Programs

• Global Schools Network
• Collaborative Learning
• Youth Engagement
• Program Advisory Groups

• Scholarships

• Share

Student-Led Learning

QFI supports projects that mentor youth in their path of investigating the world, increasing their awareness of their immediate and more distant environments and communicating and articulating their ideas to their peers and communities, while recognizing various perspectives. QFI encourages the engagement of students to ask and explore globally critical questions and issues. 

The projects that QFI supports and leads focus on providing students with the necessary tools, include Telepresence debates and Peers Educating Peers.

TelePresence Debates

At the beginning of 2011, QFI launched a series of online debates between students in Washington, D.C. and Doha, Qatar using Cisco's innovative TelePresence technology. The debates serve as an extension of the Arabic Language and Culture Initiative, enhancing the cross-cultural bonds between the students of this program.

Qatar Foundation International (QFI) partner schools in Washington D.C. and Doha, Qatar are using Cisco Systems’ innovative TelePresence video conferencing technology to bridge the geographical distance between them through a series of online debates. Mixed teams of Qatari and American high school students debate two sides of a contentious issue.  The students work with their teammates to formulate their arguments, weigh different perspectives, hone their debating skills, and learn more about each other’s cultures in the process supported and guided by their teachers. The virtual debates serve to deepen the cross-cultural and educational experience of students on different sides of the globe in a fun and innovative way.
 


Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of Qatar Foundation International, recognizes the potential of innovative technology to support the Foundation’s programs: “These TelePresence debates provide an excellent opportunity for QFI Arabic Language students to continue interacting with students in Doha beyond our Spring Break exchange trip.  This is a great example of the type of outgrowth from our core programming that builds lasting relationships, and hopefully, increased understanding between cultures”.

Peers Educating Peers

One of QFI's more recent projects -  Peers Educating Peers (PEP) - supports and guides students in the U.S. and Qatar to develop curriculum and become teachers of their peers. A pilot project, PEP is led by Boston Arts Academy (BAA) and uses the C2C - Classroom to Classroom - online platform as a tool for collaboration between schools, teachers and students.

PEP’s goal is for the students to learn about an issue that they are interested in, use arts and technology to create a lesson plan based on it, teach the content, and collaborate with their peers on authentic projects that make a difference in the world.  The second goal is to reexamine students’ environment and community, to spark curiousity, and for students to begin to question what they may have always taken for granted.  Finally, through the process of student exchange and peer education, PEP aims to break down some of the cultural assumptions and misconceptions that so often divide people.

Part of the pilot included a workshop in Doha in November 2011, for teachers in the U.S. and Qatar to learn how to act as PEP facilitators, helping students succeed as educators. The workshop included teaching techniques including Socratic seminar, authentic assessment & project based learning, expeditionary learning, and teaching using media.

The second workshop for teachers will take place in Qatar in April, 2012. Three teachers from Boston Arts Academy, including the coordinator of the PEP initiative, will hold professional development workshops at schools in Qatar so as to prepare teachers for the launch of PEP in September 2012.  The goals of the workshop are manifold, it will: 1) introduce teachers to the PEP program; 2) walk teachers through sample lessons, units and assessments; 3) provide a hands-on learning opportunity where teachers will experience the PEP curriculum as students, working in groups to create short films; and 4) allow teachers to collaboratively plan and present their own blueprint for a PEP curriculum.

In November of 2011, QFI organized the first PEP TelePresence debate between students from QFI grantee schools in Boston and Washington, D.C. Using Cisco's TelePresence technology, PEP students from the Boston Arts Academy (BAA) and the Washington Latin Public Charter School (WLPCS) participated in the first of many lively discussions as part of a Socratic seminar. The debate launched QFI into the next stage of PEP: practicing and sharing learned information about the students' respective cities. Currently, these students are designing and producing an authentic project demonstrating their understanding of, and engagement in, their community. They will then teach the history of Boston and Washington, DC to peers from their respective schools during exchange visits to these two cities in May of 2012. The educational process heavily involves online collaboration between schools using the C2C online platform.
 

Videos

Behind the Scenes at Brazil to Qatar: One World, Many Stories

A behind the scenes look at the #BtoQ exchange program that brought 22 high school students from Brazil to meet their counterparts in Qatar.

From Chicago to Doha: Connecting Cultures, Exploring Science

Learn about students from Chicago's Lindblom Math and Science Academy who went on QFI's exchange trip to Qatar.

Chicago2Doha Media Projects

39 students from 3 schools in Chicago and Qatar came together for the Connecting Cultures, Exploring Science trip. Students told their reflections of the trip through images, video and sound.

From Qatar to Seattle: Youth Get Global

From Qatar to Seattle: Youth Get Global" is a short video on QFI's Spring 2011 trip to Seattle, Washington.

Glass Blowing at Chihuly's Studio: YALLAH 2011

QFI students in Seattle as part of the YALLAH cultural exchange trip in 2011 were invited to world-renowned glass blower Dale Chihuly's studio.

Sir Richard Branson speaks to Earth Day Qatar 2011

Earth Day Qatar 2011 was the premier event in the region, featuring speakers, discussions, workshops, and a special video message by Sir Richard Branson.

Meet our Brazilian students

Arabic Language and Culture in Sao Paolo - meet the Brazilian students and administrators of this program.

Crossing the divide

Watch as students from QFI partner schools in Washington DC and Boston tell their story of language learning and cultural exchange.

Our mission and the astrolabe

With its rich and varied history, the Astrolabe represents education, science, innovation and diversity. Highlighted in this video, these values underscore QFI's vision and programs.