UAE poised to offer schooling online in five years, experts say
Virtual reality and artificial intelligence will make learning effective, education forum told
With the emergence of comprehensive online learning, the UAE will be able to set up towns that do not have any schools within them within the next five years, top industry experts said in the capital yesterday.
All the learning will take place online to serve a generation that thrives on its tablets and smartphones, they added, speaking at a panel convened on the second day of education conference Bett Middle East and Africa.
“There are schools in Saudi Arabia that allow students to pursue their full K-12 education online, and there is already a school that offers this in Dubai. As the technology continues to spread, we will see many more such schools. Despite educator fears, we cannot deny the fact that education will soon be conducted online, using a variety of tools like virtual reality and artificial intelligence that simply make learning more effective,” Dr Fahem Al Nuaimi, chief executive officer at the UAE’s Advanced National Research and Education Network (Ankabut), told Gulf News.
Ankabut is a Khalifa University initiative that connects academia to advanced IP networking in a bid to enhance collaboration, knowledgesharing and research. The initiative has already connected 85 educational institutions in the UAE, including top universities and schools, and provides links with universities in the United States, Canada and Japan.
“With the advances in technology, even assessing students remotely can be made secure, and I believe universities and their courses will soon be available not just online but through smartphones. In this environment of rapid change, educators must retrain themselves to cater to a generation that is already far more tech-savvy. Otherwise, the GCC will continue to suffer from the skills gap that gives it the highest rate of unemployment worldwide,” Dr Al Nuaimi said.
Online learning can also effectively serve disadvantaged populations in a way that traditional forms of education cannot, experts said.
“We support 900 students from across the region with their education, and 17 per cent of them are refugees based in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Yemen. These students would not have access to graduate education, but our online degrees allow them to get the advanced learning they need and join the workforce,” said Maysa Jalbout, CEO at Abdullah Al Gurair Foundation for Education.