DWC students enjoy Virtual International Experience with New York

The experience was the climax of weeks of preparation and hard work in their English classes, as the students developed their profiles which were finally uploaded onto the website in New York last week.

Both Dr. Howard Reed, Director of the college, and Donna Behl, the Chair of the department, encouraged and supported the event, as part of the process of creating blended learning opportunities with the cutting edge technology available at the college.

Students were actively engaged in live online discussions with the students in New York. The pace was fast as one discussion thread achieved 255 student comments in the hour - an average of a comment every fifteen seconds! The subjects discussed, covered everything from the current financial situation and swine flu, to the lighter but compelling teenage subjects of clothes, music and social life.

Commenting on the event, Steve Bushill, DWC faculty member facilitating the session said, "It was truly inspiring to see two groups of students from such different backgrounds so anxious to share their ideas and opinions."

Shoba Bandi Rao from New York University, who facilitated the session in New York, said that she was really surprised how different the 18 year olds are today as they can carry on multiple conversations at the same time. "My students unanimously loved the online class. They all want to visit Dubai now," she concluded.