Zayed University Research Articles

Assessing Learning Styles of Students at Zayed University

Learning styles based education is becoming influential at higher education institutions around the world. Learning styles are characteristics of how students prefer to learn; they draw their origin from both biological and experiential conditions that make each student unique in the way he/she learns. An important first step in improving learning is to identify or assess students’ learning styles, and there are several instruments that can be used for this purpose. This is necessary for teachers and students who wish to improve learning and study strategies. Students who perform poorly in a conventional educational setting may suffer from a mismatch of learning and teaching styles; for example kinesthetic learners may not adapt to learning by listening or by reading. When we teach tactual and/or kinesthetic students by talking, they focus for only a brief amount of time and then wander off into their own thoughts and quickly forget (Burke & Dunn, 2002). We can improve students’ academic performance by providing them with alternative strategies and activities that respond to their learning style needs (Dunn & Dunn, 1993). In spring 2008, the learning styles of over 700 Zayed University students were assessed using the BE (Building Excellence) survey developed by Rundle & Dunn. The data collected is being analyzed with a view to making recommendations for teachers, students and parents to improve students’ learning. This paper represents the first in a series of publications on this subject; it reviews the survey process, and focuses on the nature and learning preferences of ZU students in perceptual elements (e.g. visual, auditory) and cognitive elements (e.g. Analytic-sequential (left-brain) vs. Global-simultaneous (right-brain) preferences).

Database and database application security

This paper focuses on the emerging importance of database and application security, textbooks and other supplementary materials to teach these topics and where to place these topics in a curriculum. The paper emphasizes 1) the growing concerns of database technologies and database applications, 2) existing books and supporting materials, and 3) and Zayed University's approach to teaching these topics. At Zayed, we incorporate database and database application security in two different courses.

Improving IT education through leadership development

This paper investigates the integration of leadership training into IT curricula to develop current and future skills needed by the IT job market. The technical and non-technical skills required for IT professionals are presented and a conceptual model for including leadership training in technical courses is outlined. To implement this model, we adopted the Problem-Based Learning approach to teach an IT course. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered, through a survey, from 52 undergraduate students in the College of Information Technology at Zayed University. Our results show that our adopted approach was successful in teaching IT skills as well as developing leadership skills. Given these findings, we highlight the importance and feasibility of integrating leadership development on a daily basis within technical courses to develop both the technical and non technical skills required by the job market.

Cross-Linguistic Media Usage and Attitude in the United Arab Emirates

This study, examining the relationship between different language user groups and media behavior, breaks new ground in the UAE. Emanating from a public-private consortium comprising Zayed University, the International Advertising Association, Dubai, and Dubai-based Pan Arab Research Center (PARC), partner of the Gallup organization, this research considers media usage and attitudes of individuals from different language user groups living in the UAE.The survey differentiated different language user groups in the UAE contextualizing national varieties according to the ‘Three Circles Model’ instituted by Kachru (1982 & ff.). Uncharacteristically, the tables shown in this study first take cognizance of Language User Groups relating to Arabic(s), followed by the Outer, then the Expanding and finally the Inner Circle Users of Englishes. In addition, bearing in mind the existence of different varieties similar to ‘Englishes’ might pertain to more than English language varieties, the terms “Arabics”, “Hindis”, “Urdus” and “Malayalams” are introduced. Analysis shows that media usage patterns and media penetration are tied to language background. People from particular language backgrounds use different media for the same information – ‘Al Jazeera’ is the primary source for breaking news among Users of Arabics, whereas it is ‘BBC World’ for Users of Englishes. Language facility and the perceived value of various languages vary across different linguistic groups. For example, in this Arabic speaking country, 20–32% of the Inner-Circle English Users and Outer-Circle Indian English Users agree with the statement that understanding Arabic was “not important at all.”

Reflective Practice in a Cross-Cultural University Setting: A Theoretical Model

The trend in education is shifting toward a greater concern with learning. In this new model, teachers are required to constantly reflect on their pedagogy to sustain student interest and engagement. This reflective inquiry is particularly important when the teacher and students are of different language and culture as in the case of Zayed University, UAE. Such cross-cultural context often complicates the learning environment resulting in confusion, stress, and frustration for faculty and students. It also results in a reduced teaching effectiveness and a need to regularly adapt tried methods of teaching in Western universities with the educational background of students. This process requires deep reflection and cultural adjustment. This study therefore investigated the challenges, critical inquiry, and adjustments of Western faculty in the delivery of an American curriculum taught in English to Emirati female students. The study also sought to derive a theoretical model explaining faculty reflective processes in cross-cultural classrooms.

E-portfolio Assessment System for an Outcome-Based Information Technology Curriculum

Introduction A major shift in the past decade has changed the focus in education from a teacher-centered instructional environment to a student-centered one (Brooks, 1997). As grades became insufficient to prove learning took place, universities in the USA and worldwide took a critical look at their educational systems. In 2002 a US national panel called for a dramatic reorganization of undergraduate education to ensure that all college students receive not only access to college but also to an education of lasting value (http://www.aacu.org). One recommendation was that colleges and universities help students become "intentional" life-long learners and create new assessment techniques that allow students to apply their learning to real world problems. In an effort to shift the focus from the traditional lecture style to a student-centered learning style, a number of academic institutions in the US have adopted an outcome-based education framework. Outcome-based education is a method of education that focuses on what students can actually do after they are taught a particular subject. All curriculum and teaching decisions are made based on how to best facilitate the achievement of a desired outcome. This exercise leads to a planning process that is quite different from the traditional educational planning method. The desired outcome is first identified, and then the curriculum is created to support the intended outcomes (Furman, 1994). E-portfolios have been used to document student work to demonstrate learning (American Association for Higher Education. 2008, Smith & Winking-Diaz, 2004). Unlike paper-based portfolios, e-portfolios allow information to be stored, accessed, updated, and presented in various electronic formats to record students achievements. E-portfolios are being adopted at a growing number of colleges and universities in the USA and abroad (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005. Several US universities have adopted the e-portfolio assessment concept, including California Lutheran University (http://ww2.clunet.edu/soe/webfolio/index.php), Portland State University (http://www.pdx.edu/unst/frinq.htm), John Hopkins University(2008) (http://cte.jhu.edu/dp/support), the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (http://www.eportfolio.org), and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (http://www.opd.iupui.edu/coil/eport.htm). For faculty, the e-portfolio can be an effective tool to better manage, review, reflect, and comment on students' work. For students, the e-portfolio enriches their resume, both before and after graduation. In the gulf region the adoption of outcome-based educational models and e-portfolios has been slow. Zayed University (ZU), a fairly recent university located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has adopted an outcome-based Academic Program Model (APM) and the use of e-portfolios to document student learning (Zayed University, 2008a). The ZU e-portfolio assessment system (EAS) was created to allow faculty to assess specific components of student academic work that includes various learning outcomes. Moreover, faculty members use data from the EAS to evaluate how courses are meeting college and university goals. The achievement of learning outcomes and the compilation of e-portfolios has become an important component of the grade point average (GPA) assessment system. E-portfolios enable students to improve and focus their learning and provide them with a tool to showcase their skills. The EAS can be used to measure whether the curriculum meets institution and college/major learning outcomes: Zayed University Learning Outcomes (ZULOs), and Major's Learning Outcomes (MALOs). Currently, ZU has approximately 4000 students and has two campuses, one in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai, UAE. ZU follows a US based academic model and is perhaps the first university in the Gulf to adopt the e-portfolio to help students achieve learning. During the last six years, the implementation of the APM model was used to facilitate the inclusion of learning outcomes into various courses across ZU curricula. …

Deleuze’s Way: Essays in Transverse Ethics and Aesthetics (review)

Reviewed by: Deleuze’s Way: Essays in Transverse Ethics and Aesthetics Paul Fox Ronald Bogue, Deleuze’s Way: Essays in Transverse Ethics and Aesthetics, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007, 186 pp. Each of the ten essays in Ronald Bogue’s latest exploration of Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy creatively charts ways in which connections might be discovered between seemingly incommunicable regions of art and life. The collection is valuable as much as an example of Deleuze’s method as it is as an exploration of his thought: each essay can stand alone, but the reader will find in their inter-relationships a practical unfolding of the very system of Deleuzian “ways” that are traced in each. Bogue examines the transverse as the means whereby communication is made possible, in multiple ways, between disparate areas of life and thought which initially appear to be closed in upon themselves. This way of considering the world is thus not only creative but also has social and political implications: it connects the realms of the aesthetic and the ethical and suggests new modes of perceiving what is possible in life. Each essay is, then, both an example and exploration of the manner in which the transverse way unfolds new, beneficial pathways of communication between seemingly unconnected domains. Since a discrete ethical system was never formally developed by Deleuze in his philosophy, the essays in this collection are particularly valuable in examining the ways in which ethics permeates his philosophical thought. Moving from the opening essay’s presentation of the immanent nature of the ethical, Bogue explores how the “territories” of the “minor” in literature and music afford possibilities for developing a new collectivity—what Deleuze and his colleague Félix Guattari had called the “people to come.” In the following chapter, several forms of heavy metal music are examined as examples of the relationship between violence and art in contemporary popular culture, wonderfully delineating the Deleuzian way one might be capable of “thinking otherwise.” In the following two essays, Bogue examines a “pedagogy of images” where learning to “think otherwise” is equated with learning to perceive, and thus conceive of, existence in new ways. An education in reading the semiotics of life is explored in relationship to Deleuze’s study of Proust’s textuality, and the visual and aural relationships within Jean-Luc Godard’s cinematic aesthetic are presented as a pedagogical primer for viewing and hearing beyond the banally habitual in life. The type of “people to come” that such a pedagogy of signs might realize is developed by examining the Deleuzian reconception of Henri Bergson’s idea of “fabulation” in the following two chapters. The first considers “myth-making” as the ethical capacity [End Page 219] to create new truths and to falsify accepted realities; the second develops Deleuze’s idea of “fabulation” in his study of Sacher-Mascoch. Each examines the primacy given in Deleuze’s philosophy to the visual over narrative and suggests various ways in which new futures might be made possible in an “untimely” fashion. The final three essays explore the Deleuzian concept of “nomadism” considered as an example of transverse ways between and within different cultural spheres. If the preceding essays in the collection are of value to the comparatist in suggesting a methodological approach, these three essays actively engage with possible renovations within the comparatist field. In the first, the role of gypsy music in popular culture and European modernism is presented as evidence of nomadic practice connecting different cultural elements and regions. With the second essay Bogue offers suggestions for a “transcultural poetics,” a cultural studies program deploying a model of “nomadic globalism” as distinct from the practices of western-dominated globalization. In the concluding chapter Bogue reviews an analysis by Christopher L. Miller critical of Deleuzian “nomadology” and underlines the commitment of the transverse to ethical responsibility and to the value inherent in formulating new perspectives upon life. In each individual chapter in this collection, Bogue has readily demonstrated such a commitment, both in terms of his always-insightful commentary on Deleuze’s transverse method and also through his artful demonstrations of that selfsame method in action. Paul Fox Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Copyright...

A History of Egypt from the Arab Conquest to the Present, 2nd ed: Afaf Al Sayyed Marso

Digest of Middle East StudiesVolume 17, Issue 1 p. 169-171 A History of Egypt from the Arab Conquest to the Present, 2nd ed: Afaf Al Sayyed Marso Jane Bristol-Rhys Ph.D., Jane Bristol-Rhys Ph.D. Zayed University Abu Dhabi UAESearch for more papers by this author Jane Bristol-Rhys Ph.D., Jane Bristol-Rhys Ph.D. Zayed University Abu Dhabi UAESearch for more papers by this author First published: 16 March 2010 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-3606.2008.tb00166.xCitations: 1AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume17, Issue1Spring 2008Pages 169-171 RelatedInformation

Introduction: speaking in a Third Voice

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsLena JayyusiLena Jayyusi is a Palestinian educated in the UK and the USA and is currently an Associate Professor in the College of Communication and Media Sciences as well as University Research Coordinator in “Culture, Media and History” at Zayed University in the UAE

Analysis of Bias in Student Evaluations of Faculty at an All Female Arab University in the Middle East

This paper reports results of analyses made at an all-female Gulf Arab university measuring the nature and extent of biases in students' evaluation of faculty. Comparisons are made with research reporting the nature of similar relationships in North America. Two issues are investigated: 1) What variables (if any) bias faculty evaluation results at an all-female Arab university? 2) Are biasing variables different in nature or magnitude to those reported at North America universities? Using the population of 13,300 faculty evaluation records collected over two school years at Zayed University, correlations of faculty evaluation results to nine potentially biasing factors are made. Results show biases to faculty evaluation results do exist. However, biases are small, and strikingly similar in nature to those reported at North American universities.

Reflections on being a new female IT professional in the UAE

In the June issue of inroads, two students from Zayed University, Sara Saeed Bilal and Fatma Hassan Al Amir, wrote about their ideas on what they thought it would be like to be an IT professional in the United Arab Emirates and what ethical and cultural issues they might have to address. Since that time they have both had the opportunity to do a ten-week internship in a working environment in the UAE. They now reflect on their work experience as female IT professionals in the UAE.

Virtual Teaching And Learning Challenges- An online learning experience with UAE students

In this paper we provide evidence of successful online learning experience with UAE students at Zayed University in the UAE. First we describe the processes and technologies used in delivering the online course "Virtual Business Challenges". Based on survey results we discuss students’ evaluations and experience and the technologies used. Overall, students had a positive learning experience in the course.

Developing an International Corpus of Creative English

This paper proposes an International Corpus of Creative English [ICCE] as a worldwide corpus particularly suitable for easy implementation in countries which have tertiary institutions with well-defined populations of students possessing similar cultural and/or linguistic backgrounds. The ICCE is contextualized as a World Englishes corpus with reference to the International Corpus of English (ICE) and the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE). Centred round the Extremely Short Story Competition [ESSC], introduced at the 2nd Asia TEFL Conference in Korea (2004), the ICCE will provide potential in terms of intercultural/interlinguistic research and also practical exploitation in the wider community for both educational and commercial purposes. Specifics of the Extremely Short Story Competition [ESSC] are provided in order to introduce a tightly structured contest which has proved to be an extremely efficient instrument for the generation of texts both inside and outside the (language teaching) classroom. A progress report, is presented which outlines two pilot projects undertaken at Zayed University [ZU] in the United Arab Emirates [UAE] (2004) and at the British Council in Seoul, Republic of Korea [ROK] (2005). This is illustrated with the prize-winning ESSC stories in both locations. In addition, an account describes the compilation of the first component of the ICCE corpus which is currently being undertaken in the UAE (2005) using the ZU website specifically designed to operationalize the ESSC in twenty federal tertiary institutions throughout the country. Discussion is provided of the benefits of the ICCE for language learning and teaching, applied linguistics and the community. The paper calls for academics in other nations to contribute to the ICCE and offers the ZU ESSC website and support to other countries wishing to participate in the project.

Removing the veil

This article is a personal reflection on the culture and the education of young women in the United Arab Emirates, a group of seven emirates along the Persian Gulf, which has only been a federated nation since 1971. The rapid pace of development in the UAE and the desire of the rulers to educate women to become leaders in the country's workforce were the impetus for the creation of Zayed University in 1998. The social impact of introducing computer laptops and Internet access for all students is described.

Media life among Gen Zeds

The ‘Gen Zeds’ of the title are female Emirati students in their early 20s at Zayed University who oscillate between the traditional Islamic culture of their families and the high technology world they experience through the media. This article looks at when, where and how these students use media and what they are looking for when they use it. The research found that these women live a highly-mediated existence, spending more than 9.9 hours on average a day with the media - more time than they do sleeping. They spend as much time on the internet as they do in the combined activities of reading magazines, newspapers and books. They spend twice as much time on the internet as they do watching television. They use different media during different parts of the day and for different reasons. The internet and the telephone were the two most preferred media. The article concludes by looking at what these women’s highly mediated lives might mean for their future.

The Transitional Woman: A Case Study of Values in the Context of an Arabic/Islamic Society

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is fourfold. It is first in a series of studies designed to examine: 1) Rokeach's Terminal and Instrumental Values typology in the context of non-Western culture, specifically Arab/Islam of the United Arab Emirates, 2) whether there are emerging (perhaps transitional) family and female typologies based on these value sets, 3) the relationship between outside forces (the economy and public policy for example) and the family, and 4) it is also meant to gather questions for future study.The paper is based on a survey of students at the all-female Zayed University in Dubai. The results suggested differences between groups of students with respect to Rokeach's Terminal and Instrumental Values. Environmental factors that seem to influence these differences included religion, education, urbanization, and the changing role of women in society.Findings suggest that Rokeach's values system must be rephrased, gathering terms bound to Arabic/Islamic Society to determine what terms are synonymous and what are not. Before the questions of whether a new value system is emerging in the modernizing Arab/Islamic world, where that value system is coming from, and how values are generated can be studied, the old value system must be known. Determining these benchmarks, then, is the next step in what could be a rich, rewarding stream of work adding to multi-cultural understanding.

Arabic Across the Curriculum in a Bilingual Gulf University

Arabic Across the Curriculum is a broad language support program at Zayed University in the UAE, which has stimulated discussion on several issues concerning Arabic language support in the Arab world in general and in the Gulf area in particular. These issues can be summed up in the following questions: Why do we need to teach Arabic to native Arabic-speaking students? How will Arabic language proficiency help students in their academic and future careers? Which Arabic language skills should we teach native speakers in higher education, and how? What means of assessment and what criteria might be helpful to Arabic programs and instructors?

Teaching, technology, and the modern classroom

One of Zayed University’s publicly articulated missions is to lead higher education in the United Arab Emirates through teaching, learning, research, and outreach and to achieve this leadership in a technologically advanced environment. In fulfilling this goal, the university actively promotes laptop computer use among faculty, staff, and students; delivery (and completion) of lessons though advanced technology; use of sophisticated software; and information gathering via the Internet. (See Moore, Moore, Bodwen, Coasdale, 2003.) Though the hope is that information technology can add a powerful punch to the modern educational environment, many educators in the United Arab Emirates have found that it is the proper use of available modern technology rather than the presence of that technology that advances learning. Even longtime favorites pencil and paper and the overhead projector still have a place in the well-rounded modern classroom. Whether old or new, each technology has unique qualities (or “affordances”) of which advantage can be taken.

Zayed University Students’ Teaching and Learning Beliefs and Preferences: An analysis based on the surface versus deep learning approach

Analyses of teaching and learning in higher education are increasingly being based on a distinction between surface and deep learning. This distinction is helpful for investigating approaches used by teachers as well as student preferences for teaching and learning. Surface learning places an emphasis on memorizing facts and information as well as the relatively passive reproduction of content. In contrast, deep learning involves an intention to understand, the critical assessment of content and relating new information to past knowledge in meaningful ways. There has been an assumption that in the U.A.E. there is an orientation to surface learning in schools and higher education. To examine this assumption, an adaptation of questionnaires used with Western students (the Approaches to Study Skills Inventory for Students) was used with a small sample of ZU students. There are limitations in the use of this procedure and difficulties in interpreting the results. However, the results suggest that ZU students show strong beliefs and preference for deep learning approaches in addition to surface learning approaches. This finding is consistent with evidence obtained from student responses to assessment tasks, where there was evidence of deep learning. It was concluded that learning outcomes for ZU students could be enhanced by employing deep learning approaches to teaching and learning.

Impact of Active Learning on Performance and Motivation in Female Emirati Students

Students entering Zayed University are expected to become active participants in their learning. However, the majority of these students have come from a public education system that is recognized to focus on teacher-centered passive learning. Students may be unprepared for this transition. This paper reports on a case study of changes in performance and motivation for students transitioning from passive learning to active learning. Three students from the public education system were followed through two consecutive courses employing increasing active learning. Methods included observations, surveys, and interviews. Results indicate that the initial transition from passive learning to active learning has a negative impact, mainly due to inadequate preparation. However, subsequent development of skills through exposure results in improvement to the extent that motivation and performance exceed high school levels. It is concluded that the transition from active learning has the capacity to greatly improve student achievement if properly managed.