AUCA at AMICAL, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, May 23-26, 2023

June 30, 2023

              The long wait for the AMICAL on-site conference - the first after Kuwait in 2020, just before the Covid pandemic, finally came to an end. Not surprisingly, this was the most attended conference, with 135 attendees from 26 member institutions. This year again, AUCA was well represented: there were 10 of us, and we were the third largest group after the hosts and the American University in Cairo, which brought about 12 of their Center for Learning and Teaching members. 

              Ekaterina Kombarova was the volunteers' leader who made the conference's daily life smooth and effective. She also represented AUCA at the Representatives Forum on behalf of our Library.

              Mariya Antonova and Ludmila Konstans shared their experience of collaboration between the WARC, students, and faculty in the effective support of economics students. We are very proud that AUCA WARC is a model and probably one the best-developed such centres within AMICAL and OSUN. 

Our WARC has reached the point in its development when it has begun to lend assistance to other institutions. Mariya Antonova, in collaboration with Emilienne Idorenyin Akpan from the American University in Nigeria, led an interactive session on the role of writing centres in supporting students through the challenges of their first-year experience.

             Jarkyn Shadymanova and Maya Sharsheeva presented AUCA experience on adaptation and delivery of the kNOwVAWdata online course for promoting Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender equality in the Central Asian region. This is a project/ course that AUCA has hosted since 2022 and which targets and trains local activists and experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

           Natalia Korosteleva shared her pedagogical, practical, and technological experience of introducing AI in her teaching on Business Communication course in Spring 2023 and the feedback she gathered from students. The conference participants particularly favoured the “final products” of students. The part which triggered the most interest was the videos created by students with the help of ChatGPT, Midjourney, AI Voice Generator, and D-ID tools (different types of information and various modalities) and sentiment analysis of oral messages conducted on Speakai—co platform.

           In their session, Daniyar Karabaev and Aijamal Sarybaeva talked about teaching a course on Digital History. This course was an excellent opportunity for instructors to assess their philosophy and practices of meaningful teaching and learning of Central Asian history in the digital era. 

           Angie Popova and Ekaterina Kombarova conducted the “What can AI do for you: Hands-on workshop using AI” workshop. The session was much in demand and contained some historical background, information on the principle of operation and, of course, the practical aspects of using the text generative AIs.

          Angie Popova and Rukhsana Zia- the CLT director at Forman Christian College, spent time assessing the programs and activities offered by their respective Centers and making plans for the future. They also gathered the Centers for Teaching and Learning heads and members from CEU, American University in Cairo, and American Universities in Paris, Rome, Al-Akhawayan, and Sharjah to discuss the current state of faculty professional development and further collaborations between the centres. 

         In their interactive session, Gorkem Atsungur and Jarkyn Shadymanova revealed the key elements of experiential learning pedagogy. Experiential Learning is the process of learning by doing, and it connects theories and knowledge to real-world situations and thus engages students in authentic tasks. 

        Overall, this was another successful participation of AUCA at the annual AMICAL conference. Our team presented on a wide range of topics, demonstrated flexibility and innovation in the pedagogical practices, and engaged with peers in light of possible cooperation.

        You can view keynote speakers recordings here and slides from the presentations of all participants within the program schedule here. 

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