221029P - INTEGRATED TEACHING MATERIALS WRITING PROJECT

Presented at a workshop on IOK and Textbook Writing at Riphah International University Islamabad on 29 October 2022 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)

THE CONCEPT OF INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE (IOK):

• IOK is a process of recasting the corpus of human knowledge to conform to the basic tenets of a moral worldview, ru’uyat kawniyyat.
• IOK does not call for re-invention of the wheel of knowledge but calls for reform, correction, and re-orientation.
• IOK is evolutionary and not revolutionary. It is corrective and reformative.
• It is the first step in the integration of the education system as a prelude to the integration of values and ethics for social reform.

IOK IN DISCIPLINE:

• IOK has to start with reforming the epistemology, methodology, and corpus of knowledge of each discipline.
• IOK must be proactive, academic, methodological, objective, and practical.
• The vision of IOK is objective, universal, and beneficial knowledge in the context of a harmonious interaction of humans with their physical, social, and spiritual environment.
• We have a lot of publications on IOK in various disciplines the most prominent being economics.
• The existing writings can be the basis for developing course outlines and descriptions.

BACKGROUND:

• Our main objective is to resolve the crisis of duality in education which has severe adverse intellectual and practical consequences for individuals and communities in our ummat.
• Integrating values and concepts in all disciplines of learning is the best approach to resolving the crisis of duality in knowledge and education.
• Epistemology and curriculum reform are necessary as a step to integrating Islamic values into education. This will lead to a knowledge renaissance that will eventually lead to an overall renaissance and revival of the ummat.
• Education reform is the necessary condition for social reform and rebuilding the ummatic civilization.

PREPARATION:

• Epistemology and curriculum reform seminars to raise awareness of the problem of duality and to propose epistemological and curricular reform as the needed solution. These are followed by specific seminars with visiting discipline experts.
• Discipline-specific working groups are set up for each discipline of knowledge. These groups work to develop course outlines with integrated Islamic input.
• The next step is to develop teaching materials for the course outlines.

PLANNING THE BOOK - 1:

• Finalizing course descriptions and course outlines.
• Compiling references both general and Islamic for all the courses.
• Determining for each book: the title, units/sections, and chapters (a chapter is 1-2 classroom session(s).

PLANNING THE BOOK - 2:

• Structuring each chapter: learning objectives, detailed outlines (headings and sub-headings), keywords.
• Islamic input, glossary, index, case studies, texts from Islamic sources (Qur’an, sunnat, other books), illustrations (pictures and drawings), chapter summary, review (questions, tests, exercises), and assignments.

PLANNING THE BOOK - 3:

• Designation of the editorial board for each book (chief editor and co-editors), chapter writers, reviewers (local and overseas), advisors (local and overseas), and consultants (local and overseas).
• Allocation of chapters to writers.
• Submission of the final version of the book plans.

PLANNING THE BOOK - 4:

• Collection of references by IIIT.
• General references from online databases
• Islamic sources will be supplied by IIIT and many of them will be translations from Arabic material available in Riyadh, Kuala Lumpur, Cairo, and Amman.
• Regular workshops for chapter writers and editors to review the written material preferably once every 1-2 months.
• Testing the chapters written as classroom notes for university students and getting feedback.

THE FINAL PRODUCT:

• Evaluation and adoption of the final versions by the editorial board of each book.
• Evaluation by the EA Research Committee.
• Editing, proofreading, and typesetting.
• A uniform style sheet will be used for transliteration and other editorial aspects.
• Printing and distribution.

DESIRED FEATURES OF THE TEXTBOOK:

• Scope: 1-2 textbook (s) for each course.
• Size: 150-300 pages.
• E-books to start later paper books if needed

BUSINESS ASPECTS:

• Copy right.
• Editing, reviewing, printing, and distribution costs by the project budget
• A royalty will be paid for each book to be divided among the authors.
• New editions every 2-3 years.

BOOK COVER SLIDES