Center for Teaching and Learning programming draws record participation for innovative courses
Published May 27, 2020
Nearly 150 Texas A&M at Qatar engineering students — including seven graduates of the university — honed their skills and acquired new skills and knowledge during the Center for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) May Student Engineering Enrichment cycle.
This marked the first time CTL’s enrichment short-courses were offered fully online in both self-paced and instructor-led formats — all from the comfort and security of home. Courses included effective time and task management, introductions to cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (IoT), enterprise risk management and finance for engineers. CISCO Net Academy, a new collaboration between CISCO and CTL, organized the intro to cybersecurity and IoT courses, and the enterprise risk management course was taught by an expert from Qatargas.
Hassan Khan, a mechanical engineering sophomore who participated in the May cycle, said, “CTL’s enrichment courses gave me the opportunity to learn new skills outside of the classroom. Not only did these workshops and short courses help me grow my professional network, but they helped ease my transition to university life. The online enrichment courses were a breath of fresh air during the COVID-19 situation, I was able to keep myself motivated and improve my leadership and technical skills from the comfort of my home. I highly encourage everyone to participate in these courses, whether online or on campus. There is always something meaningful that you can take away from them!”
Dr. Bilal Mansoor, CTL director, noted that this student enrichment programming is designed to give students skills beyond their core curriculum to help distinguish themselves from their peers and prepare for the job market.
“Despite the current pandemic-related restrictions,” Mansoor said, “We adapted our short courses to maintain continuity and delivered a virtual learning experience to our students. This online cycle saw participation from the largest number of students and alumni, and I commend the students for their resilience and passion as demonstrated by their participation despite the challenging circumstances we are all in due to COVID-19.”