Welcome to e-learning
Can e-education fill the gaps inherent in the current educational system? Reem Leila investigates
Classrooms without walls, students without teachers, lessons without paper to write on: herein lies the potential of e-learning. In line with the national prioritisation of the use of technology in education, the Egyptian Ministry of Education created a new Web site (www.emoe.org) in an attempt to curb the need for private lessons.
This site offers a detailed explanation of each subject of the curriculum from kindergarten till the end of secondary school. The idea is appealing to those who currently pay for private lessons to fill the gaps left after a day at school. Sixteen-year-old Hania Hesham told Al- Ahram Weekly that "through distance learning, I can save hours of travelling time, giving me more time to actually study."
The head of the Egyptian Association of Curriculae and Teaching and head of the exams section of the National Centre for Exams Mahmoud El-Naqaah told the Weekly that the ultimate objective of the e-learning portal is to increase and facilitate access to education. "Preparatory, secondary and vocational schools will all benefit equally from this new service. The site contains links to learning resources for different educational levels, including digital theses and dissertations. At the moment this is just a pilot site," explained El-Naqaah.
In an on-line lesson, the computer would display material in response to a student's request. The computer would then prompt the student for more information and provide an appropriate response based on the student's answers. The information is set to be presented as text, graphics and animated graphics.
The Ministry of Education created the Technological Development Centre (TDC) as an affiliate to its administrative structure. The idea is to make qualified teachers and experts at the centre available to answer and take in requests from the students. Accordingly, students will be able to ask questions about any part of the syllabus, at any given time, through the Internet. According to Mohamed Abdel-Gawwad Zamzam, head of the TDC, the new site was first set up to improve the educational process, not just to minimise students' reliance on private lessons. "People must understand that this service is a part of the educational process and cannot be solely relied on. The TDC has trained 170,000 teachers in computer skills. On the long term this new trend in education could put an end to the private lessons phenomenon which cost students' parents LE12 billion each year," added Zamzam.
Magi Hani, is a 13-years-old preparatory student, says that "one can successfully continue studying in a more effective way. Distance learning could allow me to be successful in studying my heavy lessons." Hani believes that there is going to be a wealth of information available which will be easy to access.
In order to gain access to the Web site each school must have its own user name and password. Free user names and passwords have been provided by the Ministry of Education to only governmental and integrated schools (whose level is between that of state and private schools). And as of after the mid-year vacation private schools are expected to come on board this new service. "We wanted to give governmental and integrated schools a chance to gain advantage over private ones," says Zamzam. The service has so far been introduced in 7,500 schools.
The case with individual students, however, is different. The service, according to Zamzam, is considered a great privilege. That is why for the time being students must apply and pay for access.
Zeinab Ali, professor of syllabus and teaching methods at Ain Shams University, told the Weekly that the new Web site will not be able to compete effectively with private lessons as computers are not widespread in Egyptian homes, neither are all students computer literate.
The greatest success so far has been reaped by private companies that have taken advantage of the technological war against private lessons and have loaded the market with CDs containing school curriculae. According to bookshop owner Ahmed Hassan, many parents prefer these CDs as they are much cheaper than private lessons. "Each CD is loaded with one subject. The price of each CD for the primary stage is LE25, LE30 for the preparatory level and LE40 for the secondary stage," says Hassan.
It will, however, take a massive sweep in the educational system by the Ministry of Education before e-learning takes off and students become the true beneficiaries of the scheme.
