"When Salma, a young Muslim girl growing up in a South Indian village, was 13 years old, her family shut her away for eight years, forbidding her to study and forcing her into marriage. After her wedding her husband insisted she stay indoors. Salma was unable to venture outside for nearly two and a half decades. During that time, words became her salvation. She began covertly composing poems on scraps of paper, and, through an intricate system, smuggled them to the outside world. The poems, many of which are included here, describe the hardships Salma and countless women like her suffer in their secluded lives. Eventually they reached a local publisher who printed them. Against all odds, and in a direct challenge to the stultifying traditions of her village, Salma has gone on to become a renowned Tamil poet and influential human rights activist" --
"When Salma, a young Muslim girl growing up in a South Indian village, was 13 years old, her family shut her away for eight years, forbidding her to study and forcing her into marriage.
This mixed-methods research documents the self-reports of novice higher education faculty of Pakistan about the contribution of the microteaching module of Master Trainer Faculty Professional Development Program (MT-FPDP) as well as the factors that either supported or hindered faculty in using their new knowledge and skills. My literature review on microteaching, which until recently had been a neglected field for two decades, includes higher education development needs as 'adults-teaching-adults,' microteaching as a response to novice teaching issues, and a contextual analysis of the model in different settings. I analyze and interpret the findings using a conceptual framework that synthesizes adult learning, self-efficacy, and reflective practices. This research finds that the opportunities to practice their teaching skills, with an intentional reflective feedback mechanism, allowed the novice faculty to prepare themselves in a safe and collaborative environment during MT-FPDP. However, microteaching content, activities, and supplementary material were neither closely relevant to varied teaching contexts of Pakistan nor appropriate in its application at the higher education level. Moreover, the lack of supervisors' expertise to facilitate the microteaching processes, and mentor the novices discouraged the participation. Despite these hindrances, the novices reported behavior modification, self-efficacy, and use of reflective practices in their classrooms. However, discouraging organizational culture/policies, lack of collegial, administrative, and technical support, and geopolitical factors are the primary barriers to the implementation of the knowledge and skills. The Heads of Department (HoDs)/Deans confirmed the carryover from MT-FPDP to classroom teaching, and acknowledged these institutional supports and barriers. This research argues that the microteaching content and model must be adapted to the context of Pakistan, and the microteaching skills should be prioritized based on the higher education faculty needs. The Learning Innovation Division (LID) of the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC) needs to appoint expert, unbiased, and culturally sensitive supervisors who can provide novices more self-directed, transformative, and reflective learning opportunities during MT-FPDP. LID/HEC should provide avenues for collaboration and coordination by establishing the informal "communities of practice" to foster collegial support within an institution and within a province.
This mixed-methods research documents the self-reports of novice higher education faculty of Pakistan about the contribution of the microteaching module of Master Trainer Faculty Professional Development Program (MT-FPDP) as well as the ...
