DOHA: Spending on education and digital learning is among the highest in the world in Qatar and other GCC countries, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, says Pearson, a leading British education company which has launched a new report which gives practical advice on how to make informed, evidence-based decision when selecting learning technology.
The report entitled ‘Alive in the Swamp’ contains an index which allows for systematic evaluation of new digital innovations.
Under the index, learning technologies are assessed along three criteria: The effectiveness of the learning technology’s pedagogy; its ability to activate real and lasting system change; and the accessibility and usability of the technology. While the large number of new learning technologies available in the Gulf has presented education ministries and schools with unprecedented choice, it has also made it more difficult to determine which of these tools will have the biggest impact on the learning outcomes of students.
Pearson’s Katelyn Donnelly, who co-authored the report with Michael Fullan, said: “Technology has huge potential for strengthening and deepening what we can learn.
“However, given the breadth of digital learning products available in the market, it is often difficult to determine which products will have the greatest tangible benefits for schools and students.
“The index is accessible and simple to use, allowing educators to employ it to select those digital learning tools that have proven efficacy.
“The index has highlighted where innovation gaps exist, so we are hoping entrepreneurs will take up the challenge of creating new products that fill these holes in the market, and ultimately improve the quality of the learning technology available in the Gulf and all around the world,” Donnelly added.
GCC governments’ expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP has risen dramatically over the past decade.
This year, Saudi Arabia is expected to commit a record $54bn to education, which makes it one of the top ranking countries in the world in terms of education spending.
Qatar and the UAE are also channelling unprecedented amounts of funding into developing world-class education systems, with the UAE spending nearly a fifth of its entire budget on schools, and Qatar more than doubling its education spending over the past five years to reach more than $6bn this year.
Last year, Qatar’s Supreme Education Council announced a series of e-Learning programmes that will digitise the teaching and learning content in all of its schools, and will see every learner given a personal learning device by the end of 2014.
Similarly, in 2010, the UAE initiated a new scheme to implement state-of-the-art educational technology in all public schools, which will reach nearly 295,000 students.
The Peninsula
