How it works

The IOU Way of E-Learning:

Comprised of students from around the globe, the student body will learn through watching and listening to video and audio lectures as well as reading PDF format texts with the support of well-trained tutorial assistants. Within the online study communities, students may share resources, exchange ideas, discuss weekly topics, submit assignments, and take exams.

Each semester lasts five months and consists of multiple choice tests to be taken after each module, a midterm and a final exam, in addition to written assignments.

The week starts on Thursday at 00:05 am Qatar time and ends the following Wednesday at 23:55. Weekly study units are released at the beginning of each week. Students will still have access to previously released modules.

Please note: All reference to time is based on Qatar time.

The student community is divided into subgroups, or classes, of a maximum of 400 students who all participate in the same online course. Students are encouraged to actively participate in the various supervised student forums by posting questions, responding to questions posted by other students, and by commenting on discussion questions from the readings or from recorded or live lessons.

The Course Material consists of

1. Course text (PDF). The basic text(s) used for teaching the course will be provided as downloadable, printable PDF files. Supplementary reading texts will also be recommended, which students can get on their own. In the future, we plan to have an exclusive library of PDF books for our students to use as supplementary reading.
2. Course details. (PDF) This includes the syllabus, name of the instructor, and details of the tutorial assistant assigned to the course.
3. Recorded lectures (video and audio). We recommend that students watch the video at least once. The audios are extracted from the same videos and are provided primarily for those who have poor internet connections and for those who wish to make mp3 copies and listen at their leisure.
4. Weekly live sessions are conducted according to the schedule provided.

Study Path of each Course

1. Each course consists of 20-30 recorded sessions. Video and audio recordings are available for the students.
2. The student first listens to the audio or video recording and reads the text that corresponds to Module 1.
3. Having thoroughly studied Module 1, the student then takes the Module 1 test. The test consists of multiple choice questions. The test score is displayed immediately after the test attempt.
4. After completing the Module 1 test, the student proceeds to Module 2 and follows the same procedure as for Module 1 till the end of the course.
5. Students should attend the weekly or bi-weekly live sessions to get clarification about what they have studied.
6. Students are required to submit research papers also.