Hundreds of thousands of folks around the planet are enrolling in substantial open on the web programs (MOOCs) provided by the world’s major universities, and in emerging nations, the MOOCs are lifeline for folks who cannot attend school or afford increased schooling.
Rania Al Abdullah, Queen of Jordan, has taken a unique interest in MOOCs and her basis has announced the formation of a new Arabic online training support referred to as Edraak. Queen Rania favors on-line education that will benefit minority groups in the Arab planet, especially young ladies, writes Christina Farr of Venture Beat.
Edraak was formed in partnership with MOOC provider edX, which is a bit different from Coursera and Udacity. In 2011, edX was launched by a group of professors and open-supply advocates at Harvard and MIT.
“Engaging, fresh, related – and, most importantly, in Arabic – MOOCs on Edraak will open up a globe of chance for intellectually hungry Arab youth,” Queen Rania mentioned in a statement.
Haifa Dia Al-Attia is serving as chief executive of Queen Rania’s Foundation. She is functioning closely with the edX team and has performed a excellent deal of research on the MOOC trend, which she believes is “democratizing access” to higher quality training.
“We want to make positive the Arab globe is caught up,” she stated. So the basis reached out to the president of edX, Anant Agarwal, who agreed to provide them with up to 15 video programs a year. “We can adapt them and Arabize them,” Al-Attia mentioned.
The basis strategies to provide funding to Edraak in the subsequent number of many years so it can build recognition across the Middle East. In accordance to Al-Attia, her crew is contacting with neighborhood universities for partnerships and encouraging them to upload their ideal courses to Edraak.
Queen Rania’s staff is taking a different strategy than several of the U.S.-primarily based online education companies. It will enhance the current schooling and engineering program, not topple it.
Al-Attia believes that ladies will benefit most the new online training. She was heartened to uncover that younger ladies in Saudi Arabia are voraciously consuming educational movies on YouTube, which demonstrates their desire to learn.
Web access is particularly scarce in remote and rural places and it will be a challenge for Edraak to attain to some of the region’s poorest individuals who are most in want of an cost-effective education. Al-Attia programs to spouse with “community-based organizations” which can supply a computer hub to individuals who do not have Web accessibility at house.
In Jordan, for instance, the Jesuit Refugee Service lately developed an educational center to support 1000′s of Syrian refugees, who can sign up for finance, accounting, and tourism programs on the internet. The aim is to bring a sense of normalcy to their lives and help the refugees of that civil war secure good jobs or increased-training options.
In addition, Coursera not too long ago adopted a related technique as it expands into emerging nations. Coursera’s Learning Hubs initiative supplies bodily places for on the internet learners in Kenya, the Philippines, and other nations. Outfitted with an World wide web connection, these are normally empty rooms in embassies and universities.
Jordan Launches Arabic Online Education Service, Focuses on Women
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