The symposium was a success

On Thursday 18 March Zayed University Convention Centre in Dubai hosted Higher Education in the Gulf: Research Insights in Learning and Teaching, an academic research symposium looking at how university and college students learn, and how they can be taught effectively.  This was the first event of its kind at ZU; it was supported by ZU Office of Research, with assistance from UAE University, and linked to ZU’s refereed online learning and teaching journal, LTHE (http://lthe.zu.ac.ae).

The event was full to capacity, with participants coming from the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and the UK.   The morning session included plenary talks by Dr. Michelle McLean (UAEU), Dr. Tofi Rahal (ZU) and Dr. Patrick Carmichael (Liverpool John Moores University, UK).  Poster presentations provided a chance for participants to interact with researchers from various institutions; and the afternoon was devoted to workshops with the plenary speakers.

Feedback on the event from participants was very positive.  Final versions of the plenary papers will be published in a special issue of LTHE, and we hope to organize a similar event next year.