29 March 2010
BEIRUT: The Educational Research Center (ERC) hosted Saturday a pan-Arab conference to discuss electronic assessment as a platform for effective learning.
The conference, held at the Royal Hotel in Dbayeh, was held under the patronage of Education and Higher Education Minister Hassan Mneimneh who was represented by the Education Ministry’s Director General Fady Yarak. The annual conference brought together national, regional and international leaders in the field of electronic assessment for a comprehensive overview of how the Internet is rapidly expanding areas of education and educational assessment.
In attendance were representatives from over 15 Arab states, as well as representatives of international organizations and governmental agencies like the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the British Council.
The conference gathered educational experts working toward integrating electronic assessment in learning and teaching, while taking advantage of best practices in the field. Among a number of topics, participants discussed the ERC’s own authentic assessment and profile-shaping education (PSE), a new research-based educational theory developed and already used at the center.
“We are pleased to be playing a key role in bringing expertise to the region,” said Habib Sayegh, CEO of the ERC. He said the center was working to develop “the International Arab Baccalaureate (IAB), a secondary school diploma for the entire Arab world that will … be internationally recognized.”
“IAB will be grounded in a profile-shaping education framework, and will rely on a specific electronic platform, all developed at ERC,” he added.
Participants also discussed practical elements of technology in the classroom and various types of assessment, focusing particularly on formative assessment providing continuous feedback as an essential part of any closed-loop system that highly contributes to the improvement of education.
Professor Ibrahim Halloun, developer of the PSE and IAB frameworks, noted that this year’s conference was particularly important “as it allowed participants to explore electronic educational models that empower students with 21st-century skills.”
Tony Tohme, director of ERC, said his organization was ready to assist all interested stakeholders in the Arab world to make valued judgments about assessment with the aim to continuously improve the state of education.
Tohme reiterated the motto of his center: “what you measure is what you get,” noting that assessment is being regarded more as a means to meaningful learning than as an end. – The Daily Star
Copyright The Daily Star 2010.
