Qatar University joined USC as the 10th partner in the cross-cultural learning platform known as iPodia, and the first university in the alliance to represent the Arab world.
“IPodia is a smart idea that enables cooperation across campuses and allows students to cooperate while maintaining their uniqueness,” said Dr. Mazen Hasna, vice president and chief academic officer of Qatar University. “At Qatar University, we are developing our technology-enhanced learning strategy, and part of that strategy is to build partnerships in support of using the technology in enhancing student success.”
Launched in 2009, iPodia is a model for a “global classroom,” a platform for classroom across physical, institutional, and cultural boundaries. Students at universities worldwide attend the same class simultaneously through audio and video connections, taught by the same professors, study and comment on the same material online before the class begins, engage in peer-to-peer interaction in iPodia classrooms, work on collaborative projects in cross-campus teams and, sometimes, travel to classmates’ home campuses to complete class projects.