AMMAN -- With the introduction of an information-technology infrastructure and training programme into the country's school system, British Council officials and educationists in the Kingdom acknowledged a positive shift from a teacher-centred classroom to a more participatory, student-centred teaching environment over the past three years.
Representatives from British Council offices across the Middle East and North Africa region and the government, as well as educational policy-makers and teachers from Arab states convened in Amman this week to discuss and evaluate the region's technology-based education reform.
The conference, entitled "Transforming Learning: Strategic Approaches to the Effective Use of ICT in Schools," coincides with the culmination of the British Council's three-year pilot-project "ICT in Education," which targeted educational reform in Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.
The project was designed in cooperation with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and the ministries of education and ICT in the participating countries.
The G-8 Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative and the British government's Engaging with the Islamic World programme provided resources for the three-day conference, which concluded yesterday.
"[The project was] an opportunity to see how e-learning can effectively improve the overall quality of education... and to develop ourselves as educators and use the emerging e-resources to the best effect," Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khalid Touqan said in his address at the event.
ICT infrastructure in the classroom includes the use of audiovisual equipment and Internet in learning curricula, the use of educational computer programmes, electronic evaluation reports for teachers and participatory student/teacher approaches to learning through the use of ICT.
"ICT enhances the approach of a student-centred curriculum in the classroom," British Council teacher trainer, Rebecca Hales noted in one of yesterday country-specific group discussion sessions, entitled, "ICT in the classroom: The teacher's perspective," which was presided over by Jordanian physics teachers, Nader Ahmad Saleh.
"Teachers become facilitators rather than providers... the teacher's role moves from passive to active... and the learner's role becomes more active and education becomes more interactive," Saleh noted, commenting on the change of classroom dynamics through the use of ICT.
Many participants, however, stressed that educational reform does not come simply from the insertion of IT into the classroom.
"At the heart of educational reform... educators must work collaboratively in innovative networks," Baldev Singh, head of the e-learning strategy unit at Imagine Education in Britain told participants in the opening session.
"We are developing a new pedagogy that will impact teachers' training programmes," Singh said, adding that 30 years have passed since the computer was first brought into an educational setting, yet many teachers remain sceptical of incorporating its usage into everyday teaching curricula.
A major component of "ICT in Education" was the implementation of a broad-based training curriculum for 180 teachers from the five countries in implementing ICT in the teaching of maths, science and English.
Moreover, the development of regional policy-makers to enable the sharing of strategic approaches to successful usage of ICT in the Kingdom's classrooms and the longevity of this new technology-equipped educational infrastructure were key aims.
"We are talking about the transformation of educational processes and learning and not about a piecemeal approach to adding ICT... the potential of information technology in the classroom is not realised immediately. The problem is not strictly technological, it is educational and contextual, and constraints must be alleviated," said Tayseer Nueimi, Education Ministry secretary general for educational and technical affairs.
"Planning for effective use of ICT in education necessitates an understanding of the potential of technologies to meet different educational objectives... to expand our educational opportunities, enhance the quality of learning and enrich the quality of teaching," Nueimi added.
While the pilot project comes to an end this spring, the British Council will continue to provide educational support through its various centres and country involvements.
Onus on the development and implementation of new strategies, however, has moved to the country's educational ministries and practitioners.
Referring to the conference, Director of the British Council in Palestine Ken Churchill, emphasised, "...we're here to see what we have accomplished. We started with something practical with the use of computers in classrooms but we've moved on with new pedagogical skills... people are here from all different levels to share ideas and see what the next steps could be."
By Cheryl Haines
© Jordan Times 2007
