With the piloting of an edtech testbed in several schools in the country, Qatar is a clear frontrunner in the field in the Mena region, an official of World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) has said.
The pilot was launched last year using technology available through the WISE Accelerator programme, as pointed out by Victoria Basma, policy and partnerships officer, WISE.
“There is a distinct lack of serious edtech investment and research in this region and through this testbed, we hope to launch Qatar as a frontrunner in edtech within the Mena region,” she told Gulf Times.
The pilot phase provides the schools concerned with access to new solutions, professional development of teachers and building a deeper understanding around edtech.
“When we look at examples abroad in Europe and the US specifically, there are huge efforts to integrate edtech into the learning experience of students both in and out of the classroom and this is attached to research, investment and the building of environments that allow for this type of ongoing innovation building,” Basma said.
The programme mainly focused on delivering the pilot with broad research objectives. With new academic year starting in September, the programme is expected to get into more areas of teaching and learning.
“We have chosen to start each iteration of this project with a thorough needs assessment of participating schools and from there, co-design the research question and its objectives. Like every part of this testbed, our research is a collaborative effort and the teachers are responsible for gathering classroom data and reporting the changes seen in their students or learning design because of integrating edtech into the classroom experience,” she explained.
Currently the WISE Accelerator cohort members and alumni are one of the main stakeholders of this project.
“Through our needs assessment of schools, we gain a clear sense of what problems of practice affect day-to-day learning and from there it is our responsibility to find the startup that best suits their needs. Schools are the centre point for this project; without their interaction with us and the technology provided, we would not be able to gain a deep insight into the effect of edtech in the classroom,” noted the official.
Basma said that capacity building is at the centre of this project and the pilot phase helped to realise many of the objectives.
“The intention of this pilot was to determine what was required to build a testbed of this kind in Qatar. Juggling all the different needs of the beneficiaries involved, then add a global pandemic – safe to say we experienced a pretty steep learning curve. We’re now looking to take those lessons forward as we prepare for September and there will also be some policy level changes that we’re hoping to enact within Qatar Foundation,” she said.
“The programme aims to help bring new innovations to the local learning ecosystem. The way we teach and learn is changing and we have to be open to experimenting with these new methodologies of educating our young people and preparing them for a digital economy. With that said, we’re not just looking to place technology in the classroom but also create a new learning culture in Qatar – no longer tied so tightly to assessment outcomes but shifting towards skills and competency building for the 21st century.
“Right now we’re in the exciting part, preparing for September 2021. Alongside the Education Development Institute and other Qatar Foundation partners, we’re beginning to put the pieces together for our testbed research; conducting a needs assessment of Qatar Foundation schools, assessing the viability of Accelerator partners and re-designing our research question,” Basma said.
The pilot was launched last year using technology available through the WISE Accelerator programme, as pointed out by Victoria Basma, policy and partnerships officer, WISE.
“There is a distinct lack of serious edtech investment and research in this region and through this testbed, we hope to launch Qatar as a frontrunner in edtech within the Mena region,” she told Gulf Times.
The pilot phase provides the schools concerned with access to new solutions, professional development of teachers and building a deeper understanding around edtech.
“When we look at examples abroad in Europe and the US specifically, there are huge efforts to integrate edtech into the learning experience of students both in and out of the classroom and this is attached to research, investment and the building of environments that allow for this type of ongoing innovation building,” Basma said.
The programme mainly focused on delivering the pilot with broad research objectives. With new academic year starting in September, the programme is expected to get into more areas of teaching and learning.
“We have chosen to start each iteration of this project with a thorough needs assessment of participating schools and from there, co-design the research question and its objectives. Like every part of this testbed, our research is a collaborative effort and the teachers are responsible for gathering classroom data and reporting the changes seen in their students or learning design because of integrating edtech into the classroom experience,” she explained.
Currently the WISE Accelerator cohort members and alumni are one of the main stakeholders of this project.
“Through our needs assessment of schools, we gain a clear sense of what problems of practice affect day-to-day learning and from there it is our responsibility to find the startup that best suits their needs. Schools are the centre point for this project; without their interaction with us and the technology provided, we would not be able to gain a deep insight into the effect of edtech in the classroom,” noted the official.
Basma said that capacity building is at the centre of this project and the pilot phase helped to realise many of the objectives.
“The intention of this pilot was to determine what was required to build a testbed of this kind in Qatar. Juggling all the different needs of the beneficiaries involved, then add a global pandemic – safe to say we experienced a pretty steep learning curve. We’re now looking to take those lessons forward as we prepare for September and there will also be some policy level changes that we’re hoping to enact within Qatar Foundation,” she said.
“The programme aims to help bring new innovations to the local learning ecosystem. The way we teach and learn is changing and we have to be open to experimenting with these new methodologies of educating our young people and preparing them for a digital economy. With that said, we’re not just looking to place technology in the classroom but also create a new learning culture in Qatar – no longer tied so tightly to assessment outcomes but shifting towards skills and competency building for the 21st century.
“Right now we’re in the exciting part, preparing for September 2021. Alongside the Education Development Institute and other Qatar Foundation partners, we’re beginning to put the pieces together for our testbed research; conducting a needs assessment of Qatar Foundation schools, assessing the viability of Accelerator partners and re-designing our research question,” Basma said.
