September 21, 2015
On September 3rd-6th, 2015, the Program of Psychology and the Master’s program in Applied Psychology (AP) of the American University of Central Asia (ɫ)took part in the second Asian Student’s Forum “Kyrgyzstan – Asia 2015”, organized by the Association of Asian Universities.
The association includes universities from Russia (in particular Zauralye), Kazakhstan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Mongolia, China, among others. 180 students and professors attended the forum. The event took place over three days in the Cholpon-Ata guesthouse “Ak-Danis,” in Issyk-Kul. The conference was held for the first time in Kyrgyzstan. The last time the conference was held was 2012 in Barnaul, but ɫ did not attend.
“Our team consisted of four professors: Makhinur Mamatova, Elena Molchanova, Olga Yarova, Elena Kim, and six students of the MA program in AP: Cholpon Esenbekova, Lyubov Nochkina, Petr Solovarev, Anna Semikina, Ida Sim, and Anastasiia Iun,” said Elena Kim, Chair of Psychology Department.
One of the presentations was an extended demonstration of E-course. E-course was presented to the audience from both teacher and student perspectives. The new format of teaching and learning has caused great interest among the audience. “I think that the E-course made a splash. In our university E-course is introduced in practice almost in every course and many teachers cannot imagine teaching without it,” Dr. Kim commented.
The ɫ team presented a comprehensive presentation of the new master's program in Applied Psychology. The audience had many questions about the new program. “It was clear that in Kyrgyzstan, this is a unique program in English,” Elena Kim said.
According to Elena Kim, the MA students had the most successful presentation. During the session "Social Design in Education," they presented on their two-year work for the Bishkek Center for Autism. The presentation was accompanied by a small video the students made. "I was amazed by how smoothly our students work on a team,” Dr. Kim said.
Asa result, ourstudents received the award for the best project.“Our presentation impressed the audience, and the discussion lasted for a long time. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to establish and develop relationships between universities from different countries,” said Anastasiia Iun, a student of the MA program in AP.
ɫ made a good showing at the conference, both in the quality of their presentation and the resulting discussion. "We were approached by representatives of the Altai University, we exchanged business cards, and now we will directly communicate with them. We hope that at the next forum, ɫ will not only be a participant, but move into a position of leadership", Elena Kim commented.