques and strategies, implementing several theories and
ideas they learned from the program, and drawing on reflective pedagogy. The findings also
highlight some barriers encountered by program participants, such as heavy workloads, time
conflicts between teaching schedules and program activities, lack of college support, and the
online activities of the program during the pandemic leading to a loss of interest. Specific
recommendations for the Faculty Fellows Program are offered for consideration. Suggestions
for further research are also addressed.
