Now that remote schooling has become part of our everyday vocabulary, the role of technology in driving best teaching practices has been significantly emphasized.
Smart Technologies, a Canada-based ed-tech software company, has capitalized on that by signing a multi-year agreement with Tatweer Educational Technologies (Tetco), the technology arm of the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education, to drive the kingdom’s educational technology (ed-tech) transformation agenda.
Smart, best known for its interactive whiteboards, is planning further expansion in the GCC and is spreading the message that technology is there to complement best educational practices, not to replace them.
“The GCC region has seen the varying levels of success in terms of impact, with regards to technology deployments over the past decade. The challenge has always been that the focus cannot solely be on technology. The duty of care and responsibility on those policymakers and decision-makers must always focus and address the ‘teaching practice’ first and foremost,” Aaron Fright, regional director of emerging markets at Smart Technologies, told.
“It must always be sustainable and scalable, but done in a way that has teaching practice at the heart,” he continued.
With the GCC’s well-developed telecommunications infrastructure embracing 5G connectivity, Fright stressed Smart Technologies’ partnership with Tetco can serve as a “weathervane” in regional expansion initiatives.
“Following positive conversations with various ministries and public and private sector entities at GESS [an annual Dubai-based education conference and exhibition], we have our eyes firmly fixed on the UAE and other areas of the Middle East, where government-backed telecommunications infrastructure are propelling opportunities to modernize the education ecosystem with solutions that hasten the sector’s digital transformation,” added Fright.
Education features in Saudi’s Vision 2030 with a strategy for schools to shift to digital education and to encourage the private sector to invest in public schools starting at the kindergarten level. Smart sees a role for itself within that vision, Fright explained.
“The Saudi Ministry of Education has plans to elevate and enrich the education system with investments in technology implementations and greater support for the educators to maximize the impact of these initiatives,” he said.
“With the extensive experience we have, being in over 4 million classrooms across 170 countries, we value the partnership with the kingdom’s decision-makers whereby we share best practice and technology deployment ideas that can contribute to the efforts on the ground,” continued Fright.
Smart is working with multiple accredited partners in Saudi Arabia to accelerate the rollout of their education solutions in schools across the kingdom, he said.
With digital transformation being the new buzzword in the corporate environment, new skills and ways of teaching are needed to prepare the workforce of tomorrow.
“Education will shift more focus to developing the entire child and not just their academic skills. More and more employers are prioritizing enduring skills – such as collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and the ability to hold crucial conversations – over and above academic designations.
“School systems starting as young as preschool will begin to prioritize the development of these skills as equally as important, if not more important than, subject skills, further ensuring that students are fully prepared for a complex and evolving world,” said Fright.
“Insight from how the industry is placing demands on upskilling and even reskilling a significant portion of the workforce gives reason to believe that the future of education will no longer be thought of as something confined between a certain age group but instead something that is ongoing and persistent throughout our entire lives,” he continued.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Technology Express staff and is published from a syndicated feed)
