Essay Sample on Developing a Teaching and Learning Centre

Introduction

The teaching and learning center (TLC) at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan, aims to bring collaborative insight into learning disciplines that will empower the individual to become distinguished and distinctive in academia and chosen professional field. The institution acknowledges the unique positioning it has to impact society by transferring and transforming knowledge to people and creating a culture and collaboration system for everyone's greater good. The institutional center seeks to attract a faculty of a diverse and international body of professionals and academicians for the best blend of knowledge and experience. The NUST hopes to advance the understanding of a diverse group of individuals who will consume the faculty's scientific expertise at the National University of Sciences and Technology.

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Mission Statement

The significance of the mission statement as adhered to by NUST has a bearing on the latent and manifest elements of education. Though an academic establishment, the center will also be a place of social interaction between faculty members. Therefore, the center will achieve education's primary goal by transmitting cultural ideals and values and transferring knowledge to new generations. The latent functions of education are also achievable through the interaction of members for purposes other than academic.

Mission

The teaching and learning center will provide collaborative insight between different faculty members to present a diverse mix of academic knowledge that will empower students to become distinguished and distinctive members of society. The purpose of this interactive exchange of ideas through the TLC is aimed at improving the quality and depth of knowledge proffered by faculty members. The center will also seek to attract the best talents available in the academic and professional domain to bring more expertise to the institution.

Goals

The center's goal is to create a diverse pool of professional staff at the university to deliver academic content laden with requisite professional expertise and experience. The center at NUST aims to produce a blend of rich knowledge extended to a new generation. The institution’s teaching and learning center's focal point is to blend experience and theoretical knowledge from diverse specialties and present the same standard package to everyone undertaking studies at NUST.

Activities

The activities at the center will include the sharing of academic and social experiences by the faculty members. Life teachings and lessons acquired by staff in their educational journey will be the primary theme and context of discussion within the center. Lesson plans will be created and communally discussed to give insight into the best methods of instruction and content delivery. As per the education functions, such activities at the teaching and learning center facilitate continued meaningful discussions beyond the classroom setting. Students and faculty will be meeting at the TLC to express opinions and views in matters of education. Staff from different colleges will exchange ideas upon the TLC establishment. Such exchanges might include the best new methods for teaching instructions.

Also, extended discussions about ongoing research can be conducted by both faculty and students on an ongoing basis. The TLC facilitates more interactive access if most of their time, the members will be meeting at the center for academic breaks or scheduled meetings for intellectual discussions (Lorente & Seijo, 2017). The center will also maintain a training schedule for inter-exchange of scholarly partners. This notion will foster multidisciplinary interaction and knowledge and expertise to create a multi-dimensional approach and philosophies to solving humanity’s problems.

Literature Analysis of the TLC

The basis for the theoretical analysis of the TLC's significance is vested upon the latent and manifest functions of education. Kolesnikova (2020) stated that an individual attends school for two diverse reasons. One is the primary and purposeful function of education, and this manifest function is academic-oriented. The other is social and generally an unexpected outcome of education, the latent part. Through physical interaction and communication between colleagues and peers at the teaching and learning center, personnel has the opportunity to interact at greater social levels than when working at dispersed workstations.

The centralized appeal of working from the teaching and learning center attracts different energies by personnel from different fields. As stated, schools' manifest functions derive origination from the visible goals and objectives of going to school (Ellis & Goodyear, 2019). Most people consider going to school for socialization. Others attend schools for transmission of culture, while others do so for the sake of social control. Amidst all these, social control and social placement still have a place in education's manifest functions, and so does cultural innovation.

In contrast, latent functions are the unseen functions of education. Sohn et al. (2017) stated that latent functions are the aspects of education that are not necessarily academic. As society thrives in acquaintances and connections, courtship is one of the latent functions that education provides to learners. The education system also provides one with the chance to learn social issues. Political and social advocacy all begins with education. An educated society can advocate their issues and do so in a diverse and socially acceptable manner that all literate and rational persons can effectively relate.

The Basis for the Development of TLC at NUST

The two-dimensional approach of education functions were the guiding principles for deciding on the specifics of the teaching and learning center's plans. As covered by its latent sphere, education's socialization aspect helped structure the TLC's open nature. Also, knowledge expansion and inter-cultural connections will impact society by creating a new culture and society that is more adaptive and tolerant to diverse social, political and economic views. The seen and unforeseen function of education impacted the decision-making procedure for developing a TLC for Pakistani’s National University for Science and Technology.

Contribution from Constituent Groups

All players affiliated with the National University for Science and Technology will have access to the center. As an educational facility, the TLC will be welcoming and open to all participants for meaningful academic engagement that will empower NUST society and impact society on a bigger scale. The inter-disciplinary and inter-cultural interaction will be the avenue through which students and faculty will contribute to the continued development and improvement of the teaching and learning center. The discursive but targeted open forum approach to be adopted by the TLC will create a culture of academic openness and innovation.

Implications of the TLC on the Institution

The establishment of this learning and teaching center has far-reaching significance. The center can transform the quality and degree of achievement of the institution's educational goals and objectives. Through the center, continued discussions and inter-college and inter-cultural communication provide avenues for the incredible fusion of expertise and professionalism. This interdisciplinary effect will provide faculty, students, and other institutional stakeholders with advanced solution approaches to solve society’s problems.

Continuance of dialogue further facilitates the blend of cultures and generational knowledge. Senior staff at the institutions will have a platform for interaction and sharing of ideas with junior personnel. Besides, tutor to tutor connections, these groups of participants in the education center still have to communicate with other faculty members and the students’ body. As a coincidental contrast to most of the student population's composition, most of these individuals are younger than the teaching staff. Since the two groups will be interacting with the teaching and learning center, the facility will impact the transfer of skills and knowledge from more experienced and distinguished individuals in the academic field.

TLC Development Plan Structure

As stated above, the plan for developing the teaching and learning center at the National University for Science and Technology confirmed the outlay of latent and manifest functions of education. This basis formed the primary motivation to establish the TLC, as inclusivity is the education industry's foundation. Knowledge and understanding bridge the gap between miscommunication and misunderstandings. Therefore, by seeking to achieve the seen and unseen factors of significance, the TLC is developed to provide an avenue where all participants in education can have a common ground to discuss issues affecting the delivery of instruction and transfer of knowledge and skills students and amongst peers.

All thoughts and decisions were in adherence to the concern for all scholars' good academic well-being. The center’s plan also considered the social impacts the teaching and learning center will have on society to an equal extent. Cognitive learning factors will be highly at play to ensure that both faculty and students share necessary information to uplift the teaching standards and instruction methods. Through such a decision structure, performance metrics can be established to gauge the center's effectiveness towards structured institutional goals and objectives. For one, the development of the teaching and learning center will provide better quality knowledge transfer. This element can be easily tracked through the academic seasons by the quality of research items from the institution’s faculty members and students and the quality of intellectual discussions conducted by individuals affiliated to NUST.

Summary and Conclusion

By providing support services to teaching and learning activities, a TLC center has the potential to improve educational outcomes. All attributes of education are ingrained in the modality for the TLC center at NUST educational institution. The high impact of instructional delivery methods and content from interdisciplinary interaction will provide more thoughtful and scientifically-evidence suggestions to ease educational matters and factors affecting society. Preparations for professional life is also nurtured by the presence and well-intentioned use of the teaching and learning center. Through the development and establishment of this teaching and learning center, both faculty and students at the National University of Science and Technology have additional academic and professional excellence opportunities.

References

Ellis, R. A., & Goodyear, P. (2019). The education ecology of universities: Integrating learning, strategy and the academy. Routledge.

Kolesnikova, I. A. (2020). Innovative changes in education of the 2010s: Pro and Cons. International Dialogues on Education: Past and Present, 7(1), 91-112. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1254997.pdf

Lorente, I. S., & Seijo, J. C. T. (2017). Student and teacher perception of a peer mediation program. Qualitative Research in Education, 6(2), 214-238. http://dx.doi.org/10.17583/qre.2017.2713

Sohn, B. K., Thomas, S. P., Greenberg, K. H., & Pollio, H. R. (2017). Hearing the voices of students and teachers: A phenomenological approach to educational research. Qualitative Research in Education, 6(2), 121-148. http://dx.doi.org/10.17583/qre.2017.2374