مجال التميز

تميز دراسي و بحثي

البحوث المنشورة

البحث (1):

عنوان البحث:

Promoting Dialogue in a Saudi University: An Empirical Study

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تاريخ النشر:

01/03/2014

موجز عن البحث:

This paper investigates whether a group of university teachers and students was enthusiastic about engaging in dialogue in their classrooms and whether they had varied responses to the idea of applying the concepts of dialogue to a Saudi university textbook. Like many other universities, King Abdulaziz University adopted an “Islamic Culture” textbook for courses taught by academic staff. In this study, the sample consisted of students who were taught it and who agreed to take part in semi-structured interviews. The findings showed that the concepts of dialogue could be integrated in a university textbook and that teachers and students were enthusiastic enough to take active roles in the dialogue which ensued in their classes. However, while all the participants agreed that some of their concepts of dialogue could be endorsed by the textbook and thus integrated, they had different views on what should take priority among these concepts and their relative importance. These differences may relate to the level of experience and knowledge available to each respondent.

البحث (2):

عنوان البحث:

Development of Religious Education to Spread the Culture of Dialogue within Saudi Universities: Ethnographic Case Study

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تاريخ النشر:

01/03/2015

موجز عن البحث:

This project investigates how the culture of dialogue among university students might be improved by developing the university textbook of their course in religious education. Dialogue in Saudi Arabia has in the last decade become more important as an issue and the regime is seeking to improve the culture of the people through dialogue. This study seeks to contribute to this plan. From the huge number of university courses in Saudi Arabia, this study has chosen one as a case study with its textbook. The first step in doing so is to understand the present culture of dialogue within Saudi society by adopting the methodology of an ethnographic instrumental case study. To this end, teachers and students within the university were contacted as well as others outside who are interested in dialogue. At the same time, various documents relating to the culture of dialogue in Saudi Arabia were analysed, in order to discover the teachers’ and students’ behaviours vis-à-vis dialogue and the meaning behind these behaviours by classroom observations of male and female classes

المؤتمرات العلمية:

المؤتمر (1):

عنوان المؤتمر:

World Congress on Education

تاريخ الإنعقاد:

10/11/2014

مكان الإنعقاد:

London, UK

طبيعة المشاركة:

Oral presentation

عنوان المشاركة:

Spreading the Culture of Dialogue between Students by Developing Religious Education Textbooks in Saudi Universities

ملخص المشاركة:

Different perspectives have made the concept of dialogue varied and complex, as are its forms in practice. The major image of dialogue is that of conversation, but some see it as a synonym for debate, discussion and argumentation; however, even in Arabic literature, the converse does not hold good; all these synonyms, instead, are aspects of dialogue [4].

Some theoretical views hold that dialogue can take a philosophical pattern. Bakhtin’s was that of a philosopher whose vision of dialogue was philosophical. He theorised that dialogue depends on its component linguistics, phonetics and semantics and that it is important to understand the whole context of dialogue and the factors which affect it. He believed that these factors are the irreducible social and historical events that relate to human beings, together with their ideology, culture and cognitive understanding of the meanings of words in the process of communication [3][5][6].

Dialogue, for Muslims, depends on innate dispositions, social interactions, interfaith connections and respect for diversity. Dialogue in Islam is not undertaken simply to help resolve conflicts between groups; this is only one of its expected results. However, dialogue is a major part of Islamic culture, so Muslims look upon it as a human interaction, one of the natural proclivities of everyday life [2].

Despite these different perspectives on the meaning of dialogue, we can agree that dialogue is a concept which sometimes involves interaction between people of different religions, ideologies, cultures and/or languages. By its means the people in one society or even in different societies can exchange knowledge and experiences in order to integrate more deeply with one another on the basis of the principles of free thinking, peace and the preservation of the signs of civilisation. Dialogue is an educational pillar in the thinking of Bakhtin and Islam and education itself can play a leading role in spreading dialogue in the culture of Saudi Arabia.

Within the Saudi Government project of spreading the culture of dialogue and to promote national unity and the public interest in light of the Islamic faith [1], the world of education has much to contribute. In this project, the principal aim is how the core ideas from theories of dialogue can be reflected in order to develop religious education textbooks in Saudi universities so as to promote the culture of dialogue between students. Then this project must discover how to transfer these theories into practice through the university textbooks.

المؤتمر (2):

عنوان المؤتمر:

BERA Annual Conference 2015

تاريخ الإنعقاد:

15/09/2015

مكان الإنعقاد:

Belfast, Ireland

طبيعة المشاركة:

oral presentation

عنوان المشاركة:

Enhancing Students’ Dialogical Capacities: The Development of a Religious Education Curriculum in Saudi Universities

ملخص المشاركة:

The concept of dialogue is often mobilised in pluralistic contexts where interactions take place between people who may have different religious, ideological, cultural and/or language commitments and practices. Through enacting key principles of dialogue, such as openness and free speech, people in one society – or across multiple societies – can exchange knowledge and experiences in order to enrich and extend their understanding. However, the situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is somewhat different. This is because in Saudi Arabia the dominant culture might be characterised as a ‘mono-cultural society’ in which most of the population follows one religion, uses one language, and has one government. Within this context, University courses tend to be focussed upon the analysis and memorisation of a single textbook, with little scope for entertaining different perspectives or for engaging in dialogical practice. Recent policy initiatives have sought to promote dialogue as a desirable cultural outcome. The principal aim of this project is to discover how Religious Education textbooks might be developed in Saudi Universities so as to promote the capacity for dialogue among students, within the more general policy context of the promotion of dialogue as a cultural element in the country. Therefore, this study investigates how Saudi people in general, and University teachers and students in particular, understand dialogue at the present time within the University and within the broader society as well. To understand present constructions of dialogue we ask: ‘What kinds of activities do university teachers and students associate with dialogue?’ Having then given students opportunities to experience a range of educational activities and ideas associated with dialogical practice, we then ask: ‘How do University teachers and students evaluate these?’ While a key element in doing so is to understand the present culture of dialogue, the experiential dimension to the study draws upon the methodology of an ethnographic instrumental case study. This study process is supplemented by: (i) semi structured interviews with some interested governmental officials, academic staff and university students (male and female) (ii) document analysis including Islamic Culture textbooks, policies, and different documents (iii) field notes from observations of University classes. Having considered what pluralism might mean within a Saudi context through inquiring into students’ and tutors’ present views vis-à-vis plurality and difference, we then consider some of the implications of such dialogical approaches for theorising the University. To conclude, the implementations of dialogcal practices within different traditions of the University within western and Islamic contexts are here explored.