The University of Jordan (UJ) in collaboration with other partners in the Erasmus+ Project entitled: "Modernization of teaching methodologies in higher education: EU experience for Jordan and Palestinian territory (METHODS)", organized a training workshop for faculty members from the Jordanian and Palestinian partner universities on 12 and 13 May, 2017.

Prof. Ahmed Al-Salaymeh, the General Coordinator of METHODS Project, inaugurated the workshop and gave a brief for the new participants about the project's aims, the objectives of the workshop, the expected results, and the next steps of the work.

The first day was focused on training faculty members on modern methods of teaching, including Problem based Learning (PBL), Flipped Based Learning, Competency-based Teaching (CBT), Massive open online course(MOOC), flipped Learning.  Also; a special session was dedicated for the quality assurance guidelines for the process of developing the courses according to these new teaching methods, and it was delivered by Prof. John Traxler from the University of Wolverhampton in the UK.

Moreover, an online session about Competency-based Teaching (CBT) was delivered by Prof. Josep Juando from World University Service followed by another one about Problem based Learning (PBL) delivered by Prof. Rikke Magnussen from Aalborg University Copenhagen in Denmark.

Further, a session about the Massive open online course (MOOC) and its application in the context of METHODS project was delivered by Prof. Wasel Ghanem, the local coordinator of METHODS in Palestine. 

During the second day of the workshop, the participants from UJ, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Hashemite University, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Birzeit University, An-Najah National University, Bethlehem University, and Palestine Polytechnic University presented their recent work, achievements, and challenges in the process of developing their courses in the frame work of METHODS project, which was followed by a fruitful discussions to improve their work.

The workshop ended with a session dedicated for updating the partners about the status of different work packages of the project, and presenting the action plan and the next activities in the project, delivered by the General Coordinator, Prof. Ahmed Al-Salaymeh.

The workshop aimed at strengthening the faculty member's capacities on modern learning methods. This workshop is considered as the second training workshop in METHODS project following a first one that was held on March 27-31, 2017 in the UK.

The participants were very satisfied about the training workshop, recognizing that the knowledge acquired will be instrumental for METHODS activities at all levels.