A somewhat positive development has taken place in Saudi Arabia amidst the coronavirus threat. All public schools have been closed in the Kingdom as a precaution against the deadly virus. However, education must not suffer. To ensure this, digital learning methods are being implemented throughout the country.
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SAUDI ARABIA?
This shutdown has made the country extend their e-learning systems to the school level. Multiple universities across the country already use an advanced integrated online education system.
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Dr. Noura Al-Marri, vice-chairperson of the Shoura Council’s Educational Committee spoke to Arab News about this move –
“The health situation facing the world pushed the Kingdom to use the learning alternatives and accelerate the e-learning process through its known and accredited platforms.”
The country has been forced to shut down public schools to contain the threat that coronavirus poses. No one knows when this shut down will end. Hence, a solution was needed to ensure that this protection did not come at the cost of education.
Education offices across the country have been ordered to implement and supervise this online learning process.
A notable feature of this process is that students won’t have just videos to watch and understand concepts from. Since e-learning as a concept has already been implemented in Saudi, their systems are quite refined. According to Al-Marri, this move was already being planned but was sped up because of the emergency.
HOW WILL THIS E-LEARNING WORK?
The time of watching YouTube videos to study is long gone. Various inventions such as artificial intelligence and big data revolution have made it possible for e-learning to be almost the same as attending a class at school.
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Dr Dr. Ali Al-Ammari, assistant professor at the College of Computing and Informatics at the Saudi Electronic University talked to Arab News about the working of this process in the country.
“Remote e-learning is not limited to lessons taught by the teachers through platforms. Students can take part in several activities that can enrich their learning experience.In addition to simultaneous virtual lessons attended by students and teachers at the same time, there are other lessons that students can watch, pause and watch again at any time.”
Students can also interact amongst themselves and help each other out. Additionally, teachers can evaluate their students through short tests, electronic assignments and blogs. Thus, they can modify their teaching style to suit the needs of every student.
