AUS faculty member to host webinar on e-learning in engineering

With online teaching becoming the need of the hour, students and faculty members worldwide have found themselves in the midst of eLearning. To help educators with this transition, Dr. Vian Ahmed, Director of Alternative Teaching and Learning at the College of Engineering at American University of Sharjah (AUS), will host a webinar tomorrow, April 1, entitled "Preparing for Change–When Pedagogy Needs Technology at Times of Crises." The webinar is targeted at all stakeholders with an interest in engineering education and related disciplines.

In the hour-long webinar, Dr. Ahmed, who is Professor of Industrial Engineering, will focus on preparing for change at times of crises through migration from traditional to online modes of delivery. She will also discuss past practices at AUS before the crisis and how well the university managed to effectively enable online delivery within a short period of time.

The webinar will share the role of pedagogy and technology in supporting engineering education, the tools used and the university’s migration from its traditional ways of teaching to online teaching via synchronous and asynchronous modes of delivery.

Speaking about the shift at AUS and how the AUS community has come together to make this happen within a short period of time, Dr. Ahmed said:

“As faculty, we were pleased that AUS had already been prepared in terms of the availability of the technology, and that we only needed to come up to speed with the use of these tools and technologies. These efforts are hardly free of challenges, but they form a steppingstone toward revolutionizing our educational practices with great lessons yet to be learnt. Our plan is to continue along this path, as we upgrade our skills and reach new landmarks, enhancing the experience by using more engaging technologies that integrate our labs and provide our engineering students with an experiential learning model they are most in need of.”

Commenting on the positive aspect of this experience, Dr. Ahmed said:

“This crisis has created an unbelievable sense of community at the college, and all that is in our minds as faculty members is how we can best serve our students. When good will, innovation and creativity come together unexpectedly and when we turn our faces away from the problems and perceive them as a challenge, we know that crises can create leaders."

The webinar is hosted by the International Federation for Engineering Education Societies.

It starts at 4 p.m. UAE time on Wednesday, April 1 and can be accessed via: https://www.ifees.net/webinars/