Catalogue of Initiatives

Jamiya is currently piloting one 12 week blended (online and in-person tuition) ‘Small Private Online Courses’ (SPOCs, not MOOCs) in Applied IT and preparing a second in Global Studies, which will be accredited and delivered in Arabic (with some English materials). These are being delivered in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg, a small team of Syrian academics and NGOs in the field - Norwegian Refugee Council and Jesuit Refugee Service, both in Jordan. By making use of existing courses at the bachelor level (adapted from University of Gothenburg), learning infrastructure and technology, the pilot tests a model that makes use of the skills of refugee communities in leading the creation and delivery of new higher education solutions. The course content is delivered online, however there is in-person tutoring through a blended learning model, via block seminars delivered by academics and weekly tutoring sessions run by local partner. A mentoring programme is in place whereby students on the Applied IT course are paired with a displaced Syrian scholar, who serves as a mentor via virtual meetings. Further developing the mentoring programme is being explored. Jamiya is also collaborating with Empower Hack to build a prototype of the 'Jamiya VocApp': a mobile and web application to assist students Syrian starting courses in Europe in a second language (English, German and French) with learning relevant academic technical vocabulary through a peer-to-peer micro-learning platform. The platform will provide contextualised translation of terms Arabic<>English/German/French, online support from Syrian peers and Syrian academics.