30th Anniversary History Book

Oksana Hagerty delivered a two-day workshop to 50 senior faculty members across the disciplines at the University of Sharjah. The workshop sessions addressed identification of learning and attention (LAI) issues; instructional and class environment strategies; and the concept of universal design in the delivery of undergraduate and graduate curricula. A similar workshop is scheduled for the fall 2019 at the Sharjah College of Technology. Further, Beacon’s faculty and administrative leadership are featured as speakers and workshop presenters each year on a variety of LAI-related subjects at an annual international conference sponsored by the Sharjah Center for Learning Difficulties. In spring 2018 and 2019, teams of four to six Beacon faculty and administrators returned to Sharjah to collaborate with the Center for

Learning Difficulties on Project Discovery, a two-week residential program for college-bound UAE youth ages 15-22. Similar to the Summer for Success program for American youth, groups of up to 20 participants were exposed to college-level courses combined with visits to sports parks, science centers, and other educational and recreational venues. The Project Discovery program is intended to be an annual staple of this growing international, cooperative relationship in the UAE and possibly other locales. “We found receptive and passionate, skilled collaborators in a pre- college program that parallels work we’ve done on our own campus,” said President Hagerty. “We found among the students a desire to achieve their full potential while recognizing the challenges that are part of learning differences.”

Project Discovery students in Sharjah.

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