Parental Involvement in Education
UAE Education Encounters Turbulence
Child's Play
Help...I have a Student with Special Needs
Press Release,
ALHOSN University announces winners of stand design contest for 2011-2012 exhibitions
ALHOSN University announces winners of stand design contest for 2011-2012 exhibitions
Best design to be used at Najah & GETEX
October 9, 2011
ALHOSN University, a leading Abu Dhabi-based university dedicated to high-quality and value-based education, has announced the winners of its annual ‘ALHOSN Exhibition Stand Competition’ which ran from mid-August to October 3, 2011. The best design will be used for all major events ALHOSN will participate in for the academic year 2011-2012, including Najah, a leading education training exhibition and career fair in the Middle East, and Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (GETEX), the largest education fair in the Middle East and Asia.
The contest was open to all ALHOSN students, who were challenged to design creative and modern display spaces to represent the university. Entries included the ALHOSN logo, audio visual presentations, a workstation, a display counter, and a brochure holder.
Rana Al Hussaini, the 1st Placer from the Architectural Engineering Department, won AED 2,000; Manal Constantin from the Interior Design Department was 1st runner-up and received AED 1,000; Adeelah Al Hassan from the Architectural Engineering Department was awarded AED 500 as 2nd runner-up.
“The 2010 winners of our stand design contest did an excellent job capturing the essence and values of ALHOSN in a unique and dynamic way. Competition was tighter this year as all of the previous awardees were from the Department of Architectural Engineering and so the other departments wanted to prove their designing skills as well. This is an excellent platform for us to showcase the talent, determination and creativity of our students to a regional and even global audience during the various exhibitions we attend each year,” said Dr. Raymond Tennant, Provost, ALHOSN University.
The ALHOSN University competition jury met on October 3, 2011, the deadline set for the submission of entries. The winners were named the following day at the Female Campus.
Named after Abu Dhabi’s historic ALHOSN Palace, ALHOSN University was founded in 2005 by the Abu Dhabi Holding Company in response to growing local demand for high-quality, value-based educational institutions. It currently offers 11 undergraduate and 7 graduate programs under the Faculties of Engineering and Applies Sciences, Business, and Arts and Social Sciences. ALHOSN accepts students of all nationalities and also accommodates youths with special needs. All its programs are accredited by the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
Press Release,
GETEX Autumn 2011 will support efforts to diversify and strengthen the education infrastructure in the region
GETEX Autumn 2011 will support efforts to diversify and strengthen the education infrastructure in the region
IDEAS introduced to support UAE Ministry’s student-centric strategy for 2010 to 2020
October 5, 2011
GETEX Autumn, the Middle East and Asia's leading education, training and professional development event, has been positioned to complement the exponential growth of the Dubai’s education sector, which now has more than 40,000 university students currently enrolled in the emirate and at least 52 higher education institutions from just a few universities 10 years ago. GETEX Autumn will be presenting multiple options of graduate and postgraduate degrees from leading academic institutions around the world, as the event has been strategically timed to assist students looking to enrol for courses starting early 2012.
GETEX Autumn 2011 will hold its first leg at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre from October 26 to 28, while the concluding leg will be held at the Gulf Hotel in Manama, Bahrain from October 31 to November 1. This year’s edition will focus on distinct areas of higher education, targeting a much wider range of students and young working adults who are keen to explore their study options or looking for specialized courses to keep abreast with the growing competition in the global job market.
Anselm Godinho, Managing Director, International Conferences & Exhibitions (IC&E), organisers of the event, said: "GETEX Autumn 2011 provides an excellent platform to help higher secondary and undergraduate students explore their options for further studies or training. We are particularly excited to have launched the IDEAS forum this year. IDEAS which stands for ‘Innovation, Design & Engineering Arena’ is an active display of Occupational Education achievements intended to motivate aspiring Students into vocational trades.”
A diverse option of postgraduate courses that are now in great demand in the Arab World will be on offer at GETEX, including popular programs in engineering, medicine, HR, marketing & communications, humanities, natural resources, business, finance, research, accounting, languages and management. The more popular occupational course preferences such as architecture and interior design, aviation, fashion, graphic design, hospitality, photography, teaching and technical programs will also be available at GETEX Autumn.
Web Resources,
Kids National Geographic
The Kids National Geographic website offers tons of videos, games and other fun ways to show your students what goes on around the planet. Awaiting your kids just a mouse click away is a world of discovery, exploration and wonder. Now you never have to regret that you can’t show your students something you saw on the National Geographic channel, because it’s all here, and geared for kids!
Talks we like on TED,
Scott Kim takes apart the art of puzzles
We post this talk in tribute to the late Martin Gardner
IT Corner,
IT Corner-May/June 2009
GradeCam transforms cameras into quick test scanners
GradeCam is a next-generation data-collection solution that allows you to use Webcams and
other types of cameras to scan multiple-choice tests and collect data for use in teaching.
The software is an image-recognition application which, when used in conjunction with
Web cameras or document cameras, provides an alternative to far more expensive test
scanning machines known as optical mark readers, or OMRs.
The software also allows instructors to use the technology at the classroom level, where
teachers can scan tests immediately and discuss the results right away.
Using GradeCam, teachers can know each student’s score immediately, and get an overall
sense of how the class performed on each question and section. This allows the teacher to
review the test with the students right away and explain points that appear unclear to the class
as a whole when everything is still fresh in their minds.
Kindle 2 Reading just got better
When Kindle was first introduced, it revolutionized reading with its portable ultra-thin design which allowed reading aficionados to purchase and read within a minute their favorite literature without the need for a computer. Kindle 2, which was launched in February 2009, builds on that experience by adding several new features that make reading even more pleasurable. The new innovations include a 6-inch E-Ink electronic paper display that provides a 600 x 800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi, 16-level grayscale. Furthermore, measuring just 8 x 5.3 x 0.36 inches, the new device is even slimmer then the first Kindle and weighs around 10.2 ounces The controls have also been upgraded, with Kindle 2 featuring a redesigned keyboard, and a five-way control button, which can be used either for browsing through the pages of the books or magazines one is reading or for simply accessing the device’s various options. Kindle 2 also provides a built-in New Oxford American Dictionary for those words whose meanings simply elude you. Users can even search for specific words or phrases on Wikipedia, as well as the entire Internet. With the Whispersync technology, users can also seamlessly switch back and forth between their several Kindle devices while keeping the reading location synchronized.
Therefore, whether they’re reading off the Kindle 2 or a mobile phone, they can simply pick up reading right where they left off. Kindle 2 also offers increased storage space, sporting 2GB of memory which can store up to 1500 eBooks), while the battery life allows eBook readers with up to four days of reading after a single charge. Furthermore, with the wireless module switched off, the battery life will show a marked increase. The Kindle 2 provides an extensive file compatibility list, including Kindle (AZW), TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; PDF, HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion. And if you’re wondering what’s with the Audible and MP3 formats, we must inform you that the new Kindle actually comes packed with built-in stereo speakers and text-to-speech technology, the device being actually able to “read” audio books to the user.
International News,
Turkey education reform opens university doors to Islamists
Turkey’s Higher Education Board, or YOK, has abolished arrangements designed to effectively block Islamist-leaning Turks from obtaining university degrees essential to holding top public service jobs. The measure had been blocked earlier by the courts and denounced by senior academics as anti-secular. Education is one of the main battlefields for Turkey’s secularists and the ruling AKP, the moderate offshoot of a now-banned Islamist party. The party’s opponents accuse it of seeking to raise the profile of Islam in Turkey and undermine the secular system. Turkey’s state-run religious high schools are required by law to raise preachers and other Muslim clergy, but many regard them as a breeding ground for Islamist movements, and the complicated university entrance system had made it difficult for graduates of such schools to gain a place at higher education institutions other than divinity faculties.
Press Release,
EDC Program Hosts American Youth Exchange in the West Bank
The US government continues to bring together young Americans and Palestinians as part of a program to create and strengthen economic and leadership opportunities for youth in the West Bank. During a visit facilitated by the USAID-Ruwwad Youth Empowerment Program, a student delegation from the American University in Washington D.C. traveled to the city of Ramallah on May 19 to meet with young Palestinians for a day of community service. The Ruwwad project is managed by the Massachusetts-based nonprofit Education Development Center, Inc. The 17 American students, who are enrolled in a Middle Eastern Studies program focused on Arabic language, history and culture, visited with Ruwwad youth leaders, volunteers from the Ehna Falasteen (We are Palestine) network, National Youth Corps, and other Palestinian youth advocates. During the visit, the university students and Palestinian youth volunteers traveled together to the Abu-Rayyah Rehabilitation Center in Ramallah City for a one-day service project where they volunteered to clean and paint the facility and plant new trees.
As part of the day, the delegation enjoyed a traditional Palestinian meal with the volunteers and learned first-hand about Palestinian culture. “The visit helped us to understand and connect with Palestinian youth in a different light than what we see in the American media,” said visiting student Tracy Pierce. “Palestinian youth are full of hope.” At the end of the day, the visiting delegation went to al Bireh Youth Resource and Development Center, one of a network of youth centers across the West Bank being programmed by EDC and the Ruwwad youth program
International News,
Teen figures out her own ailment
For eight years Jessica Terry lived with abdominal pain so severe it made her life a constant struggle. The pain, along with diarrhea, vomiting and fever, made her so sick she lost weight and often had to miss school, and doctors were unable to determine the cause of Jessica’s distress. Until one day Jessica, 18, accomplished what her physicians could not – she figured it out herself. During her Advanced Placement high school science class, while studying samples of her own intestinal tissue under a microscope – samples which her own pathologist had indicated were normal – she detected an area of inflamed tissue called a granuloma, an indication that she had Crohn’s disease. Jessica, who graduated from Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish, Washington, is now being treated for Crohn’s.
Editorial,
Putting Parent Priorities in Perspective
Any hard working person can attest to the fact that life is growing increasingly
more difficult, and it was never easy to begin with. Globalization may have its
benefits, but it has also increased employment competition, an issue which has
been further compounded by the recent global economic meltdown.
As a publication on education, it is the impact of these harried times on our
children’s academic wellbeing that is of concern to us. Children need stability in
order to flourish, and they need patience and restraint in order to develop. Despite
their hectic schedules, parents today must take care to afford their children the
quality time and the focused monitoring required for the young ones to excel in
their education.
Everything we do is for the welfare of our families, and allowing our busy lives and
the demands of our professions to harm that delicate balance effectively defeats
the purpose of work. Rushing through a review of our children’s grasp of their
lessons, or quickly solving the problems for them because we are “pressed for
time” is a recipe for disaster, while failing to take part in school events or writing off
educational outings with our kids is no less harmful.
A parent isn’t someone who brings a child into the world and then pays for
everything the child needs, but rather someone who becomes a source of strength,
understanding and support while the child develops into an adult. If the world has
grown more difficult for us adults, it has grown far more daunting for our children.
Now more than ever we must make every effort to make sure they feel safe and
secure in the knowledge that their parents will always be at hand to give them
the encouragement they need and a nudge in the right direction when required.
More importantly, they can become self-reliant and capable of tackling problems
on their own not if we neglect them, but rather through our presence, constant
monitoring, support and interaction.
Local News,
Arab translators get scholarships
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation has signed cooperation
agreements with the American University in Sharjah, the Algiers-based High Institute
for Translation and the Jordanian University in Amman to offer scholarships to
professional Arab translators to receive Master’s degrees in translation. Other leading
regional institutes and universities are expected to join the program soon. The new
initiative is part of the “Turjuman” program which aims to boost the translation
industry across the Arab World. Applicants to the Foundation’s Master’s
program are required to be professional translators of Arab nationality with
substantial years of experience in the field.
Local News,
Iraq to sign education deal with non-profit
Iraq and the Academy for Educational Development a non-profit social change organization will launch a new education program that aims to send up to 10,000 Iraqi students each year for the next five years to schools in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia in order to complete their higher-education studies. A pilot program of 500 students for the 2009/2010 school year will kick off the initiative.
Local News,
Bahrain schools fall short
According to Bahrain’s Quality Assurance Authority for Education and Training (QAAET), of the 20 public and private institutions reviewed in the kingdom, only four were rated “good” and 13 “satisfactory,” while three were considered ‘inadequate.” None of the schools that were evaluated received the “outstanding” designation. Furthermore, out of four higher education courses analyzed, two received “no confidence” verdicts while the other two were given “limited confidence” rulings. Half of vocational institutions were also rated as “inadequate.”