Education City

One of the things that I was a little disappointed over was the lack of group events. I thought with so many people coming from around the world, that they organizers of the conference would have set up tours or events outside of the actual conference so that we would get a chance to see and experience Doha and Qatar.

By the last day, it appeared that so many people had inquired about Education City that they decided to organize a last minute trip. Why do I know it was last minute? Because we had to leave our breakout session early, and because we would miss lunch in order to go. Despite these two constraints many of us chose to go.

It was about a 20 minute ride to the location which is very much under construction. The ride to and from Education City was interesting in itself as we were able to see more of the city, including more of a residential part of Doha. Lots of compounds and houses along the way. Why is it that traffic jams seem to be an international phenomenon? Weren't we supposed to be traveling by jet-pack by the year 2000?

What is Education City? Well the Qatar Foundation has approached leading Universities around the world to encourage them to create a satellite campus in Doha. From what I understand, the Qatar foundation will pay the university to come, will cover the building cost and other expenses. They are trying to ensure that their population can get the best education without having to leave the country. If students attend one of these Universities they will receive a degree from that university (no mention of Doha or Qatar). Pretty sweet deal!

Six US universities have branch campuses at Education City. They are:

* Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUQ). Since 1998, VCUQ has offered students the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in communication design, fashion design or interior design through a four-year curriculum.
* Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q). The Medical College was established by Cornell University in 2001 and offers a two-year pre-medical program followed by the four-year medical program leading to a Doctor of Medicine degree.
* Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ). TAMUQ was established in 2003 and offers undergraduate degrees in chemical, electrical, mechanical and petroleum engineering. In 2007, TAMUQ added masters programs in engineering and science.
* Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q). CMU-Q has since 2004 offered undergraduate degrees in business, computer science programs, and as of 2007 an undergraduate degree in information systems.
* Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Qatar). SFS-Qatar has, since 2005, offered a four-year program leading to a bachelor's degree in foreign service.
* Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) began degree programs in journalism and communication in fall 2008.

It is also a site for Research and Development in the area of Science. In addition it is the location for:
* Doha Debates, a public forum for dialogue modeled on the Oxford Union debates and broadcast on the BBC.
* Qatardebate, a youth civic engagement initiative which aims to foster a culture of debate and discussion in Qatar and the wider Arab World, creating 'debaters today, leaders tomorrow'.
* Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC), a pan-Arab youth television channel which aims to strike a balance between education and entertainment.
* Al Shaqab stud farm and equestrian academy
* Fitch studio, an extension of the Fitch London studio.
* Sidra Medical and Research Center, a teaching and research hospital scheduled to open in late 2010. Sidra will be the primary teaching venue for Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.

We had a chance to tour the Weill Cornell Medical College - very impressive - with an interesting use of space, lots of iMacs in open areas, a variety of learning spaces and fully wired with all the latest gadgets. Many of the other buildings are in development or under construction.


Eventually they will be opening a convention centre in Education City with facilities to house approximately 3000 people...the building looks like 4 Costco's put together. The symbol for the Qatar Foundation is the Sidra Tree. They have incorporated this into the design of the building...very interesting and like every other building here - larger then life. Here is the explanation for the choosing of this symbol...I think it really does set the stage for what Qatar is trying to do in terms of making a mark on the face of education across the globe.



The sidra tree is native to Qatar and flourishes in the country's harsh desert climate.

Traditionally, poets, scholars and travelers would gather in the shade of the branches to exchange knowledge and opinions. The tree's fruit, flowers and leaves are the ingredients of many traditional medicines.

This tree occupies a special position in the hearts of the Qatari people, and is an appropriate symbol for Qatar Foundation. Its deep roots are seen as a strong anchor connecting contemporary learning and growth with the country's culture and heritage.

In Qatar Foundation's logo, the three sections of the tree's trunk relate to the tripartite mission of education, scientific research and community development. The branches are the diverse partners that make up Qatar Foundation's community, and the leaves, flowers and fruits are the individual lives that the tree nourishes. They, in turn, will produce seeds that guarantee the organism's sustainability.

"The sidra tree, growing strong and proud in the harshest of environments, has been a symbol of perseverance and nourishment across the borders of the Arab world. What is the significance of this glorious tree? With its roots bound in the soil of this world and its branches reaching upwards toward perfection, it is a symbol of solidarity and determination; it reminds us that goals of this world are not incompatible with the goals of the spirit."

Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Chairperson, Qatar Foundation, at the inauguration of Education City, 13 October 2003.


During a presentation from the PR rep for the Qatar Foundation there were many pointed questions. Higher Ed has been taking a hit during this conference because of its "exclusivity" or as some have said "ivory towers". So you can imagine some of the questions that this man had to field. For example: What are you doing to ensure that all students are given the opportunity to attend? What type of funding do you provide for students? Can anyone apply to attend the university? etc. Some of the questions remained unanswered to everyone's satisfaction. A few interesting points: they will waive the cost of tuition if you choose to remain and work in the country for 5 years after you graduate or they will take a percentage (can't recall the amount) of your paycheck once you have a job after graduating. I think that they are very much trying to make this a very elite school (where perhaps the rules for the rest of the world don't apply...) What it comes down to, is that each University has its own set of fees, prerequisites etc. Qatar foundation is providing the building and the land and are not involved in the affairs of each University.

When we got back to the Ritz we had a few minutes to wolf down some food and make our way to the final Plenary Session. I am glad that I had the opportunity to see it and get an idea of what they are trying to achieve in Doha. I can't wait to see what Education City will look like when it is complete.

Day 3

Well they saved the best for last! It's not just because of how much I think technology is essential to teaching and learning but how technology is being used to make a difference in the lives of children around the world.

The opening plenary session on Technology was probably the highlight of the conference for me. The two speakers who really intrigued me were Dr. Mitra and his work titled "the Hole in the Wall" and Biz Stone the creator of Twitter.

Dr. Mitra's presentation was titled The Future of Learning. He started a little experiment eventually titled "the Hole in the Wall" by the media. He wanted to see what would happen if you put a computer connected to broadband internet in a slum in New Delhi. After a short period of time children were surfing the web and teaching themselves English in order to operate the computer properly. He continued to refine his question so that eventually he was asking the question: Can non English speaking children who have never used a computer teach themselves BioTechnology? And the short answer to this question is YES!!!! It was incredible to hear him speak and share his discoveries over the years. I found a video on YouTube that has some of his talk. If you want to hear about the experiments that he did skip to 7:30. Although the whole video is interesting he only talked about the Hole in the Wall project and this video does not talk about all of his experiments.



I want to mention that he started his presentation saying that there are problems with the way things are going currently in the world - a lack of teachers, quality teaching etc. He is proposing another way to address the staggering needs for the 1 billion people on the planet that are illiterate. By creating a playground computer, in a safe open area, 200-300 children can use this machine to teach themselves. So he came up with a simple formula. There are 1 billion people. That means he needs 100 million machines which will cost 180 billion over 10 years. That seems like a lot of money but Qatar's GDP last year was 500 billion...so the money exists out there somewhere.

After I picked my jaw up off the ground (along with the rest of the room) we prepared ourselves to hear from the other speakers.

Biz Stone gave me some interesting insights into Twitter. I had only ever thought of it as a self-indulgent, media-abusing, celebrity-magnet tool, especially because I keep hearing it on TV - "follow us on Twitter". Anyway Biz talked about how Twitter is an evolution of the email, the blog, and social networking. He provided some examples of how Twitter has been used for the "good" of humanity. While not as inspirational as Dr. Mitra (what could be?) Biz caused me to rethink the way that we communicate, and the importance of communication.

I was able to make an audio recording of this session, so hopefully I will be able to edit the file into usable chunks so that you can listen to these speakers.

Gala Dinner

We went back to the hotel earlier on Tuesday in order to get ready for the Gala Dinner. A few of us ran over to the Doha Centre to get a couple of things. I couldn't stay too long because I had to get back to the hotel in order to chat with my class.

I ran back to the hotel and was able to connect with the class using Gmail chat. Unfortunately I could not see or hear the class, but they could see and hear me on the computer screen - the SMARTBoard wouldn't connect properly. I can only imagine how they class must have crowded around the computer screen to see me. Shelley was able to type in some questions as I gave the class a tour of my hotel room. It was strange talking, knowing that they could hear me, without any feedback. I always thought it would be great to try and teach a lesson without any interruptions, but now that I had a captive audience, I didn't like it quite so much!

I ended the chat with the hope that we would be able to try it again on Wednesday.

We headed over to the Sheraton, the first hotel built in this part of Doha. It was a huge room. The tables were set beautifully and the room, elegant in nature, was lit up with colours that shifted throughout the night. It would be red and then green and blue, very interesting.

I sat at a table with Luara from Brazil, and then people from Syria, Brazil, Turkey, USA (working in West Bank), Egypt, and USA (school or arts in NYC).

The dinner started with the entrance of the queen and she was accompanied by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the first lady of France! Both very striking. The awards were handed out to the 6 winners, two from each category. It was incredible to hear about the amazing work that these individuals/groups accomplished:

For the ‘Pluralism’ category:
Name: Sheetal Mehta; Country: India
Project: “Project Nanhi Kali”
Profile: A collaborative, national child sponsorship project to ensure that under-privileged girls in India receive 10 years of continuous, quality education.

Name: Vicky Colbert; Country: Colombia
Project: “Escuela Nueva”
Profile: A child-centered, community-based educational program making schools and schooling a new enterprise led by teachers.

For the ‘Sustainability’ category
Name: Martin Burt; Country: Paraguay
Project: “The Financially Self-P”
Profile: Transforming sons and daughters of chronically-poor farmers into "rural entrepreneurs," integrating the teaching of high-school subjects with the running of 17 small-scale rural enterprises, and covering the school’s operating costs as a result.

Name: Joyce Dongotey-Padi; Country: Ghana
Project: "Widows Alliance Network (WANE) for Sustainable Economic Development in Ghana”
Profile: A network designed to emancipate and empower widows through employment skills, human rights education, reproductive health and social integration programmes.

For the ‘Innovation’ category
Name: Peter Levy; Country: USA
Project: “Curriki”
Profile: A Web 2.0-based platform that provides users with free tools and services necessary to develop, aggregate, evaluate and support Open Educational Resources (OER).

Name: Delio Morais; Country: Brazil
Project: “Distance Learning in the Amazon Forest”
Profile: An interactive distance learning solution that transmits and receives live, two-way audio/visual classes to 25,000 students in 700 classrooms across 300 schools in the State of Amazonas.

Talk about some amazing achievements!!!!

The food was wonderful. The Appetizer was: Mosaic of pressed vegetables and Fjord Salman, cured cucumber and Tobiko caviar (while this part was not my favourite eating experience overall in Doha, it was very memorable). The main course: roasted veal medallions with wild mushrooms and green asparagus on celeriac and potato mousseline and herb butter sauce. For dessert: mousse of cinnamon and roasted pears infused with pomegranate.

At the end of the meal we were treated to a very special musical experience. That is the only way that I can describe it. The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra played with a famous Arab artist named Marcel Khalife who played the lute along with his son playing the tambourine. It was incredible. I have never heard an orchestra produce sounds like that, the music had a very "middle eastern" feel with all of the intricate pitch changes and variety of rhythms and timbres. The son was out of this world - who knew that a tambourine could be played so intricately (probably not Will Ferrel!) Here is his website: http://www.marcelkhalife.com/

And with the final crescendo of the music the Gala was over. It was a wonderful night and a great opportunity to get to know more people and relax in the company of others.

The wait for the buses to take us back to the hotel was a little chaotic but we managed not to get run over and to get on the correct bus! We went to the hotel restaurant for a little while to talk about the day and our experiences at different tables during the Gala. All in all, day two was a pretty fantastic day.

Looking forward to Day 3...I can't believe that the time is coming close to an end.

Day Two

The day started off well, waking up to the wake up call, and it quickly went down hill from there. I fell asleep again and so I woke up in a frenzy just barely making the bus. This time difference is really affecting me I guess.

Anyhow the rest of the day went well. The plenary session was on sustainability. The first break out session was on Special Needs Education. This has been the best session so far. There was a woman from SMARTLab and she showed us some of the incredible ways that her company is using technology to help people with special needs. People who were never able to speak or play music or write are able to with new technologies. One man was able to compose music and play in a band using his eye movements. http://smartlab.uel.ac.uk/2projects/interfaces.htm She also works with communities to develop games that are based on story and ideas from a child and then gets artists and other experts together to create virtual worlds where an avatar of the child can experience things that they would never otherwise be allowed to experience. She showed a clip of a little girl who finally got to swim in her own underground world by controlling her avatar in a game created for her. Very powerful and amazing to see technology being used in this way.

The next session I went to was on Technology and distance education. one of the speakers from Stanton university talked about how mobile phones are being used in remote areas of the world and how much more of an impact they have, especially in places like Africa. Another speaker from the University of South Africa shared how they are using distance learning to support her students. She also mentioned how one of the major benefits to having the World Cup in South Africa will be the forced need for cabling to be laid. In order to support the media and the world's attention, South Africa is going to need major Broadband. The only way to get it there is to bury it around the continent. This means (especially for coastal countries) that they will be able to tap into that network. It seems a shame that the only way that Africa will get the help it needs is through corporate demand.

There was no closing plenary session today as we had the gala tonight. I will tell you more about that in my next post. Just let me say that tobiko is very yummy.

Day One Done - Part Two

The conference ended with a Plenary Session on Plurality. There were 5 speakers, Swiss, French, American, French (Astronaut), South African. Wouldn't you know the Astronaut still has her head in the clouds and the other French speaker got into a philosophical analytical examination of what is a metaphor that my brain started to hurt. The woman from South Africa was extremely well spoken and she talked candidly about the issues that she faced as the Minister of Education and the huge issues facing their country in terms of plurality or her preferred choice of words "inclusion".

So far I have met people from all around the world - especially from South America - why didn't I take Spanish in school? If any of my students are reading this I want you to read this part very carefully........learn more then one language!!!!!

After getting back to the hotel, changing, oh yes, back into the clothes that I have already worn on a plane for 24 hours...we went to the Souq, a market with tons of little shops all selling the same five items, for different prices. I was wheeling and dealing (all those years of Monopoly paid off!)and managed to get a few small items to bring back for family. Don't worry class I will get some sand for you, and Surean I have my eye on this rock that I saw from my hotel window but I think it might be a little too big to carry (let alone carry in my suitcase!) :o)

I am still waiting to hear about my luggage. Hey Guess What?!?! I just had a knock on the door and.....drum roll please.....MY LUGGAGE ARRIVED! I guess I don't have to blow dry my underwear in the morning!!! (Just kidding)

Anyway I am off to bed. What an adventure it has been. Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments after a post. Till my tomorrow...

Day One Done - Part One

I woke up to a funny ringing sound - more commonly known as the wake up call - but I was too out of it to realize. My day started very much the way it usually does - talking to my beautiful wife. It took a little while but we were able to connect using gmail video chat. Isn't technology wonderful? I was even able to iron my shirt and show off my new suit before leaving the comfort of my hotel room.

We had a buffet lunch in the hotel restaurant. Lots of options many things I have never seen before. I will experiment more tomorrow. We hopped on a bus to go to the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The amount of construction is astronical. They are really working hard to beautify the city. Interlocking sidewalks. Green part - lots of irrigation Hoses needed. They are preparing for a bid for the world cup so that may have something to do with it.

The opening address for the conference was very interesting. The Emir's wife, a representative for UNESCO spoke. This summit was her idea. It was hard to determine who she was addressing her speech to. In many ways it seemed like she was speaking to her citizens, at times to the Arab world and at times to us. The main point of her message was the need to innovate in terms of the three themes of the summit: plurality, sustainability, technology.

There were a few other speakers. One of the mentioned that Qatar is not part of the middle east but it is a part of the Arab world. Not sure what that means... There was also the idea that we need to be action oriented so that we are not reactionary. We also found out that at the end of the summit there will be a document drafted containing key points that are brought up in the breakout session. The opening session ended with the following: knowledge is about the past, wisdom is for the future therefore let us all strive to be WISE.

The first session was discussing Globalization and preparing our students for the Global economy. Two of the speakers talked about Higher Education and one discussed k-12. The university folk talked about the need for critical thinking skills to create a learner for life, a life of careers rather then a lifetime career. There were some interesting discussions on this topic, a woman from UNESCO in Africa asked about the poor and the most needy and how they fit into the idea of globalization. The discussion also turned to what exactly is a global citizen, and is that notion even possible. At the end of each session, the panelists are asked to provide two points that they would like to recommend regarding the topic.

We had lunch-buffet style-with lots of little finger foods, shawarma, spring rolls, sushi (yes I had a roll of some kind), fish, meatballs, chana, pita and something that looked like humus. It was all very good.

The second breakout session was about Technology and e-Learning. One of the panelists was from Texas, the other was the head of Sesame Workshop (Street) and the last was a from an African organization called TESSA. The term creative commons was addressed as a way to copyright work for the purpose of opening it up to be used by anyone. Sesame street was interesting because he showed us examples of how it appears around the world. It is not dubbed in other countries, each country has it own version where they develop their own characters and use their own celebrities etc. The one comment that resonated with me was that e-learning can be very boring (no offense to Library Part 1) and I agree that it can be. I think also an issue is how will people be able to sift through the garbage to find what they want or need.

End of Part One...time to go to the market.

Safe but not quite sound.

Well my last entry was from Pearson Airport. I was sitting at Gate 162 waiting for them to call me up to board the plane...but no one was calling me. No one was at the desk. No one was anywhere in the area. So I decided to go and check the board because my plane ticket says boarding will commence at 7:05 and it was 7:08. Ooops, they printed the wrong gate number on my ticket so just as I was realizing my mistake I hear them making the last call for my flight. All I have to say is thank goodness for moving sidewalk escalators! I made it on time, yay first disaster avoided!

We arrived in Washington DC a little late but I asked the pilot if he could let me know my gate number for Qatar Airlines which he did. So I booted it off the plane, ran to get the shuttle (essentially a portable - size and shape - on wheels.) I figured even if my luggage didn't make it, I would! They managed to find me a seat that is usually reserved for basinets (I am the baby of my family but...) that had a little extra leg room! Thank goodness.

I wish I could always fly Qatar airlines. The service was great, you get things like pillows and blankets without asking, your own personal TV (which is not new) but one that included the ability to create you own playlist of up to 99 songs and video games as well. Yes I did play an underwater spaceship type game as well as some puzzle game that had me as a frog spitting jewels out of my mouth at other jewels. Very bizarre but hey around hour 10 what else are you going to do?

The TV had some technical difficulties and had to be reset during the trip but I was able to watch Julie and Julia (sorry Mars I couldn't resist but I will still watch it with you when I get back), The latest Terminator, Night at the Museum 2 and some of Transformers 2.

The people beside me are also attending the conference so we chatted on and off during the trip. The food was surprisingly good. I always like how they package everything in the little compartments. Everything was included so I enjoyed a nice refreshing beverage as well. They even served us a mini-tub of Ben and Jerry's Vanilla Ice Cream. I wanted to keep the container because it was so miniature. I could definitely have used it for some Hobbit and human tricks!

Once arriving in Doha, it was dark so I couldn't really see anything, we were escorted into a VIP lounge where we were given refreshments and got our passports stamped so that we could jump the cue for customs. This is where the story starts to crumble....

No luggage, even though the WISE officials kept asking me to double check the conveyor belt, no luggage. I had to go to the lost baggage area and fill out a claim. I am hoping that it will be on the flight from washington tomorrow (evening). I did throw some undergarments into my carry on but I was wearing jeans for the flight. Tomorrow we meet the queen...something tells me I shouldn't be wearing jeans in front of her.

They had cars waiting to take us to the hotel...and I can't even describe it to you...I will be putting some pictures up, but it is very beautiful and modern. I got checked in okay and was reassured that they would get my luggage to me as soon as it arrives at the airport.

I ended up going to local mall (approximately the size of Eaton Centre) to buy something to wear for tomorrow. I went with Roberto, from Paraguay, who also lost his luggage along the way. I managed to negotiate the price of a suit down from 1900 ryals to something much more reasonable. It was difficult to find something my size in a short time frame. Everything is dual language, arabic and english, and everyone seems to speak English to some extent.

I am writing this blog overlooking the hotel lobby in an over-sized leather chair wondering what tomorrow will bring. We have to be in the lobby for 7:15 to take a shuttle to the conference centre.

I am hopefully going to be posting some pictures on-line and I have started a twitter account Joyceroom110 if you want to follow along.

So needless to say it has been quite an eventful day...a good day for sure.

Uncertainty...

When I checked into the United Airways desk at Pearson I was informed that the window is very tight for my transfer in Washington DC. If everything goes as planned I should be able to run to my gate. My luggage however may not make the tranfer time. Well I guess all I can do is sit on a couple of planes for 16 hours or so and wait to see if it appears on the carousel in Doha. Marcia drove me to the airport and waited till I passed through customs. I was able to get a seat near the door with some extra leg room but I don't know yet about my seat on Qatar airlines. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an upgrade to business class! Stay tuned.

Getting Ready to Leave

Well it is getting close to the time for me to head to the airport. I think I have everything in order. I went to buy some Riyalls this morning but they don't carry that type of currency. Thanks to Rhea, I have a suitcase that fits my all my clothes and even an extra pair of shoes! I was just looking up the local customs in Qatar and men and women embracing in public is strictly forbidden - so I guess it is good that Marcia is not coming along with me. :o( Hopefully I will be able to update this blog while I am away so that I can let you know about what I am learning and doing on the other side of the world.