SEC in deal on integration of technology in education

The Supreme Education Council and Microsoft – Qatar have signed a partnership agreement for the “integration of technology in education”, in Doha yesterday. It was attended by directors of SEC institutes, offices and administrative units and senior figures from Microsoft. Under the agreement, Microsoft Corporation will provide all students and teachers of independent schools in Qatar, with an official and free e-mail address under the domain (s.name@education.qa) in addition to providing them with a storage space on the Internet. The signing of the agreement comes in the framework of implementing and activating e-learning projects adopted by the Supreme Education Council, which aims to create a communication link between parties of the educational process (teachers, students and parents) and to provide a stimulating and innovative learning environment by providing a device for each student and provide the e-contents that help all parties. The e-mail service will be integrated with the learning management system (LMS), which is an e-learning programme launched by the SEC in 30 independent schools during the second semester of the year 2011-2012. SEC has applied the e-learning programme through a variety of projects including: learning management system, which aims to monitor the performance of the student, the agenda of the teacher, the e-mail and learning resources and tasks, calendars and to enable parents to monitor the performance of their children, communicate with the school, and e-content. The e-content includes all subjects according to the criteria of study, and the initiative of a device for each student is to replace the traditional school bag with another electronic school bag through which to access the digital library, as well as electronic library that provides electronic content of many books, magazines and scientific journals and literature in several ways, including written and audio-visual allowing the sharing of information and freedom of scientific research. Amal al-Kuwari, director, SEC’s Information Technology Department, said some 93,000 students and 15,000 teachers in independent schools will be benefiting from the agreement for the provision of an e-mail address, by which each student and teacher will have a special account that enable them to access all the services of the Supreme Education Council. Amal al-Kuwari stressed that the partnership agreement with Microsoft is part of the SEC commitment to the implementation of 2011-2016 Education and Training Strategy. The strategy aims to integrate advanced technology in education at all schools and to create a better learning environment in the context of Qatari cultural values and traditions, through the adoption of innovative solutions and thus providing programmes to help students and prepare them for the future by equipping them with the computer skills they need to excel in the labour market. Amal al-Kuwari focused also on the importance of the long term partnership with Microsoft, which improves the communications services within the classrooms. On his part, Naim Yazbeck (Microsoft-Qatar) said Microsoft has made a long-term commitment to work with teachers and students in Qatar, in order to expand the scope of learning through technology and the introduction of advanced technologies such as Microsoft Office 365, to create exceptional educational experiences for students and teachers in Qatar. From gulftimes