The immediate objectives for Purdue's collaboration with UNESCO/ROSTAS and universities in the Middle East:
The immediate objectives for Purdue's collaboration with UNESCO/ROSTAS and universities in the Middle East collaboration are summarized as follows:
developing a cadre of faculty capable of applying modern educational technology and theory to the improvement of veterinary education ; developing sharable custom-made educational multimedia materials that contain relevant resource materials, e.g., libraries of digitized images, video, graphic, audio, and textual materials; designing and developing sharable, innovative, instructional programs that are culturally sensitive and which exploit state-of-the-art information technology; developing strategies for the integration of interactive multimedia into existing biology courses. developing, using multimedia technologies and instructional design effective approaches, a pilot course for teaching basic biological sciences.
BACKGROUND AND PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
As you know that Purdue University has signed a letter of intent with the UNESCO for the establishment of a UNESCO UNITWIN Biological Sciences Network. The Network fosters improvement of biological sciences Education through development and use of information technologies in some Arab States Universities. As a result of signing of the letter of intent with UNESCO and the memorandum of understanding with Ain Shams University, Dr. Khalifa made two trips to Purdue to work with Drs. Coppoc, Nour, Roesel and Harrington . During these short trips, Dr. Khalifa succeeded in developing multimedia resources on CD-ROMs using Toolbook 5.0 and the authoring system VAGUS that Dr. Roesel has developed. He also experimented with the World Wide Web for delivery of his anatomy course, which can now be accessed by students in the Middle East. Dr. Khalifa used the multimedia interactive lesson modules and microfiches to support the courses he teaches at the schools of science and pharmacy in Egypt.
UNESCO\UNITWIN Center for Courseware Development at Ain Shams University
As a result of Dr. Khalifa's efforts to incorporate modern computer and multimedia technologies into his teaching, and as a result of his dedication to share his experience in the region, Purdue has suggested creation of a UNESCO\UNITWIN Center for Courseware Development. Ain Shams University graciously honored our suggestion and created the center and appointed Dr. Khalifa as its coordinator. Contingent upon availability of resources and UNESCO's commitment to the center, we are planning to continue our cooperation with Ain Shams University (Dr. Khalifa and his colleagues) and UNESCO/ ROSTAS to this facility a regional center of excellence that can help faculty in universities in the region appreciate and integrate in their teaching modern educational technologies to the improve the biological sciences education.
1996 SPECIFIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Dr. Khalifa's visit to Purdue in 1996 was organized within the framework of Purdue's collaboration with Ain Shams and UNESCO\ROSTAS to continue train key persons on the use of modern information technologies, and on production of teaching resources that emphasize the uniqueness of the biological diversity in Egypt. This collaboration is conceived by UNESCO to help faculty in Arab Universities reform and upgrade their methodologies and course resources. Dr. Khalifa came to Purdue supported by his university and his personal resources. We are especially proud of Dr. Khalifa's dedicated efforts to develop courseware and teaching resources that can be used for improving biological sciences education in the Arab region. He came to Purdue to further develop lesson modules in plant anatomy and international gardens, and to design new lessons in systematic botany and medicinal and poisonous plants using the authoring systems, ToolBook 5.0 and VAGUS, which Dr. Roesel continues to develop. Other objectives of his visit were to learn more about digitizing and editing images using our new scanning equipment and software (PhotoShop 3.0 and PhotoStyler); to attend specialized seminars on multimedia development for the classroom and for World Wide Web; and to experiment with the use of the internet for delivery of courses.
Dr. Khalifa attended a specialized series of seminars organized to help our faculty get more acquainted with the concept of computer-based education, multimedia development, and the use of the internet for distance learning. Specifically, he attended the following seminars:
Multimedia Development for the Classroom; Digital images: Why, When and How; Computer-Mediated Distance Education; Experimenting With Distance Education and the Web: Anatomy and Physiology
Dr. Khalifa succeeded in digitizing and editing hundreds of images for systematic botany, international gardens, and medicinal and poisonous plants modules. He captured all of his edited images in a CD-ROM, which he took to Egypt upon his recent return. In addition, he developed a new version of his anatomy lesson using Toolbook 5.0. He planned computer-based lessons on systematic botany and medicinal and poisonous plants. Dr. Harrington, the School's systemic pathologists, has been invited to go to Egypt, as a visiting expert, to work with Dr. Khalifa on a project entitled " Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: Development of an International Interactive Multimedia Teaching Resource on CD-ROM". While at Purdue, Dr. Khalifa also developed two microfiches on systematic botany. These microfiches will be accompanied by audiotapes that has the lesson both in Arabic and English and a booklet to help students learn. Dr. Khalifa also planned teaching resources that can help instructors custom-design their own multimedia products to improve education of their specialty areas. We are extremely proud of his accomplishments at Purdue.
An interesting development in his work with Purdue is that, Dr. Khalifa now has a course in plant anatomy on the World Wide Web that can be accessed from any place in the world that has access to the internet by typing: http://www.vet.purdue.edu/depts/bms/UNESCO.html
We estimate that his 1996 visit to Purdue has cost Purdue $12,000.00 in faculty time, equipment and other expenses.
1995 SPECIFIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
In 1995, Dr. Khalifa came to Purdue, to work with Drs Coppoc and Nour, in order to preserve his valuable collection of slides and photographs in an electronic form, update the Egyptian Flora Database with images, produce an Egyptian flora CD-ROM, and to acquaint himself with interactive multimedia computer resources used as instructional tool in teaching biological sciences. Purdue offered Dr. Khalifa technical expertise and equipment e.g. slide scanner, flatbed (full page) scanner, CD-ROM recorder, computers and associated software. Dr. Khalifa succeed in development of interactive computer-assisted modules and production of two CD-ROMS, one on Egyptian flora (his updated database) and one on multimedia computer resources with interactive lesson modules and a flexible and searchable database.
Purdue invested substantial resources, in terms of personnel, equipment and software, to make his mission successful. His visit to Purdue was organized within the framework of the UNESCO\ROSTAS UNITWIN Biological Sciences Network. The objective was to develop a cadre of faculty, in Egypt and other Arab states, trained in the production and use of modern information technologies to improve biological sciences education. The visit was jointly sponsored by UNESCO\ROSTAS, Ain Shams University and Purdue University.
Dr. Khalifa received excellent training in the use of slide and flatbed scanners, preparation of programs for the production of CD-ROM, slide microfiches, and interactive multimedia lesson modules, using TOOLBOOK and VAGUS authoring systems. He was exposed to the use of TOOLBOOK and Microsoft Office programs (Access, Excel and Microsoft word). Dr. Khalifa worked hard to realize the objectives of his mission. His interest, dedication and work ethic helped him accomplish a lot in a very short time.
SUMMARY
The UNESCO's support of our two institutions' initiative is crucial for helping Dr. Khalifa develop modern technologies and methodologies for improving delivery of the plant sciences courses that he teaches. The development of these courses will serve as a model for improving biological sciences education in Egypt and the rest of the Arab World. Ain Shams University is interested in information technologies and it is uniquely positioned to help the rest of the Arab World. We envision our role here at Purdue is to continue to coordinate the Biological Sciences Network and provide the needed consultations; conduct advanced workshops in the region; and to provide technical support and training for faculty from the Arab States at Purdue.
The wealth of the visual and textual information that Dr. Khalifa has, his expertise, and the success of his mission at Purdue made us comfortable to urge you to support the activities of the UNESCO\ROSTAS Biological Sciences Center at Ain Shams University. It is envisioned that this center would cooperate with Purdue to train local faculty and to produce specialized-custom-made CD-ROMs and computer-assisted interactive lesson modules for improving biological sciences education in the Arab States. This would be done within the framework of the UNESCO\ROSTAS UNITWIN Biological Sciences Network.
Our long term participation in the UNESCO\ROSTAS UNITWIN Biological Sciences Network will hinge on finding resources to reimburse the university for its future investment of faculty and other resources. Your support for the efforts, such as Dr. Khalifa's proposal, that foster a fruitful relationship between Purdue and Ain Shams is important for our relationship with the UNESCO/ROSTAS.
Multilingual instructional material on CD-ROMs: Foreign Animal Diseases