Abu Dhabi: Schools across the UAE function in an extremely multicultural society where harnessing technology as part of daily life. Children in the UAE are digital natives of a high order who begin to use a diversity of technological platforms from a very young age. This segues perfectly with the UAE’s goal of becoming a knowledge-based economy within the next decade.
Added up, this means that the education sector regulators in the country are not only encouraging children to optimise the benefits of technology in classrooms, they are also urging them to tap their innovative impulses in their use of technology. The constantly shifting goals of education are necessitating change and moving the goal post from teacher-centric output to student-centric input.
“Pupils are encouraged to search for and make use of a variety of online, print and practical resources,” says Dr V.V. Abdul Kader, principal, The Model School Abu Dhabi. “And the development of skills such as positive attitudes, creativity, an interest in extracurricular activities, moral viewpoints and thinking, adaptability and interpersonal skills are all encouraged.”
Hussain Hussain, English language teacher at Al Ghazali School, says that schools should conduct carefully prepared assessments to determine what pupils are capable of, and these results should be used as a baseline to determine the type of updated teaching methodologies required.
“For example, at Al Ghazali School in Abu Dhabi, teachers were amazed to know that pupils in Grade 6 and 7 could use tablets effectively. So, the school administration has decided to allow tablet-learning applications in and out of the classroom,” Hussain says.
Having said that, there is still a role for traditional methods and strategies in classrooms, say educators. These include the use of regular exams, including board exams, and the use of textbook-based resources to clarify educational topics, says Dr Abdul Kader.
