Oracle Education Foundation launches first Project Learning Institute in Mena region

The training event, a first also in Egypt, was held at Mubarak City Training Development Centers in Cairo.

The opening ceremony was attended by His Excellency Dr. Yoserri El Gamal, Egyptian Minister of Education; Dr. Hoda Baraka, First Deputy Under Minister of Communication and Information Technology; and Mrs. Margaret Scobey, US Ambassador to Egypt; and hosted by Mr. Hussein Hamza, Oracle Egypt Country Leader.

The Project Learning Institute is a professional development program that trains teachers how to integrate technology, project learning, and 21st century skills development into their classroom curricula.

The course uses OEF's online learning platform, ThinkQuest, to showcase exceptional project-learning examples and help teachers produce projects as a part of their training experience. ThinkQuest currently supports over 2,600 students and teachers in Egypt.

All of the training participants are teachers in the Egyptian Education Initiative, a premier, government-supported school program. These teachers completed six weeks of online training prior to attending the live training event in Cairo.

The Project Learning Institute supports Egypt's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) in their objective to adopt project learning in classrooms across the country.

To date, over 450 teachers in 23 countries have attended Project Learning Institutes in Brazil, Egypt, India, Singapore, South Africa, and the United States.

Clare Dolan, Vice President, Oracle Corporate Citizenship, said:

"The Project Learning Institute helps educators around the world successfully incorporate technology, project learning, and 21st century skills development into their everyday curricula."

"The Ministry of Education has always been at the forefront of adopting new and innovative teaching ideas that prepare our students to meet the demands of the changing world around them," said Dr. Yoserri El Gamal, Egyptian Minister of Education. "The teachers who participate in the Project Learning Institute will help initiate a technology-supported, project-learning approach in all our schools."

"Egypt's Ministry of Education and Youth emphasizes learner-centered pedagogy and project-based learning," said Dr. Hoda Baraka, Egyptian First Deputy under Minister of Communication and Information Technology. "The Project Learning Institute helps 80 teachers in the country develop the skills required to support these objectives in the classroom."

"To be successful in today's global economy, students need to develop skills that go beyond up-to-date industry knowledge. The teachers attending the Project Learning Institute will be able to help their students develop important skills such as critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, and cross-cultural understanding—skills that will help them to be more successful when entering the labour market,"

said Mr. Hussein Hamza, Oracle Egypt Country Leader.