“Around the world” podcast
Episode 6: Chahira Nouira, University of Göttingen, Germany
Welcome a new episode of the “Educationalist: Around the world” podcast, the first one in 2022! This week I am happy to be joined by Chahira Nouira, Instructional Designer at the University of Göttingen, Germany.
Almost 15 years ago, Chahira started her career as an educational technologist for European NGOs and student initiatives. She then worked for United Nations University (UNU) at the Institute for Environment and Human Security in Bonn, where she was in charge of facilitating capacity development workshops in e-Learning with teaching staff from universities based in Europe, Africa and South East Asia. Since December 2016, she has been a member of the Digital Learning and Teaching team at the University of Göttingen. She first worked for the “Internationalisation of the Curricula” project and helped with the successful implementation of more than 30 digital and collaborative teaching initiatives across participating faculties in cooperation with Universities from around the world. Since April 2020, Chahira has been in charge of Digital Teaching and Learning in the 2.2 million euros project “liveSciences³ — Transnational and Digital Linked Life Sciences”. You can find Chahira on Twitter here.
In this podcast Chahira talks about how she has been using her e-learning and facilitation skills in the context of various international projects in the past decade. She reflects on how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted her work, especially while being involved in a big project focused on international mobility. Her experience in the last years taught her about how the good use of virtual environments, together with digital skills development can benefit interdisciplinary collaboration, broaden the geographical reach and even help surpass language barriers. “It’s all about creating room for flexibility”, says Chahira. She recommends us to intentionally make time and space for discussion and exchanges, on the one hand, and for experimentation, on the other.
If you are curious to hear Chahira’s story I kindly invite you to listen to our conversation.
You can catch up with our previous stories here:
- A group-based approach to online course design, by Kate Mitchell, University of Melbourne, Australia;
- From solo artists to jazz ensembles: Peer support as a tool for teacher development, by Sanna Eronen, University of Vaasa, Finland;
- Sharing stories and practices of assessment in emergency remote teaching, by Sukaina Walji, University of Cape Town, South Africa;
- Inter-institutional partnerships in faculty development: A crowdsourced list with examples form around the world;
- “Around the world” podcast, episode 1: Jessamyn Neuhaus;
- “Around the world” podcast, episode 2: Online Learning Toolkit (OLT);
- “Around the world” podcast, episode 3: Jo Stroud;
- For real change, we need educational leaders who are CHIC, by Colin Simpson, Monash University, Australia;
- Crossing boundaries: Reflections by a former academic developer, by Tracy Zou, Chinese University of Hong Kong;
- One for all, and all for one: A nationwide vision of inter-institutional faculty development, by Manuel João Costa (University of Minho) and Sandra Soares (University of Aveiro), Portugal;
- “Around the world” podcast, episode 4: Multimedia support for teaching and learning, with Marco Toffanin;
- “Around the world” podcast, episode 5: Faculty peer learning, with Adina Dudau;
- How faculty development can contribute to the well-being of academics: Reflections from practice, by Inken Gast, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
This post is part of the “Around the world” series on faculty development. Watch this space in the coming months for more inspiration on professional development approaches in Higher Education from around the globe.
