The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) launched the Academic Writing Workshop Series designed for postgraduate students and postdocs.

The Academic Writing Workshop Series took place over seven weeks during the Spring 2021 semester to support postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows with their academic writing.

The workshops focused on several modules, ranging from transversal engagement across skill-sets including critical thinking and data analysis, data organization and display, and writing planning, as well as vertical requirements with tips and examples towards literature review, experimental papers, grants and online writing.

Aspects related to academic writer blocks, procrastination, and lack of focus are common to all writers—beginners and experts included—and this course aimed to provide tools and tips on how to minimize these aspects to successfully deliver a high quality of writing.

Discussions engaged participants with core academic questions related to plagiarism, engagement with peers and reviewers/editors, ways to respond to criticism and reviewers comments, as well as pathways towards successful grant writing.

Lastly, consideration for research vulgarization and risks/benefits of online expression of researchers were also discussed to help the attendees improve their online presence efficiently and safely.

Dr. Prasoon Raj, Postdoc, Nuclear and Radiation Science, one of the participants who completed the workshops, said: “The Academic Writing Series covered plenty of essential topics. Guidance on writing review papers, background of a peer-review process, grant writing tips, and communication through broader/social media were some of the very useful elements for me. Individual experiences of course students gave perspectives for many publication-related issues which I am facing (or may face). It is seriously a must-do for early careers. Quite a good balance of contents, with ample scope for discussions.”

Ahmed Khalid Mohamed Abdalla Alzaabi, a Master’s of Petroleum Engineering student, shared his experience from this program: “I had an engaging experience in learning how to tackle various academic challenges such as writing well-structured sentences based on importance, meaning, and purpose. Moreover, I learned how to present my results in a clear manner to deliver a clear message and get various conclusions from it. My favorite part was how everyone in the course shared their experiences and lessons learned from the course assignments and their research topics. Overall, I highly recommend this course to graduate students starting their journey in research.”

Yongjie Liu, a PhD student from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Center for Membrane & Advanced Water Technology (CMAT) also completed the workshop series: “The Academic Writing Series focused on Critical thinking, Development of research question/rationale, Literature assessment and benchmarking, Data organization and ordering, Development of critical argument, and Data presentation and layout. I think the course outline is logical covering shallower topics and then delving into deeper topics. Dr. Ludo also gave feedback on our assignments without reservation. I feel better in starting to write an academic draft than before because Dr. Ludo taught me a great way to search for relevant references and how to organize data.”

The course was very well received by the attendees and will be offered for a second round from April to May 2021 with a team of instructors to discuss specific writing challenges and provide tips towards more efficient writing and engagement. The lead faculty facilitator of the program is Dr. Ludovic Dumee, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Staff Report
5 May 2021

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Khalifa University (KU) has partnered with Coursera to enhance online education for the KU community. Coursera is the global online learning platform that offers anyone, anywhere access to online courses and degrees from world-class universities and companies.

Khalifa University becomes the first university in the Gulf Region to join Coursera’s 234 partners across 53 countries offering 6,966 courses. This strategic partnership is aligned to Khalifa University’s mission. 

This partnership means that Khalifa University faculty, students, and staff have access to the following:

Coursera for campus- Basic Plan:

Members of the KU community have access to the entire Coursera catalogue and can access almost all courses (i.e. can look through the content of all courses), and take one course – which is certificated – for free every year (in order to access this, KU learners should create a Coursera account linked to the Khalifa University email address).  

Partner Consortium:

KU becomes a partner of the Coursera Partner Consortium which allows all participating Universities to share their content, hosted on Coursera, for free with other participating partners. Learners from university partners can earn an unlimited number of certificates for free from this content. This initiative is not live yet, an announcement will be made soon to inform the KU community.

Coursera for Partners:  

All KU learners have access to all Coursera content created by KU faculty and staff. Not only can learners access all of the content produced by KU for free, they can also get certificates on any of KU’s courses on the Coursera platform.  

With online learning now core to the student experience, universities need an effective way to create and curate high-quality online curricula. For instructors, teachers and lecturers, Coursera for Partners provides the opportunity to privately author courses using Coursera’s powerful authoring platform. They can efficiently build custom courses, hands-on projects, assessments, and even embed Zoom recordings with Live2Coursera. Strategies and resources for effective online teaching are also available on the Coursera Teaching Center.

News Report
20 April 2021

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•  Twelve faculty and staff members from the Preparatory Program became certified to teach the “7 Habits for Highly Effective College Students” course at KU

Khalifa University is first to run the one-credit hour course, “7 Habits for Highly Effective College Students,” and provide training to potential KU instructors.

Khalifa University’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) launched a life-changing student success course this semester for STEM 2 students in the Preparatory Program, called Skills for Academic Success (SDAS 001).

Skills for Academic Success is focused on teaching students important study skills needed to progress in the university environment. The core text of the course is the “7 Habits for Highly Effective College Students”, a high-impact course built on the foundation of the global bestselling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

“This maiden semester saw almost 300 students putting the principles of the ‘7 Habits for Highly Effective College Students’ into practice through increased proactivity, goal setting, time management, study skills, life skills, and more,” said Joud Jabri-Pickett, English Instructor in the Prep Program.

Earlier this year, Jabri-Pickett and Dr. Abdus Sabur Muhammad, Head of Student Retention and Advising, became certified as facilitators for the “7 Habits for Highly Effective People”, a program developed by FranklinCovey, a global company specializing in performance improvement, to introduce foundational principles, paradigms and practices of the “7 Habits” to employees.

They recently facilitated a workshop for 12 administrative staff and faculty members of the Preparatory Department, called “7 Habits Foundations at KU,” to introduce the principles that support greater effectiveness within their departments. The faculty and staff are now certified to teach the “7 Habits for Highly Effective College Students” and help students learn the principles of university effectiveness, which will propel them toward greater academic maturity and performance.

The 7 Habits^® is the world’s best-known personal-leadership framework, synthesizing key principles of personal and interpersonal effectiveness. A list of the 7 Habits^® follows:

• Habit 1: Be Proactive
• Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
• Habit 3: Put First Things First
• Habit 4: Think Win-Win
• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
• Habit 6: Synergize
• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Jabri-Pickett hopes to continue providing the workshop to various departments across the university community, both academic and administrative, to promote positive, lifelong learning and success habits in all classrooms.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
14 November 2019

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