...constantly searching to find the best travel deals and places to visit. A never-ending quest for adventure!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Wednesday fun



I continue to appreciate the opportunities that we've had to meet with colleagues and offices here at Education City. I'm finding our time to be very beneficial and our discussions worthwhile on a host of topics in higher education and student affairs.

Our first stop today was the Northwestern University campus, where we were clad in the 'purple' for most of the morning. I felt very much at home in their spaces, as the program is focused on media, technology, and journalism. Seeing their equipment checkout area reminded me of my team back home...the group here will soon be adopting an RF-ID system similar to the one at State. They also use a wide variety of cameras, and do most of their editing using Final Cut Pro.

Our next stop was Cornell University, which focuses here in Qatar on medical. They have 272 students in both a Pre-Med and full Med program that is one of the toughest here. I was fortunate to visit their larger lecture hall room, complete with three Panasonic DW100 projectors in rear-projection. I'm amazed so far at the slope in these learning spaces...much more steep then our present designs at State. We were also able to visit several of their medical lab spaces (not specifically my favorite) but very impressive none-the-less. Their exam room stations were set with remote cameras for viewing of patients and evaluations, which might be something for us to explore for future nursing labs. The program here is 2 year program...very intense. One comment we received though was that students are very focused - with not having the ability to drink alcohol or do drugs, the staff do not find it hard to keep the students on track. Interesting. :)



Our final afternoon session for the day with the staff from the Qatar Foundation, and our hosts for the trip. Student Affairs in higher education in Qatar is a relatively new and unknown quantity within the country, which makes their work and our visit so very important. They continue to work to expand and help the populace know the roles that are important in student development, and how best to understand it. With so many students from so many different nationalities, it is a big task, but one they continue to develop and grow. Heifetz even made it into the discussion this afternoon...grins were had by all.

Cheryl also presented a session - very well attended - that culminated our day.



I also managed to squeeze in a quick video conference with my team back home - was good to hear how things were going, and it sounds like we're ready for the start of the semester. I'm fortunate to have such a good group to work with, who can really come together to get things accomplished.

More to come!

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