Professor Staub and AFSO Student Noor*: The Art of Pivot

Online Educational Challenges When Students Are Restricted to Their Rooms

Professor Alexandra Staub, Ph.D., is a Professor of Architecture and belongs to the affiliate faculty of Penn State's Rock Ethics and Social Science Research Institutes.**

Professor Staub normally teaches a course at Penn called "Methods of Inquiry in Architecture and Urban Design." However, as a volunteer Professor with AFSO, Alexandra had to pivot. Since AFSO's female students can not go freely about the city they live in, she structured the class syllabus instead towards urban analysis methods, adapting also to the enrolled students possessing varying levels of engineering knowledge.

*may not be the text used.

Professor Staub also had to work around her students having little or no access to lab spaces, books, libraries for background research or the ability to answer technical questions about building materials. Students also missed classes because of having no electricity - or had to follow along only on a cell phone.

This did not deter Professor Staub or her students who focused on honing critical thinking skills by learning how to identify reliable information through sources like Google Scholar, how to develop a research question and how to present material effectively.

Students presented their work in class for review. "This worked well in an online setting because students learn from others," says AFSO volunteer Professor Staub, who taught online architecture courses during the pandemic and was prepared for a synchronous online classroom.

Alexandra remembers in particular a student named Noor because of the many questions she asked.

AFSO Student Noor

Noor is now 20 years old and her dream to design, build and maintain the city of her birth's infrastructures seems lost to her. But above all, she also maintains the entrepreneurial spirit of the pivot - imparted to her by Professor Staub and her mother.

Noor's mother still runs the saffron factory that her family built decades ago in one of Afghanistan's largest western cities.

Unable to receive her engineering degree, Noor realized that her mother still had a problem at the factory, even though she had applied and received a permit to employ special workers - women.

How can a business continue to run profitably if its workforce, denied education, remains unskilled?

Noor seized on an opportunity many would have seen only as a problem, and in turn, and by default, became the operations manager of the saffron factory. She taught herself basic business skills online. In turn, she imparted her knowledge to the others - accounting, developing a business plan and marketing. Noor had to relinquish the dream of designing buildings (for now), but because she's an artist by nature, she also discovered with her own initiative that she liked marketing, especially branding.

AFSO students learn also from organizations like these.

In turn, Noor taught herself graphic design and through Code to Inspire, learned to code.

Because of Afghanistan's work restrictions, Noor submits marketing projects online under a pseudonym. Ever seeking to remain in her chosen field, she also self taught herself AutoCAD and interns anonymously online at a construction company, assisting with drafting, maps and design preparation.

"It is very hard to work in the dark - without teamwork or feedback," says Noor. She remembers her class with Professor Staub when collaboration was a central role to learning.

Noor doesn't give up. She recently asked Professor Staub for a letter of recommendation. She has applied to a university in Turkey where she may be able to learn computer science. The letter reads glowingly.

Noor was highly engaged.

She asked questions.

She tried new methods of inquiry.

In a world where leaving the house without a male chaperone isn't an option, Noor continues to create a universe.

For more information on learning about AFSO and supporting tax deductible, live learning, certificate bearing programs, please contact Khushbu Srivastava, AFSO Director of Development at khushbu@afsousa.org

*Not her real name. Student names are changed to protect identities.

**Professor's Staub's teaching through AFSO's online educational program was conducted voluntarily and independently. This program is not administered, sponsored, or officially endorsed by Penn State.