SULAIMANI, Iraq & SONOMA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--You can set your clock by most graduation ceremonies. Dutifully, the late spring ritual serves as both an end and a beginning.
But not all commencement ceremonies are alike, and some are especially laden with meaning.
Consider that the scenario for the first undergraduate commencement ceremony at the American University of Iraq (AUIS), a private, non-profit university located in Sulaimani in the Kurdistan Region, offering a liberal arts education based on the American model. On June 16, AUIS will award 37 undergraduate degrees, including the university’s first cohort of ten students.
A portion of the graduating class passed through the AUIS Academic Preparatory Program, a foundational English curriculum that augments language skills with preparation for undergraduate study in English.
For that preparatory program, AUIS is turning to StudySync (www.studysync.com), the web-based collaborative curriculum from BookheadEd Learning, LLC. On the heels of a successful pilot focused on English language learning, every Academic Preparatory Program (APP) student will now have access to the StudySync platform.
Rosalind Warfield-Brown, Director of the Academic Preparatory Program, chose StudySync for its wide selection of readings. "There's something to appeal to all of our students," she said, "and that's important in a culture where reading is not a pastime of choice. We've found that the range of the StudySync library offerings is one of its greatest strengths."
Based on the pilot – which, as in the U.S., enlists broadcast-quality video, digital media, mobile platforms and social learning to advance students’ reading, writing and critical thinking abilities – StudySync appears poised for take-off.
“Contrary to our expectations that writing would be the big hurdle, reading has proven to be the real challenge to our students, but they’ve been totally engaged by the StudySync videos,” said Rachel Laribee, Deputy Director, APP. “While we initially thought video was only for struggling students, it’s been good for everyone.”
"Most of my students aren’t crazy about reading, but they were completely engrossed when we used StudySync in the lab,” said Christine Steele, one of the APP’s lecturers. “The well-chosen library with its audio support, as well as the interactivity and high production values of the site, engaged the students and made the reading fun and the meaning accessible for them."
"As a teacher I've always been wary of edtech programs that promise to revolutionize the classroom experience,” observed Ryan Gorman, another APP teacher. “But StudySync's wealth of resources, engaging videos, interactivity and user-friendliness deliver on this often-dubious promise."
According to Ryan Bubalo, StudySync Education Accounts Manager, “AIUS is the most technologically advanced campus in Iraq. StudySync takes learning to the 21st Century place where these students like to see it, and adds context, so we end up shaping not just language skills but also leadership skills and cultural awareness in the global economy.”
About the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani
AUIS is Iraq’s only private, non-profit university. The mission of the university is to provide advanced academic programs at international standards of quality in higher education for the professions and general education. Academic programs, taught in the English language by international faculty members, are designed to meet or exceed accreditation standards set by regional accreditation organizations in the United States.
About BookheadEd Learning, LLC
BookheadEd Learning connects high school and middle school students to the great ideas of mankind through technology, multimedia, and a rich library of classic and modern texts. StudySync, its award-winning flagship product, uses web-delivered educational tools to help teachers inspire higher levels of students’ reading, writing, critical thinking, academic discourse and peer-to-peer collaboration. To learn more, visit www.studysync.com.