University-Industry Curriculum Development for the Information Technology Programs
Palestine
Funded by a grant from the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, this program involves a collaboration between An-Najah University in Palestine, the Searle Center, the Segal Design Institute and faculty from the McCormick School of Engineering and Feinberg School of Medicine.
The project aims to enhance the teaching of computer science at An-Najah University by creating a new Masters in Computer Science program with significant links to industry. Industry has been involved in course design and will provide internships and problems that students can work on in classes.
In January 2017, the Searle Center and Segal Design Institute hosted a visit from two faculty from An-Najah and a computer science company director from Palestine. Searle Center staff (Bennett Goldberg, Susanna Calkins and Denise Drane) and Bruce Ankenman from the Segal Design Institute facilitated summer workshops at An-Najah in August 2017. The workshops were on co-teaching, critical thinking, industry-university partnerships, mentoring and project based learning for faculty and industry representatives at An-Najah University.
In 2018, the Northwestern team (Nabil Alshurafa, Susanna Calkins and Bruce Ankenman) reviewed new course syllabi and Nabil Alshurafa played a significant role in having the new masters program accredited by the National Quality Assurance Commission in Palestine.
A highlight of the 2018 year was a visit to Northwestern by six senior undergraduate computer science students from An-Najah to Northwestern for a 3-week summer internship. Five students worked in labs and a sixth worked in Harlan Wallach’s Media and Design Unit. The students also participated in seminars on Human-Centered Design Thinking with Bruce Ankenma, seminars on Emotional Intelligence with Joe Holtgrieve and met with Sam Quaddoura from Zebra Technologies to discuss future directions of the computer science sector.
Testing the Effectiveness of Tailored Non-Formal Education Programs in the Middle East
Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan
UNESCO estimates that there are currently 7 million children and youth out of school across the Middle East, due largely to the Syrian refugee crisis. Educational needs of many of these children and youth are met through non-formal education (NFE), a mode of education that operates in cooperation with formal education systems to help children and youth transition successfully into formal education systems and to meet school-based learning and psychosocial needs related to conflict.
This USAID-funded research project is a collaboration between Northwestern, the University of Michigan and the Salam Institute. The first aim of the project was to assess attitudes about non-formal education and inclusion of critical thinking and emotional intelligence in school curricula. The second aim of the project was to develop and test a curriculum that can be used in non-formal education contexts in the Middle East to enhance critical thinking and emotional intelligence for children and youth.
We partnered with the Arab Barometer to conduct nationally representative surveys about satisfaction with the education system overall, attitudes towards non-formal education, critical thinking and emotional intelligence in Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, and Lebanon and Jordan. Satisfaction with the education system varied across countries. There was a strong consensus across countries that critical thinking and emotional intelligence skills are valuable and should be included in the school curriculum.
View the Arab Barometer's reports from:
In Phase 1 of the critical thinking and emotional literacy study, we tailored two existing curricula to for the Middle East and for easy use in non-formal settings. Teachers implemented the curricula in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine with children, youth and young adults aged 12-27.
After the curriculum, students reported using critical thinking in their everyday lives more often than they did on the pre-test. For example, on the pre-test, 52.0% reported that they compare ideas when thinking about a topic compared with 75.8% on the post-test (p<0.0001). Gains were statistically significant on 12 of the 14 items; think about possible results before taking action, identify options when facing a problem, listen to someone even though you disagree with them, have more than one source of information before making a decision, express your thoughts on a problem, give reasons for opinions.
In the area of emotional literacy, students also made gains on 6 of the 14 Developmental Assessment Profile items which measure emotional literacy. For example, on the pre-test, 38.8% of students selected “often” or “always” for “I deal with frustration in proper ways”, compared to 65.5% on the post-test (p<0.001). Statistically-significant gains were made on; "feeling good about myself," "dealing with frustration overcoming challenges," "accepting others," "feeling in control of my life" and "avoiding things that are dangerous/unhealthy."
In Phase 2 of the study we are exploring whether the curriculum can be implemented effectively without specific teacher training, and examining whether girls make greater gains in single gender classes or mixed gender classes. We are currently analyzing the data.
Results of this study were shared at an international meeting September 11-12 at the American University of Beirut.
Palestinian Faculty Development Program
Palestine
The Searle Center partnered with An Najah University (ANU), the Palestinian Polytechnic University (PPU), and the Palestinian Technical University Khadoorie (PTUK) from 2010 to 2016 as part of a USAID/Open Society funded program to increase the use of student-centered teaching in these particular universities and across the West Bank more broadly. The Searle Center played a key role in helping all three universities to establish learning and teaching centers.
We also collaborated with Dr. Zaher Nazal from the Department of Community Medicine at ANU and a team of ANU Masters students to conduct an impact analysis of An-Najah’s Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) using a counter-factual analytical design.
Results of the impact analysis suggest that the An-Najah CELT has had a substantial impact on teaching practice and university policies to support student-centered teaching. A series of papers on the project will be submitted to the International Journal of Academic Development in December 2018. Greg Light and Denise Drane have co-authored a monograph with Dr. John Knight about the project for AMIDEAST, the NGO that lead the PFDP project in Palestine.
