Campus Disorientation at American University of Cairo

At a recent international higher-ed mini-conference I attended a session discussing the influx of students from Saudi Arabia and how its changed the landscape of the campus and the type of issues its presented. One of the main issues, it seemed to me, was the adjustment to the style of learning was really difficult for the students. The concept of US-style of learning is so at odds with the methods these students have used all their lives, memorize, regurgitate, do not question the professor. Suddenly they’re required to think cognitively, debate their classmates, question the professor, and analyze before answering.

Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times

Its a tough chasm to bridge, and it really takes a significant amount of “deprogramming”. I’m of the thought that if you have an Intensive English Lanaguage program on campus, one of the most crucial topics to cover is study skills & learning methods.  That’s why this New York Times article about the American University of Cairo caught my eye:  A Campus Where Unlearning Is First

These are the kinds of questions posed to undergraduate students entering this [American University of Cairo] 90-year-old university during what the president, David D. Arnold, called a first year of “disorientation.” During disorientation, the students — 85 percent of them Egyptians — are taught to learn in ways quite at odds with the traditional method of teaching in this country, where instructors lecture, students memorize and tests are exercises in regurgitation.

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