The online course on the topics of nanotechnology and nanosensor by Professor Hossam Haick will open up in May 2014. To date, it has had received more than 32,000 views from all over the world: 5,600 from Egypt, 1,200 from Syria and 1,900 from Kuwait; So far more than 16,000 students applied for the course in English, and close to 3,000 students signed up for the course in Arabic from the following countries: Saudi Arabia (over 700 applicants), Egypt (more than 600), and Syria (with some 400 candidates)<\/h3>\n

The first university course to be given in Arabic by Professor Hossam Haick of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at Technion on the topics of nanotechnology and nanosensors has gained significant interest from Arabic-speaking countries even before officially opening. The course will be given on the online education platform Coursera. The syllabus has had thousands of views: from Syria (1,243), Egypt (5,595), from Kuwait (1,865) and from Saudi Arabia (1,243). A large portion of viewers also applied for the course to open in March 2014. In Israel, 3,730 people signed up for the course. More than 16,000 students applied for it in English and close to 3,000 students signed up for the course in Arabic from the following countries: Saudi Arabia (over 700 applicants), Egypt (more than 600), and Syria (with some 400 candidates).<\/p>\n

Professor Haick\u2019s course is backed up by Associate Professor Miri Barak from the Department of Education in Science and Technology (as Pedagogical Adviser) and doctoral students Abeer Watted, Meital Segev and Nasreen Shehadah. It is also backed up by the Center for the Promotion of Learning and Teaching, led by Dr. Abigail Barzilai.<\/p>\n

During the course development process it was decided to maintain high quality learning materials while presenting the latest developments and innovations at the forefront of nanotechnology research with clear and simple explanations. In addition, it was ascertained to increase the use of demonstrations in order to foster better understanding of the transitions between the macro level (which can be seen by the naked eye), the micro level (the molecular level) down to the nano level (the single atoms). It was further resolved to use a variety of assessment tools to enable students to express their understanding in the best possible manner. To achieve these goals, the course has been designed in the following way:<\/p>\n

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• The subject matter will be divided into 10 lessons of increasing level difficulty.<\/li>\n
• Each lesson is composed of between 3-5 short lecture videos.<\/li>\n
• Each short lecture will focus on a particular concept or principle.<\/li>\n
• The lectures will include numerous illustrations and animations to demonstrate concepts and create interest.<\/li>\n
• Assessment tools will combine individual and group tasks.<\/li>\n
• These assessment tools will encourage high levels of creative and innovative thinking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  Participants in the nanotechnology and nanosesnsor course will be evaluation on the basis of the following three types of tasks:<\/p>\n

  \n
  1. Ten weekly quizzes (that will make up 20% of their final mark), that will include multiple-choice questions that test knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. Students will receive their grades through a computerized assessment calculated instantly. Students will not receive feedback on their quizzes, but they will be allowed to make three attempts whereby their highest score will be the one that will be counted.<\/li>\n
  2. Three open-ended tasks (worth 20% of the final mark), will be given every three weeks to encourage creative thinking. Here are two sample questions: What other sense would you want to have and why? OR Give an example of an innovative nanosensor you would like to implement into your daily life. In addition to submitting full and detailed answers, students will be asked to make peer evaluations. That is, they will need to critically evaluate the assignments of three fellow students in the course according to detailed score measurements.<\/li>\n
  3. The final project (worth 60% of the final mark), promotes collaboration, creativity and systems thinking. The goal of the project is to plan nanosensors capable of mimicking existing human sensory systems or one that would be able to serve as an additional human sense. The project will be carried out in groups of up to four students, but students will submit individual projects. Along with their project, each student will also be asked to provide peer evaluations on other projects according to detailed score measurements.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     The course on nanotechnology and nanosensors is very unique as it is the first course to be given in two languages \u2013 English and Arabic \u2013 and because a high percentage of the final grade is based on open-ended tasks that encourage creative and innovative thinking and not only on quizzes or closed-ended exercises. It combines cooperative learning in groups with individual study and peer evaluation with computerized assessment. Technion academics involved in planning the course gave the following statement: \u201cWe are hopeful that this course will contribute, if only slightly, to science and engineering education for populations around the world and maybe even help bring people closer together through collaborative tasks and common challenges.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

     The online course on the topics of nanotechnology and nanosensor by Professor Hossam Haick will open up in May 2014. To date, it has had received more than 32,000 views from all over the world: 5,600 from Egypt, 1,200 from Syria and 1,900 from Kuwait; So far more than 16,000 students applied for the course… Continue Reading Thousands of applicants from Arabic-speaking countries signed up to Technion\u2019s first online course taught in Arabic<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n