Using technology to enhance student engagement

A student affairs professional and a current student of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) gave a presentation at the recent MENASA NASPA Conference on ways to use technology to optimize student engagement.

The conference, which was hosted by Qatar University in partnership with NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education), had the theme, “Student Affairs: Changes and Challenges in the Era of Emerging Technologies.” Participants in the event included students, professionals, researchers, and experts from many different educational institutions in the MENA region and South Asia.

The WCM-Q presentation, which was a result of a collaboration between the Division of Student Affairs and the Medical Student Executive Council – Qatar, was given by Mr. Amjad Abdo, events and student development specialist, and second-year pre-medical student Ms. Shahad Ibrahim.

In the presentation, titled “Effective Technology Methods for Our Student Engagement,’’ Mr. Abdo and Ms. Ibrahim discussed challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and the strategies that were implemented to maintain and enhance engagement while physical distancing guidelines were in place. These included switching student programming to the online sphere using video conferencing software, and the establishment of a centralized website to provide a space in which students could connect with one another and to facilitate the coordination of student clubs, societies and. The presentation then concluded with a discussion of which measures were found to be so effective that they kept in place after the pandemic and why.

The conference is the main annual event for South Asia and the MENA region of NASPA, a leading international professional association for student personnel administrators.