The virtual conference was held in cooperation with the World Health Organization and sponsored by the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the University Al-Qadisiyah.
Professor of Sociology Tom Arcaro and Assistant Professor of Communication Design Ahmed Fadaam recently participated in a virtual conference sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Iraq and shared about how Elon has shifted to online learning this spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The conference was held in cooperation with the World Health Organization and sponsored by the Iraqi ministry and the University of Al-Qadisiya and drew participants from Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, India, Egypt, Belarus, Sweden, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and other countries around the world.
Arcaro and Fadaam shared about how Elon’s technological infrastructure helped facilitate the transition to online teaching, as well as the challenges that faculty and students faced during the transition.
“The educational system in Iraq is still young in terms of the internet and they are trying to learn from other countries about the best ways to transition to online learning,” Fadaam said.
Arcaro and Fadaam walked participants through Elon’s website and the resources accessible through the site, including Moodle, OnTrack, email, calendars, library resources, Today at Elon and the campus directory. Of particular interest was Moodle and the role that it has played as an established platform that could support the expansion of online learning.
“We talked about Elon’s efforts to provide online classes during the summers during the past 15 years, the workshops Elon has hosted to educate faculty members about the best ways and best platforms to use to switch to online teaching, and the challenges professors could face with exams and grading,” Fadaam said. “Many of the attendees asked questions about how we are able to run our classes online, especially studio classes, give online exams and how to guarantee students will not cheat.”
Fadaam, who along with presenting served as a translator for the session, heard from the conference administrator that the president of University of Al-Qadisiyah, who was among the participants, had offered praise for how Elon had shifted to online learning so quickly and effectively.