Showcase

Teachers’ Online Course

This is an online professional development course for Computer Science teachers in K-12. The course focuses on how to effectively plan for classes that teach Computational Thinking. It is common that teacher’s end up focusing too much code. Designing this online course helped me enhance my skills as a “distance” teacher coach. I also got to practice these skills in my periodical teacher training workshops.

Teachers’ Workshop

This is an online training workshop to help teachers incorporate computational thinking in their computer classes. The goal is to help their students build transferrable skills of logical and analytical thinking. As a teacher coach, composing this plan helped me practice integrating creative thinking skills in my training sessions.

Adaptive Learning Infographic

This infographic aims to explain computational thinking in the light of Cognitive Learning Theories. Adaptive learning refers to experts’ skills in developing a learner’s knowledge. Reflecting on these theories in the context of my field developed my understanding and awareness of their importance and implications. As a result, enhancing my analytical skills of our practices as educators.

Game Jam

I organized the first of kind Game Jam (game development event) in Qatar. The event was open to all age groups, and was sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Here is a press release on it. You can also checkout the games developed within this event here. Taking lead on the event organization gave me the chance to meeting a lot of local and international game development enthusiast. It also boosted my capacity in leadership.

Community Club

Under the umbrella of Arab Women in Computing (ArabWIC) which I co-founded, we ran multiple workshops for young students, in an effort to introduce them to coding. The workshops were voluntary and in collaboration with respected institutes, such as UNESCO, Ministry of Communication and local universities. These experiences helped me form cohesive idea about learning outside the school walls. It also flourished key skills such as leading, teaching, and communication.

Alice & Makey-Makey

I love getting kids excited about learning, but this time, I was the excited one. As a part of my outreach work, I integrated two of the most fun educational tech tools: Alice and Makey-Makey. The result was interactive mixed-reality games. This experience broadened my horizon of what is possible, and enabled me learn more about electrical engineering and physics. Most importantly, how to teach all that integrations.

Program from Zero

This is my interview with Raqmi-TV, where an initiative for computing education in K-12 in the region. Raqmi-TV is the Arabic Hub for all technology related news. The interview was online and covers the journey of the initiative, and how we reached over 5,000 benefiting students. Being featured in such a reputable channel in the region gave me and our team a great exposure, which is an important step towards our expansion in the Middle East.

Gamified History

This is a research project I conducted in collaboration with a local school, Al-Arqam Academy for Girls. The research project involved creating a game where students explore a specific period in history, measure their attainment, and compare it to a control group. The project was selected as best presentation in an international conference. Leading the research and planning all the stages greatly impacted my skills as a researcher and an investigator.

Traffic Manager Game

This is a two-player board-game I invented to stimulate students’ problem solving and algorithmic thinking. While these skills are important, we rarely allow opportunities for students to actively practice these skills. Developing the game professionally allowed me to interact with game developers, run test-cases, and reiterate. All these skills were important for me as an educator and learner, to accept feedback and work to enhance my approach.