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Academic Services
98 %
of tutoring recipients would recommend OAS tutoring and 97% would return
65 %
of students made at least one tutoring appointment this academic year
667
tutoring appointments for first-year students this year
OFFICE OF ACADEMIC SERVICES (OAS) OAS enhances the teaching and learning environment at GU-Q by providing academic support to students, by facilitating the use of new technologies, and by supporting community collaborations.
ACADEMIC SUPPORT The academic support environment at GU-Q includes the following student programs:
• Writing Center • Tutoring, peer tutoring, and mentorship • First-year Course Assistant Program • Peer Tutor Development Program • Academic accomodations and disability services • Arabic language debates • Arabic, French, Mandarin, and Spanish language discussion groups • “How I Write” speaker series • Statistical analysis bootcamp
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY Ongoing needs assessment results in continual improvements in educational technology to support student learning in the classroom and beyond.
COLLABORATION OAS shares best practices and collaborates with GU-Q faculty and staff, as well as with others in the Education City community, to address student-related learning needs, solve academic challenges, and research new methods for pedagogical advancement.
TUTORING APPOINTMENTS BY STUDENTS
GU-Q provides tutoring in a variety of subjects to help students grow their skills and confidence in order to become autonomous learners.
805 appointments for writing support
63% WRITING 417 appointments for Economics and Quantitative Methods
33% ECONOMICS
1,272 tutoring apointments made by 187 students this year 4% OTHER
50 appointments for Arabic, French, and Map of the Modern World
The OAS seminar series invites faculty to discuss their personal writing processes with students
PEER TUTORS & UNDERGRADUATE ASS ISTANTS GU-Q offers robust tutoring and academic assistance programs focused on developing leadership skills for student tutors, course assistants, and teaching assistants, while in parallel providing academic support to students.
BECOMING A PEER TUTOR Students apply through a competitive process that considers each student applicant’s academic record and commitment to community service.
Selected students enroll in the Peer Tutor Development Program, which teaches tutoring pedagogy, intercultural awareness, learning through a growth mindset, self-awareness, and leadership. The program ensures that each tutor is comfortable and confident in their ability to teach each subject area before they begin tutoring work with their peers.
ECONOMICS UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING ASS ISTANTS Exceptional economics students are selected to serve as tutors to support professors teaching in the International Economics program. Their tasks include managing classroom activities and holding office hours for extra support. Teaching assistants gain real teaching experience and in-depth training in academic integrity policies and enforcement.
12
students served as peer tutors or undergraduate teaching assistants
FIRST-YEAR TEACHING ASSISTANT PROGRAM
This year, three recent graduates were employed as First-Year Teaching Assistants to provide support to freshmen students in courses such as philosophy, Arabic, and history. Teaching Assistants worked alongside faculty to provide additional support to students as they navigated their first year of university life.
ACADEMIC ACCOMMODATIONS & DISABILITY SERVICES The OAS team works closely with GU-Q’s Student Wellness and Counseling Center (SWCC), and with faculty to support students with learning differences. Support includes:
As a Student Digital Learning Assistant, I’ve been working on making files accessible for students with disabilities. For OAS it was a great step forward as it allowed students with disabilities to work and read independently in both English and Arabic.
—Fatima Farooqui (SFS’21), Student Digital Learning Assistant • Classroom accommodations, modified exam environments, and accessible course materials, such as assignments that pair with screen readers, or tactile diagrams that use heat-swelling technology
• Course and schedule accommodation requests and exam management handled securely through the Accessible Information Management (AIM) system New!
• Faculty and departmental training focused on removing barriers through the Universal Design for Learning framework New!
• Individual counseling and academic consultations
• Assistive technology, including iPads, audio books, electronic texts, pens that digitize handwritten notes, and speech-to-text/text-to-speech software
TECHNOLOGY FOR EDUCATION GU-Q implemented or piloted the following new tools:
E-PORTFOLIO E-Portfolio allows students to create interactive digital content for the Certificate in Media and Politics (CMAP) final project. CMAP is jointly offered by GU-Q and NU-Q.
PERUSALL Transforms solitary reading assignments into engaging collective activities for more engaging classroom experiences.
AKINDI DIGITAL SCANTRON Quickly and accurately grades final exams, accesses item analysis data, and securly sends personalized results to students.
NEW CANVAS FEATURES • Anonymized grading feature in Canvas that reduces bias in grading. • eTextbooks integrated in Canvas courses and VitalSource piloted as new ebook provider
GUIDEBOOK APP A new information management app was created and implemented for New Student Orientation (NSO), creating an all-in-one resource for incoming students.
PANOPTO LECTURE CAPTURE Records lectures and makes them available to students when they need to review and revisit classroom content.
PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATION & TRAINING The OAS team works with GU-Q faculty and Education City colleagues to discuss and implement research-based and innovative best practices, pedagogies, learning technologies, and assessments to enrich teaching for learning.
TEACHING & LEARNING Each year OAS awards two fellowships to GU-Q faculty members and facilitates their attendance at the Teaching, Learning, and Innovation Summer Institute (TLISI) at Georgetown University’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship in Washington, DC.
In coordination with the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Committee, OAS hosted two faculty colloquia on student-centered teaching and assessment best practices, and 16 small group faculty workshops on effective use of Canvas and other tools in GU-Q’s educational technology ecosystem. The goal of each event was to assist faculty and to enhance interactivity and student engagement in the classroom.
3 new initiatives! CROSS -CAMPUS COLLABORATION In addition to the work on campus, OAS and the Writing Center support collaborative initiatives for Education City-wide learning improvements, such as:
• Joining the newly formed Education City Teaching and Learning Steering Committee and hosting four events for the committee this year.
• Assisting a cross-campus team in the launch of a research-based innovative learning space in Education City.
• Hosting the Doha Writing Center Network workshop—a semi-annual gathering of writing center staff, faculty, and librarians in Qatar that serves as a professional learning community and opportunity for academic writing staff to discuss a variety of professional and academic topics.
TLISI FELLOWS
2018-2019 Teaching, Learning, and Innovation Institute (TLISI) fellowships awarded to GU-Q professors:
• Rogaia Abusharaf • Hany Fazza
18
workshops and colloquia for faculty hosted by OAS this year
GU-Q Library Facilities and Equipment
qatar.library.georgetown.edu
147 individual study spaces 8 group study rooms
2 classrooms 1 multimedia production room
1 assistive technology room 1 majlis
80 computers and 2 printer/copiers 1 high speed book scanner
