Business Student's Learning, Teaching and Assessment Methods' Preferences in a Multi-Cultural Setting: A Basis for Effective Teaching Design

Abstract

The diverse multi-cultural set of students in a UAE college or university, with the UAE having a large expat community, presents a tremendous challenge to the teacher. When the teaching of the instructor does not match with the learning style of the students, they will have difficulty learning, lose motivation and get discouraged and perform poorly in their academic standing. Given this cultural diversity and the fast expanding learning approaches brought about by online education and the internet, has totally changed the landscape of tertiary education. When creating effective learning styles, instructional delivery system and assessment method have to be factored in. The synergy produced by these methods becomes the hallmark of a good educational institution. It becomes imperative for the educator to understand at length the learning styles of various multicultural groups and the instructional delivery system and assessment method so as to be able to design teaching methodologies that challenge students to motivate them to achieve higher learning effectiveness.

To come up with an enhanced learning-teaching-assessment methodology at the Business Department of American College of Dubai, the researchers utilized descriptive research method of study that employed both quantitative and qualitative statistics. Using standard mean formula and Analysis of Variance Statistical test, it sought to determine students' learning, teaching and assessment methods' preferences and its significant difference with respect to gender, year level, ethnicity, program concentration, program type and length of work experience.

After a thorough analysis of the data, major findings of this study reveals that the learning, teaching and assessment methods currently employed at the Business Department of American College of Dubai are preferred by the business students irrespective of gender, program of concentration, program year level, program type, ethnicity and work experience. As such, it recommends the creation of a quality circle in the business department who would look into the continuous improvement of learning, teaching and assessment methods. More particularly, the group must come up with an enhanced Effective Teaching, Learning and Assessment Design that best serve the interests of the business students at American College of Dubai.