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Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2018 Issue 4
- Conference date: 19-20 Mar 2018
- Location: Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC), Doha, Qatar
- Volume number: 2018
- Published: 15 March 2018
61 - 63 of 63 results
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Population Growth and Housing Affordability in Doha Metropolitan: Challenges and Opportunities
More LessUrban issues are increasingly considered on national policy programs. Cities are major contributors to national economies and play a key role as nodes in the global market. As with any urban area with an emerging history, the city of Doha has emerged as a commercial hub around a port, which has guided the emergence of housing agglomerations. Several types of houses were developed over the various stages of Doha's urbanization period since the 1950s. Doha metropolitan has evolved rapidly in the twentieth century due to the investment of oil and gas revenues which has resulted in massive inflows of migrants. During the last few decades, the phenomenal impact of the multicultural population on the housing market has suggested unique lifestyle-oriented preferences. The city has evolved rapidly in the twentieth century due to the investment of oil and gas revenues, which has resulted in massive population growth. Housing supply and demand have been challenged to satisfy the diverse market needs. Since the 1990s, the phenomenal impact of the increased population growth rates of the massive migrant flows on the housing market has instigated the need for a demand-driven supply of housing. In parallel, the socio-cultural diversities of the multi-cultural population require certain housing typologies to meet this diverse need. The rapid increase in land prices has led to the increase of residential rents and hindered the establishment of more affordable housing. Accordingly, housing affordability became one of the most important topics that presents an important topic both in the present and for the future. Tracing population growth rates in Doha reflects the rapid increase in certain periods of their massive inflows. During the period between 1990 and 1995, Doha has witnessed a considerable increase in population growth rates. This is followed by a steady increase until 2005 where another rapid increase has taken place. This was a result of Doha's participation in mega-sporting events, which has led to an increase in housing demand to accommodate the increasing population. In this paper, two methodological approaches to study housing dynamics and characteristics are used: an analysis of population trends and a survey of housing preferences. Statistical analysis of population trends provides a quantitative overview on the dynamics of the housing supply and demand. The survey of housing preferences is known to be related to cultural factors on how nationals and migrants are residing in the city, including their demography and lifestyle. It provides an overview of the current lifestyle clusters of current population. The paper aims to explore affordable housing opportunities with respect to supply and demand trends and the surveyed lifestyles in order to meet the diverse demographics of Doha's population. Conclusions are drawn to establish future guidelines and recommendations for housing growth and neighborhood planning in view of population demographics, governmental visions, and urban realities.
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High Skilled Professionals in the GCC: Migration policies and Government outlook
More LessThe long-term national visions of the GCC states are unanimous in their ambition: economic development of their countries and transformation into knowledge-based economies. In order for these states to achieve this objective, it is critical that they continue to attract high-skilled professionals with the required expertise and know-how. This paper attempts to provide substantive research into both current government policies and their future-planning as to how high-skilled migrants will continue to aid the development of GCC countries. The aim of this paper is to understand the dynamics that come into play when hiring and recruiting high-skilled migrants for employment in the GCC states. It will analyze GCC government approaches through various policies, in areas such as Immigration and Labor, which have been adopted to address the requirements of these migrants. The paper will then highlight a trend in the demand for the various high-skilled professionals that has emerged in the GCC owing to the changing economic dynamics of the countries involved. It will evaluate how this approach towards highly skilled professionals sits alongside nationalization plans that could be said to be diametrically opposite in ambition, in an attempt to determine the future trajectory of GCC countries in their approach towards high-skilled professionals.
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Use of Slack in the Undergraduate Classroom as a Means of Fostering Student/Faculty Engagement
Authors: Shakir Hussain, Andrew Mills and Amy Kristin SandersMany instructors bemoan the lack of meaningful undergraduate student interaction during office hours (Rees, 2014), but little research has been done to determine the best means of fostering faculty/student interaction outside the classroom. Much of the pedagogical research has been dedicated to the promotion of mobile learning devices, including smartphones and tablets, for teaching and learning in the classroom environment (GIkas & Grant, 2013). However, far less scholarship has examined the potential to use apps and other mobile technologies to increase faculty/student interaction outside the formal learning spaces. As a part of a Digital Learning Fellowship grant funded by Northwestern University's Provost, we developed two blended-learning undergraduate-level courses in ethics and leadership for media students. The goal of these courses was to combine face-to-face instruction with asynchronous instruction while students were not in Qatar. To assist with this, we proposed the use of several educational technologies, including communication app Slack. Literature suggests successful use of Slack by instructors in other fields, including medicine (Perkel, 2016) and other graduate-level settings. Although Slack operates similarly to WhatsApp, it is more widely used in professional settings – including the very media organizations where many of our undergraduate students will go to work in a professional capacity. Prior to offering these blended-learning courses in Summer 2018, we undertook a pilot study of the use of Slack in a traditional undergraduate classroom setting. The goal of the pilot study was to understand student preferences for engagement with faculty and to evaluate the effectiveness of Slack a means of fostering communication between faculty and students. We hypothesized that our students, who are digital natives, would have a preference for the use of chat apps as a means of engaging with faculty. In part, our hypothesis was informed by survey data that shows 94% of those aged 18-24 in Qatar use WhatsApp to communicate directly with individuals or groups, which is in line with regional norms. In addition, we knew that informal WhatsApp groups had been created in previous sections of courses we had taught at Northwestern University in Qatar. Because of students' heavy reliance on mobile technologies and the ability of this technology to provide more timely responses than traditional office hours, we expected heavy use by the students. At the beginning of the fall semester, two courses of students (a large-enrollment, required course for first-year students and a small-enrollment elective course open to all students) were surveyed to evaluate their preferences for engagement with faculty as well as use of chat apps as part of their daily lives. Early in the semester, the students were introduced to Slack via an in-class instructional session, where they set up their accounts on the mobile phones and laptops. Students were encouraged to use Slack to get answers to quick questions from their peers and instructors. Multiple channels (such as deadlines, announcements, etc) were created to assist with categorizing the conversations. Data was collected and analyzed to evaluate undergraduate students' use of Slack for engagement with faculty in both courses. Our presentation at the Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference presents an overview of our experiences piloting the use of Slack as tool for undergraduate student engagement with faculty outside the classroom. Additionally, it is informed by a survey of undergraduate students to assess their perceptions of engagement with faculty, with a specific focus on use of technology. Although we expected undergraduate students would use Slack heavily, their usage habits suggest the application is not as effective as other research has shown it to be at the graduate level (Talbot, 2015). Given their limited experience in a university setting, student may be more reluctant to use, and rely on, Slack as a crowd-sourcing tool to address the questions and queries. In addition, some students expressed a distinct preference for Slack's direct-messaging capabilities over the group forum, suggesting they may lack the confidence of graduate students in expressing their ideas and uncertainties. Relevant Pillar: Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities: Education, Labor & Migration Our pilot study is aimed at improving education here in Qatar by providing a better understanding of how students from a variety of secondary school backgrounds aim to engage with faculty members outside the formal classroom setting. Our study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to address our research question and serves as a strong foundation for future pedagogy research in the realm of undergraduate education in Qatar. Ideally, this and subsequent research can help university professors better engage with their students, increasing student learning and encouraging discussion and dialogue beyond class hours. References Dennis, E. E., Martin, J. D., & Wood, R. (2017). Media use in the Middle East, 2017: A seven-nation survey. Northwestern University in Qatar. Retrieved from www.mideastmedia.org/survey/2017. Gikas, J., & Grant, M. M. (2013). Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. The Internet and Higher Education, 19, 18-26. Perkel, Jeffrey M. (2016). “How Scientists Use Slack: Eight Ways Labs Benefit from the Popular Workplace Messaging Tool.” Nature. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/news/how-scientists-use-slack-1.21228 Rees, J. (2014). “Office Hours Are Obsolete.” Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://chroniclevitae.com/news/534-office-hours-are-obsolete Talbot, B. (2015). “Slack: Solution to Persistent Issues in Online Teaching?”. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@Bud_T/slack-solution-to-persistent-issues-in-online-teaching-492b60d6ff0e
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