Overview

Learning Support Center (LSC) at DU is functional since November 2010. It is responsible for providing a personalized academic assistance in a professional and supportive atmosphere to:

all students in general to develop their knowledge base, academic skills and strategies to help them become confident, independent and lifelong learners and succeed in their studies and;
academically weak students and students with special learning needs in particular so as to motivate them and provided them with extra support so that they can cope with the pressure of higher education and perform well.

The activities of LSC have been appreciated and rated very highly by the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority (OAAA) in its Accreditation Report dated December 2018.

The LSC’s goals are to:

The goals of LSC are:

help the students to become confident, independent and lifelong learners
improve students’ reading, writing, note-taking, and exam-writing abilities
guide students in accessing supplementary resources for various academic disciplines
provide review sessions in selected course like Math, English, IT, Chemistry and Social Science etc
Support students with specific academic problems, particularly those who are on probation or at-risk.

Location and Staff

The LSC is located in the Library Building on the first floor (right wing).

LSC functions under the overall supervision of the Director of the Center. In addition, there is a coordinator and two full time administrative staff.

Staff name	Position	E-mail ID	Telephone
Dr. Khalid Almashikhi	Director	Khalid@du.edu.om	7200
Fatima Salim Barham Ba Omar	Co-coordinator & Instructor	fbaomar@du.edu.om/lsc@du.edu.om	7266

LSC services include individual consultation, peer tutoring, mentoring, study groups, workshops, presentations and other programs. This is accomplished through a team of “Peer Tutors” and “Associated Experts”. LSC also coordinates with the “Soft Skills Cell” (Click Here) for conducting workshops and training programs to improve the soft skills of students.

The topics of workshops and presentations include (but are not limited to):

Planning, organizing and managing time
Assessing the best ways of learning in different environments
Reading, writing, note taking and exam-writing strategies

Peer-Assisted Learning Scheme

The LSC has established a “Peer-Assisted Learning Scheme” to support the students at risk. There is a team of qualified and trained peer tutors, who conduct the tutoring sessions under the supervision of LSC staff. The peer tutors in the LSC understand the needs of the student at risk and support them in a manner that helps them to come out of academic probation.

Peer-assisted learning uses the services of academically well-qualified senior-level students to support academically weak students. Faculty-members recommend outstanding senior students to serve as peer tutors. There is a provision of monetary incentive for such work. This also provides valuable training and experience for the peer tutors and helps them in developing professional, academic and English language skills, under competent supervision.

Students can sign up for a tutoring session in person at the LSC or by calling the coordinator. They can also just drop by for a tutoring session and if a peer tutors is available they can have a tutoring session on the spot.

Omani Peer Tutoring Network (OPTN)

Vision

The Omani Peer Tutoring Network (OPTN) aims to connect peer mentoring programs with various writing centers through the Sultanate of Oman by sharing common experiences, effective pedagogy, and resources for cooperative learning and independent initiative.

Mission

Play a supportive role in guiding students towards academic success, installing quality study habits, and establishing peer tutoring as a standard educational resource.

Objectives

To provide a channel of communication for the peer tutors in Oman.
To promote the professional development of peer tutors to become contributing members of the Omani society.
To strive and promote academic excellence.
To encourage other institutions to integrate peer tutoring as a standard student support element.

Associated Experts

These are the experts drawn from among DU faculty, staff and outside; and whose services are tapped by LSC for individual consultation, workshops, presentations and other programs.
Individual consultation facility with experts is available only through prior appointment for which the student can call LSC coordinator or visit LSC in person.

List of Associated Experts

No.	Name	E-mail ID	Telephone
1	Mohammed Imran Khan	mkhan@du.edu.om	7459
2	Adla Salim Al Haddadi	asalhaddadi@du.edu.om	7512
3	Husam Eldin Sadig Ahmed Sadig	hsadig@du.edu.om	7228
4	Said Mohammed Al Maashani	salmaashani@du.edu.om	7297
5	Raed Abdelkarim	raed@du.edu.om	7263
6	Mosleh Musallam Mustafa AL Majali	malmajali@du.edu.om	7264
7	Prajoona Valsalan	pvalsalan@du.edu.om	7312
8	Yassin Chami	ychami@du.edu.om	7191

Focused Coaching

All DU students who intend to improve their performance or excel in the course learning are provided with additional support in the form of extra ten hours of coaching free of cost in the chosen course, few weeks prior to final examination. The coaching is designed to help the students understand the finer points and leads to a thorough revision and review of the course.

Expert faculty members nominated by the Department Chairperson take up this task which aims at enhancing the learning effectiveness and performance of the student. For availing this facility, the student has to register at least one month in advance so that proper logistic arrangements can be made in time.