Arabic e-learning site launched

Online supplementary courses are now accessible to students in the UAE

The animated figure bouncing around the screen mouthing the words: "Congratulations! That's the right answer!" while performing a cartwheel, has a startling resemblance to a purple Pikachoo from the Pokemon family.

The background is colourful and learning seems fun. The first Arabic e-learning site on the Internet has now been launched in the UAE, claims Abdul Wahid Saeedi, partner and managing director of Menhaj Information Technologies.

"Menhaj was inaugurated in Jordan, in August 2000, and it's the first Arabic e-learning site in the world where courses are provided online, and now it's accessible to students in the UAE at www.menhaj.ae" says Saeedi.

"With a curriculum offering Arabic, mathematics and science for students from grades one to seven, we use cartoons to make learning interesting and entertaining. Besides being highly educational, they're fun and easy, and Menhaj lessons' interface is entirely graphical.

"With challenging activities such as games, music and stories, it not only enriches students' knowledge but also provides them with an interactive tool of learning," he explains.

"Our aim is not to replace class-room learning, but rather offer online courses as a supplement to help children improve performance in school and tests, reinforce skills and become an active learner through exploration and discovery. The hundreds of educational games and activities on our site introduce new learning opportunities for the children while personalising the learning process.

"This system can be easily integrated into classroom instruction to guide and support student achievement goals - from basic skills instruction to critical-thinking skills and project-based learning across core subject," he adds.

With a team of 90 employees and 40 part-time teachers who help create the curriculum, the contents of the learning programme have been built on the teaching curricula of the collective Arab countries after 18 months of extensive research.

"We are already working on developing a curriculum from grades seven to 12, and on all subjects from Biology to Economics, and we plan to complete it in 18 months," says Saeedi.

The organisation, which is already established in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, has further plans to reach students in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman through the UAE office.

"The Arabic speaking children have lacked this facility of learning on the Internet, while it has been available to English speaking students for years now, and we want to change that.

In Menhaj, we emphasise more on learning than teaching. We encourage students to identify his or her learning ability, speed and own method of learning. The advantage of using this site is that there are no fear barriers.

For instance, in a class room when a teacher asks a question, sometimes children are afraid or too embarrassed of giving the wrong answer, so they keep quiet, but when you interact with a software, that barrier no longer exists.

"Our aim is to help children of all ages become independent in their studies, which is very important in this day and age with parents having little time to spend with them. Students should not be forced to study, on the contrary they should approach it on their own, and for that, studying needs to be fun, not a chore," he says.

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