Since 2017, Beacon personnel have boarded planes and jetted some 7,740 miles east to the city of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to lead a two-week residential program called “Project Discovery” for college-bound youth ages 15 to 22 with learning differences.
Funny how a COVID pandemic can torpedo the best laid plans.
Yet, borrowing a show biz line — the show must go on — Beacon educators stowed their passports this time and booted up their laptops. Beacon continued the college’s leadership in global neurodiversity education by developing five days of video programming for Project Discovery students.
Each presentation in the package featured three parts: a direct lesson; an introduction to an activity; and a debrief/review of what was learned. Supplementary materials, including PowerPoints and worksheets, were included. This session ran from March 27 through April 1.
Project Discovery grew out of several multi-day workshops Beacon educators conducted in 2017 for UAE teachers who worked with students with learning differences from kindergarten through college. The Sharjah program mirrors Beacon’s summer immersion residential program, “Summer for Success.”
Project Discovery familiarized students with university basics, shared learning strategies, and educated parents about learning differences.
Beacon College, a nonprofit liberal arts school in Leesburg, Fla., and America’s first accredited baccalaureate institution dedicated to educating students with learning disabilities, ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning differences, operated the program in cooperation with the Sharjah Center for Learning Difficulties. The nonprofit center, under the leadership of Sheikha Jameela Bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, champions inclusion and empowerment for people with disabilities.
You can watch the “Emotional Awareness: How our Emotions Drive our Decisions” session here: https://youtu.be/HKw7ScPBtb8