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Dr. Emtinan Al-Qurashi, educational expert, praises Kingdom’s efforts to facilitate online learning amid pandemic
Makkah: With the announcement by Saudi’s Education Minister on Saturday evening that distance education will continue after the epidemic, the state is ready to take up the task and maintain its success.
Dr. Hamad al-Sheikh said that e-learning and distance learning are important methods in the education system, adding that the Ministry and the Education and Training Evaluation Commission are working together in many areas to produce better outcomes for students and teachers Huh. Alike.
The students are now in their second semester of distance education. The decision to continue distance education – a measure taken initially to ensure students’ health and prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), came in late August, as previous semester results were promising Were seen
Dr., director of development of digital and distance education at Temple University in the US. Itmin al-Qureshi stated that Saudi Arabia was one of the fastest countries in the world to respond to educational emergencies and its efforts were tremendous.
Al-Qureshi, winner of the American Association for Educational Communications and Technology’s Best Research Award, said that since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Saudi educational facilities have made a major effort to allow students to continue their education .
“One of the most difficult challenges, in my opinion, is the lack of qualified staff for this new educational environment. Qualifying academic staff for this change is something that is not unlike the technology and tools required for this environment, which can be achieved and activated rapidly. Usually, when we want to set up an electronic facility for distance education, it takes a long time. Even making remote content sometimes takes months, ”she said.
The success of emergency education using technology has translated into a way of life, with many now collaborating to develop and improve competencies to pursue this new style of learning.
Al-Qureshi indicated that in order to make e-learning effective many things should be noted: Internet and electronic devices should be made available to all; Students with special needs and learning difficulties must be accommodated; And psychosocial support should be provided.
The educational cadre should be developed and qualified, al-Qureshi said, noting that distance education is a new learning environment, not only in terms of technology, but in terms of designing the curriculum and implementing it in ways Which will bring better results.
She indicated that one of the most important factors related to the success of distance education is to qualify students for this different environment. Faculty members need to be able to help students adapt, use educational technology, and acquire new habits.
“If we apply all these factors, we can judge the success of the educational process through two ways. The first is through the evaluation of the design and application of educational materials. The second is through the evaluation of the students’ experience and their learning outcomes.
Whether or not the experiment has been successful cannot be gauged, al-Qureshi explained, unless research-based practice and assessment methods are applied to each educational facility separately.
The results of his research published in 2019 suggest that a learner’s interaction with the material was the strongest and most important indicator for student satisfaction at the university, followed by the student’s interaction with the teacher. The self-efficacy of distance learning was the strongest and most important sign of perceived learning, followed by student interaction with the content. Based on this research, Al-Qureshi hopes that teachers and faculty use strategies that improve the self-efficacy of distance learning among students, as well as the other two parameters that ensure a successful distance learning experience We do.
According to Al-Qureshi, previous studies confirmed that distance education can be effective with the presence of qualified academic staff, as the necessary skills are acquired and applied. E-learning can also be associated with physical presence, neither form proves superior to another.
Al-Qureshi said: “E-learning has now become an important part of the educational process. If it is implemented with evidence-based practices and standards to design and teach these digital-learning environments, then we Can achieve results that match physical presence education. Therefore, the presence of experts in e-learning in every educational facility is now required to surround the development wheel. ”
