Streaming  There are many ways to stream.  While there has been much debate as to the possibility of streaming, there may not in fact be much opportunity for groupings maybe small to begin with.  With as many as five distinct batches the issue of streaming classes into weak and strong classes becomes less significant.  (Personally, I have never been in a program that afforded such flexibility thus I am intrigued by the range possibilities.) I will review some options in the hope of stirring debate:

1.  Divide repeaters and fresh starters into separate classes?  If the present grade performance continues as many as half of  Level 2 classes maybe made up of repeaters.

2. Two to three level streaming. Here students are not tightly streamed class by class but only into two or three sub-levels .  For example, within the Level 1 repeaters we may consider streaming all “near passes”, i.e. 40-49, together.   Amongst new intake students, some may be placed within or parallel to this group.  Mohammad Al Hamdi’s suggested “pre Foundation” level might fit here for the low-end new intake.

3. Place students in classes by placement test scores –Level 1- or by passing grade – Level 2 in to weak and strong classes.  This is what we just did. Students are grouped by similar needs class by class, but still must complete the same outcomes. (Juxta position this option with Pts 5 & 6.)

4. Mid-semester switches:   With long semesters, ‘streaming’ in our case may be best suited to a mid-semester switch. The difference between our present situation and future semesters is that it would be planned from the beginning of the semester.

The following two options allow for two streams of objectives/ assessment within each level.

5. Long term streaming: Another option is program streaming.  Students are placed within two streams when they enter the program. Some students are streamed into a more advanced level are given a more advanced assessment. They then continue into a separate Level 2 stream where again the assessment is more advanced than the ‘normal’ level 2. The advanced level 2 may in fact might encompass Diploma 1 outcomes, thus upon completion the advanced stream go immediately into Diploma 2.

6. Alternatively, students following the “normal” level 2 exit may have to take Diploma 0 (That is Diploma would be expanded to five levels- all the present levels being shifted in name up one.  Indeed, in my previous position, when the university initially refused short courses the extra diploma course was the solution.  When I first arrived, the Dean actually made mention about extra English courses in the UG program, so this option might fit the bill.

7.  Of course the most common form and least problematic form of streaming is called the Multi-level short course approach.  The most pedagogically sound, short courses place students with curriculum that closely matches their needs.  Each grouping is assessed by their own needs and students do not progress until the prerequisite skills for the next course have been demonstrated through assessment.  Due to funding issues, the Registrar might be innovative in how these components are labelled.

So there are many ways to stream and we should consider which, if any suit us best.

N.B.  Regardless of choice, all changes should be piloted to measure their effectiveness.  Streaming interferes tremendously with piloting thus another factor to consider is our need to weigh the balance between meeting student immediate needs and long term departmental development.