Jordan: COPA

This Mercer On Mission program in Jordan is aimed at developing Mercer students’ knowledge, skills and multicultural competence to work with children with and without disabilities to promote positive attitudes, self-beliefs and feelings of empowerment. During a three-week period, Mercer students, along with hosting teams, will supervise a summer camp for students with special needs that will also be open to the children from the community. The camp — to be held at Al Hussein Society, Jordan Center for Training and Inclusion — will include activities such as sports, games, English instruction, music and art. 

Meeting a Need

There is a movement in Jordan to shift the educational landscape for children with and without disabilities toward inclusion, and some people have concerns about how this will impact the children. Through the collaborative nature of this summer camp, the students with special needs and children from the community will have opportunities to learn how to work together, as well as learn more about each other. This program will potentially prepare students with special needs, who currently attend self-contained programs, for inclusion in a regular environment. In addition, it will provide all participants with a cooperative learning experience, contributing toward positive attitudes about inclusion.

What You'll Do

Mercer students — along with hosting teams, which include special education teachers and staff from the respective schools — will supervise a summer camp for students with special needs that will also be open to children from the community. Prior to departure to Amman, Jordan, students will prepare camp activities to be conducted at Al Hussein Society, Jordan Center for Training and Inclusion. Students will:

• Explain the different elements in the development of helping relationships that will build trust and empower individuals from diverse groups
• Apply interpersonal skills and qualities to a diverse group of individuals with different ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds
• Demonstrate the use of appropriate interpersonal skills to foster effective relationships
• Evaluate personal values, personalities, reaction patterns, interpersonal styles and limitations and explain how these personal characteristics may affect others and/or professional relationships
• Demonstrate a high level of self-awareness, knowledge and skills in the complexities of multiculturalism across individual and/or group interactions
• Create a collaborative environment while working with children with and without disabilities in a developmentally appropriate manner
• Implement basic data collection strategies while incorporating interpersonal skills and qualities, respecting all ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds
• Execute post-data collection strategies to analyze effectiveness of the intervention aimed at promoting positive attitudes, increase self-efficacy and self-esteem, and provide a feeling of empowerment
• Explore ethnographic materials related to key countries in the region
• Assess the current debates in the Middle East: relation of Islam to politics, civil society in the Middle East, status of women and the disabled, including explanations of cultural institutions and social processes related to the behavior of individuals, their needs, values and motivations
• Explain the Middle East as a distinct cultural area by focusing on generalized problems, patterns and cultural processes, including describing the area in terms of major topics of ethnicity, kinship, religions, leadership, patterns of living, sex roles and family life
• Inspect the geographical and cultural coverage of the central Middle East, breaking down and focusing on specific areas of the largest cultural space

Academic Courses

Students are required to sign up for six hours of credit. Students may choose two of the following engineering courses, based on their degree level.

• LBST 390: Special Topics in Liberal Studies: Peoples, Cultures and Challenges in the Middle East including the rights of persons with disability
• EDUC 390: Empowering Children with Disabilities
• HSRV 390: Empowering Children with Disabilities

Faculty

• Dr. Hani Q. Khoury – Professor of Mathematics, College of Professional Advancement
• Dr. Dina M. Schwam — Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Services, College of Professional Advancement