UKS rolls-out content development training to the Oman Ministry of Education

The training was set from March 22, 2009 to May 13, 2009 and aims to successfully prepare the ministry's eLearning content development team and school educators with the instructional and technical skills required to develop eLearning content.

The Oman government has formulated a far reaching strategic vision for the country in the following terms: 'To transform the Sultanate of Oman into a sustainable Knowledge Society by leveraging Information and Communication Technologies to enhance government services, enrich businesses and empower individuals.'

"As a result of the rapid development in information technology and telecommunications, the ministry has paid special attention to this aspect by establishing two new sections at the General Directorate of Information Technology. The sections are e-learning & e-content sections at the eLearning techniques Department where the focus is on using technology in the educational process to support the educational curricula with an exciting interactive means of learning for the students," said Khalid Al Siyabi, Oman - MOE General Director of Information Technology.

"Moreover, it is necessary to create a more interactive learning environment to stimulate and enrich student's knowledge, as well as facilitate the teacher's tasks," he added.

The beginning of the eLearning was by forming a team specialized in designing the eContents based on common international standards through the cooperation with a company specialized in this area, in order to transfer the expertise to the central team of the ministry and to the teams representing both e-learning & eContent sections at the Education Zones.

The target group was selected on the basis of conditions, standards, examinations and interviews, conducted to assess their experience and skills in the field of educational design and multimedia and graphic design programs to the extent of the student desire to further learning and self-development.

One of the elements of this vision is an overarching goal of building an education system that equips Omanis with 21st century skills, through the increased use of eLearning in schools.

With the implementation of an educational portal that provides appropriate and professional interactive content, the Oman MoE will provide students with access to their class work or homework, tools to solve problems and individualized immediate feedback. Learning will become a constructive activity since the student will now depend on him/herself to acquire the necessary information.

"UKS is very proud of this strategic partnership with Oman's Ministry of Education and for being selected to deliver such a specialized training program." said Tawfeeq Jaafar, UKS Content Services Manager. "Our training approach is based on utilizing the current skills of the ministry's team and putting it into an eLearning context in order to enable them to develop eLearning courses".

The training program covered many important eLearning subjects, such as:
• Instructional design
• Using Web 2.0 tools in learning
• Developing storyboards
• Developing online, reusable learning objects using learn eXact
• Managing the content development cycle using learn eXact
• Managing content using learn eXact.

Tawfeeq Jaafar continues, "In order to get the most benefit out of this training we were keen on providing ample practical exercises that gave the trainees a better hands-on experience in eLearning content development. The trainees were split into smaller groups, where each group was asked to produce an online learning object. At the end of the training program the trainees were able to develop and deliver new online learning objects."

Maimoona Al-Abri, Oman MOE Deputy Manager for e-learning and e-content added, "One of the most important elements of eLearning is the presence of a qualified and specialized team in the management, design and development of eContent based on the national educational curricula. Therefore, the ministry was keen on forming and preparing this team to manage and create interactive learning methods that can be used and developed."

"This training program is considered as the actual starting point for the eContent section at the ministry. It focuses on the participation of the teacher as the subject matter expert, with the educational designer who will be a member in the educational curricula committee and the executive Group, taking into account the quality of production that is In sync with the philosophy of education," Al-Abri said.