Knowledge Ninja 4: Mission NOT Impossible

“Knowledge Ninja 4: Mission NOT Impossible” - Out Now

To be truly strong, you need to admit your weaknesses and work on them. Ahmed San is brave enough to seek help from the right people, whether it is a disability that stands in his path to success, or a weakness in his typing, writing style or ability to correctly reference his work.

In this latest issue, Ahmed San finds the right people and resources at the Library, Independent Learning Centre (ILC), Active Learning Zone (ALZ) and the Assistive Technology Learning Resource Centre (ATLRC). It takes a village to raise a child, and in this scenario, it takes a community of people to train a successful and independent Knowledge Ninja.

To learn more about Ahmed’s latest exploits, see the “Knowledge Ninja 4: Mission NOT Impossible” online

To view it online click here.

Knowledge Ninja: the 3 skills

September is not only the start of a new semester, but also heralds the new issue of Knowledge Ninja!

The third issue of ADMC Library & Learning Centre’s own “manga” comic sees our intrepid novice ninja learning that listening, speaking and reading in English are important skills for a successful future in espionage! Of course, the Library is an excellent place for putting these skills into practice, with the right staff and materials to support a young ninja.

If you’re not lucky enough to get your hands on a printed copy of Knowledge Ninja’s new issue, never fear, as you’ll be able to find it online.

To view it online click here.

Satisfaction Guaranteed at ADMC Library & ILC!

During the month of May 2010, a system-wide online survey was conducted to measure student and staff satisfaction levels with campus services, including Libraries and Independent Learning Centers (ILCs). Though the results of the staff survey are still pending, the student satisfaction results are in, and Abu Dhabi Men’s College Library & Learning Centre performed very well indeed! With a satisfaction rating of 92.3%, not only did they place very high within their own college, but also very high within the whole of HCT!

Al Ain Men’s College Wins HCT Football League Again

Al Ain Men’s College repeated last year’s success to win the HCT Sports Association Football League, holding off strong challenges from both Fujairah and Dubai Men’s Colleges to top the table by 3 points.

The reigning champions maintained a run of home form that has seen them unbeaten in Al Ain since 2007, returning a 100% record, at home, for three successive seasons. They also picked up vital wins on the road in Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah. The latter’s final day victory over Dubai left AAMC 3 points ahead and a healthy goal difference to ensure the trophy remained in Al Ain. It also allowed Fujairah to claim the runners-up spot for the second time.

The champions top scored with 29 goals – one more than FMC – but significantly had the meanest defence, conceding only 7 goals all year, with goalkeeper Saeed Bashir Qoul Mohammed Al Baloushi returning 5 clean-sheets. The final icing on the cake for AAMC was the top goal scorer prize going to striker Ali Mohammed Saleh Ahmad Al Mansoori, who scored at an average of one goal per game.

In another competitive season AAMC also took first place in the HCT Sport’s Day football in 2010 to complete their dominance of HCT Football. Outstanding characteristics of the AAMC Sports Program have been students’ understanding that through persistent effort, teamwork and perseverance any goal is achievable.

May E-books Now Available

May's e-books have been uploaded and are now available to view.

Abu Dhabi Men’s Second Annual Poetry Slam a Great Success!

The ADMC Library played host once again to the increasingly popular Poetry Slam, where students, as well as staff, got the opportunity to perform their work in front of a friendly and eager audience of their peers. A panel of judges declared winners in different categories, with prizes being a certificate and a coffee voucher for Starbucks.

Poems and performances were of a varying degree of quality and style, but all were well received and loudly appreciated!

Organised by Dr. Patrick Dougherty from the English Department, the event saw the Library Presentation Room jam-packed with poets, fellow students, and staff. Fourteen students read their poems, with four staff members also performing – albeit not for prizes.

The winners in the different categories were:

Best Dressed Poet:

Abdulla Shehab (CQS)

Most Imagery in a Poem:

Hamad Mohamed (CQE)

Funniest Poem:

Younis Jumaa Feraish Rashed Khuwaidem Al (CQL)

Best Delivery:

Malik Ahmed Ali (CQE)

Most Eye Contact with Audience:

Abdul Rahman Al Ameri (CQE)

Best of Show:

Khalifa Mohammed Al Romaithi (CPC)

Dr. Dougherty announced that this year’s poems would be published in a poetry anthology by the end of May! The Library definitely plans on getting a few copies for itself!

Noora's Adventures

Noora's Adventures, a graphic style publication is published twice per semester by the DWC Library. Noora is a smart, joyful and confident girl who sees her life in the college as an exciting adventure full of learning opportunities.

To see Noora's first adventure click here.

Noora's second adventure is also available for viewing.

DWC Library reaches out to the community during Library Week

As part of the Library Week annual event, Dubai Women’s College (DWC) students and staff recently donated 8 sets of Children’s picture books in both, English and Arabic to Dubai Public Libraries. The books were authored by DWC students and were handed over during a visit from Dubai Public Libraries to DWC. With this year’s Library Week theme – “Communities Thrive @ Your Library” the event aimed at encouraging young Emiratis to read.

“Thank you very much for these books and this wonderful effort,” said the director of Dubai Public Libraries, Mohammed Jassim Al Araidi, during the handover ceremony. “We hope to keep a line of communication active in the future to help in achieving our goal and we wish more success to you.”

From his part, Dr. Howard Reed, Director of DWC pointed out that Library week at DWC has been a very exciting opportunity for students to experience many interesting special events in the library and to confirm what an amazing system of libraries the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) has. Library Week also highlighted the fact that librarians are a critical ingredient in the learning process, he added.

DWC hosted a renowned local author and poet Wael Sayegh during the Library week, who shared stories about literature and writing with DWC students. The college library expanded the reach of this presentation to students across the UAE by using technology and social networking to stream the presentation live and to take questions via Twitter.

During this year's Library Week, DWC also hosted representatives from Kinokuniya bookstore to support the theme of connection and community. Staff could buy books and donate it to the Library. Staff and faculty visited classrooms to read aloud from the first chapters of several novels.

Other activities included beading, glass decoration, graffiti boards, and Quiz Night for staff (won by the DWC Management team). Students participated by making a huge book with their stories in. More than 772 students participated in Library Week 2010.

April E-books Now Available

April's e-books have been uploaded and are now available to view.

Library Week at ADMC

ADMC had a successful Library Week from April 11-15th. Students we able to joining in with a variety of activities and events.

Wael Sayegh's Presentation

UK-born Emirati poet Wael Sayegh opened the Library Week celebration with his inspiring presentation that was streamed from Dubai live on the 103” plasma screen. Students were able to ask the presenter a few questions via Twitter.

Dedra Stevenson - Guest Speaker

ADMC hosted Dedra Stevenson, the American-Emirati author of The Hakima’s Tale, to talk to the students about creative writing, her books inspired by Emirati folklore and self-publishing in the UAE. Her presentation included a discussion of the creative process such as choosing a writing environment, becoming inspired, and following through with a writing project as well as choosing a publishing option.

Encyclopedia Britannica Presentations

Students enjoyed discovering Encyclopedia Britannica search options, timelines and country comparisons.

My Favourite Book

PowerPoint displays on the 103” plasma screen in the library highlighted ADMC staff and student favourite book picks.

HCT’s Al Ain Colleges host the Third Centre of Excellence for English Conference

Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology the HCT Al Ain Colleges hosted the Third Centre of Excellence for English Conference, “It’s all in the Words!”, on the 6th and 7th April at the Al Ain Men’s College.

The Vice Chancellor of the HCT, Dr Tayeb Kamali opened the conference. In his inspiring opening address Dr Kamali stressed on the intrinsic and extrinsic value of vocabulary in the communication process. This set the scene for the keynote speaker’s address and the subsequent breakout sessions. He was then handed the first copy of a book based on last year’s conference theme entitled “Cultivating real writers: emerging theory and practice for adult Arab learners”.

The theme of this year’s conference was “It’s all in the words”! The Centre of Excellence for English’s flagship event was held over 2 days.

The first day was dedicated to faculty around HCT and the second was exclusively for Bachelor Year One students.

Dr Felicity O’Dell, a prolific writer of over 40 English Language textbooks delivered the keynote address with much enthusiasm drawing examples from her wealth of experience as a teacher, teacher-trainer and writer. Her plenary session which followed outlined what second language acquisition research is conveying to us about how vocabulary is learnt. This in turn can inform vocabulary teaching. She continued with her session stressing the importance of recycling, the need to form word associations, the role of independent learning and the added value of word knowledge.

Thirty breakout sessions with a strong focus on vocabulary teaching and learning followed. They continued into the afternoon.

As Brent Mills the Al Ain Colleges director observed, “the conference brought together ELT faculty from all HCT colleges during Independent Learning Week for a Professional Development learning experience focusing on the importance of vocabulary in teaching and learning.”

The first day was brought to a close with a raffle and closing comments by the Associate Dean of the COE. All delegates attended this before they departed Al Ain for other emirates with their expectations fulfilled.

Al Ain Colleges host Olympic Gold Medalist, Michele Smith

Students at Al Ain Colleges had the pleasure of meeting Michele Smith, a 2 time Olympic gold medalist (1996 and 2000) with the U.S. National Softball Team. Michele currently is a sports analyst for ESPN.

Michele started her day in Al Ain visiting Al Ain Women’s College. She toured the campus and talked to students and faculty about her professional career and her Olympic experience, highlighting the importance of sport for physical and mental well-being. Michele also conducted a basketball clinic for students and answered many questions.

In the afternoon, Michele visited Al Ain Men’s College and talked about her Olympic softball career and the challenges she confronted and overcame in her pursuit of Olympic Gold. Michele gave a demonstration of ball handling skills and impressed all participants with the speed and control possible with an underhand softball pitch.

Michele was impressed with the quality of questions she received from the students and went on to say “I am impressed by the students knowledge of softball and baseball”.

March E-books Now Available

March's e-books have been uploaded and are now available to view.

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature begins today and runs through Saturday at the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City. The festival will feature more than one hundred English and Arabic-language authors. These authors include Fadhil Al Azzawi, Martin Amis, Shobhaa De, Abdo Khal, Alexander McCall Smith, Marjane Satrapi, Adhaf Soueif, and Vikas Swarup.

In addition, the festival also features over one hundred sessions and includes the Fringe festival on Friday and Saturday where students will perform poetry, songs, and drama.

Original Report: Gulf News Online

Al Ain Colleges Centre of Excellence for English Annual Conference to be held April 6-7

The Centre of Excellence for English, Al Ain Colleges welcomes you to its third annual conference, “It’s all in the Words!” The conference will take place over two days (April 6 and 7) with the focus on vocabulary.

Tuesday the 6th is Faculty Day and is dedicated to teaching and learning vocabulary. A collection of presentations and workshops will be delivered by faculty from all seventeen colleges. Details of all the presenters, and their abstracts may be found on the conference website.

The second conference day is exclusively for Bachelor Year 1 students from across the Higher Colleges of Technology. There will be a morning of presentations and workshops for students followed by a vocabulary quiz in the afternoon. It is anticipated that teams from all the colleges will participate in the competition.

To register please visit the: conference website

Al Ain Men’s College hosts another successful HDF Men’s Inter-College Quiz Competition

Al Ain Men’s College was the venue for the Annual HD Foundations Men’s Inter-College Quiz Competition held on Tuesday 2nd March 2010. Six HCT mens’ colleges from Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al Khaimah and Sharjah, competed in the event.

Selected teams from each college accompanied by their supporters, were challenged over seven rounds of intense competition in the following categories: General Knowledge, the UAE, Geography, Vocabulary, Spelling, Grammar, Math.

This year’s quiz featured an innovative and sophisticated hi-tech arrangement. It gave students the opportunity to augment their key learnings in the Higher Diploma Foundations courses with an element of competition, problem solving, teamwork and of course fun! It also helped the teams and supporters develop their listening skills.

Despite the inclement weather all teams made it to Al Ain. In a strongly contested competition, Sharjah Men’s College triumphed over Al Ain Men’s College with Abu Dhabi Men’s College taking third position.

Geoff Stout, English faculty Al Ain Women’s College, played the role of quiz master extraordinaire while Brent Mills, Director, Al Ain Colleges and Tim Smith, Associate Director, Al Ain Colleges presented the trophy and medals to the first three teams.

The event concluded with a sumptuous BBQ in the AAMC foyer for all the teams, supporters and faculty from the six colleges.

Contributed by: Douglas Henderson