Concrete Steps towards Modernizing Education
Muscat (OM), June 2007 - The Department of Private Schools in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Education recently held a seminar at Muscat College in cooperation with Universal Knowledge Solutions (UKS) and Matrix Information Technology to enhance K-12 education: new educational technologies. The seminar was divided into Arabic and English sessions.
With years of experience in the fields of education and training, UKS experts were brought in to present schools with a complete and comprehensive solution for managing their organization, staff, and students, as well as equip schools with the powerful teaching tools necessary to enhance the classroom experience.
After an opening statement by Mrs. Aisha Ahmed Swaidan Al Balushi, the Director of the Department of Private Schools, Ms. Nada El Marji, Director, Sales & Marketing and Mr. Ayman Al Kurdi, Head of IT Department, presented the audience with the UKS Smart School comprehensive solution, which enables teachers, students, and parents to benefit from an integrated learning environment.
The Smart School is created by combining educational software, hardware, and systems such as an Educational Portal System that link a Learning Management System (LMS), a School Management System (SMS), an Assessment Management System (AMS), the Interactive Classroom, and Teacher Training Workshops.
During the second half of the seminar, UKS K-12 expert focused on Hitachi's interactive learning solutions, which offer a selection of powerful tools for teaching, learning, and conferencing for education. UKS's K-12 Domain expert led the demo sessions on the interactive whiteboard, the bluetooth tablet, and interactive panel, during which the audience was invited to interact with the products for themselves in order to gain hands-on experience and see first hand how crucial this technology is in enhancing the learning experience.
Ms. Aisha Ahmed Swaidan Al Balushi, Director, Department of Private Schools, Ministry of Education, was very enthusiastic about the interactive classroom and is very keen to see private schools take it on board.
After the attendees were shown the numerous uses of the Hitachi software starboard family of interactive systems, they were presented with demos on the Cambridge-Hitachi line of interactive lessons, which were demonstrated on the Hitachi Interactive Whiteboard. The Cambridge-Hitachi software supports effective teaching with creative curriculum-focused resources, aids in the use of whiteboards and computers as essential teaching tools to challenge and inspire pupils, is easily installed, and has intuitive functionality so the technology supports teaching. The curriculum is designed for both primary and secondary schools; courses include English, mathematics, and sciences, to name a few.
As it is never enough only to buy the right technologies, UKS experts understand the need for consultancy and guidance to select the most appropriate tools and how to best implement them in order to achieve optimum results. Therefore, tailor-made solutions are designed to meet each institution's specificities.
"This was the most wonderful experience. The sessions were very interesting and engaging, and we look forward to using interactive boards in training sessions to adapt and adopt all the use of technology available to enhance the overall learning experience for teachers and students alike", commented Ms. Michele Ni Thogdha, Curriculum Development Officer at the Department of Public Schools.
"Our main objective is to enhance learning by making it a lively, engaging, and motivating experience for teachers and students alike", concluded Ms. El Marji UKS's Director, Sales & Marketing.