Embedding e-learning in schools and universities will be the next major education challenge for Saudi Arabia, as it realises its long-term goals of improving literacy and school attendance rates, said an expert.

The kingdom has achieved improvements in education over recent years, with literacy hitting an all-time high of 96 per cent, and 99 per cent of school age children now attending school, he said.

Education experts are now looking to e-learning as the next focus of Saudi Arabia’s education policy.

Education institutions have undergone major changes in recent year, with digital learning tools such as e-texts and online learning systems becoming increasing common in universities throughout the kingdom.

Saudi’s e-learning capability was the focus of a recent conference hosted by the Saudi National Centre for E-Learning and Distance Learning and King Khalid University.

The theme of the conference was ‘Development and Shareability in E-Learning’ and brought together e-learning deans from universities across Saudi Arabia and around the world.

Leading international experts in education technology discussed the latest innovations in digital education, and how they can be leveraged to improve the learning outcomes of Saudi tertiary students.

Dr Jeff Borden, Pearson’s vice president of Instruction and Academic Strategy and lead at the Centre of Online Learning, while speaking at the conference pointed out that entrenching a culture of e-learning in higher education is also critical to the Saudi government’s goal of achieving a diversified, knowledge based economy.

“Saudi Arabia’s commitment to improving education has led to significant gains in the country’s key education indicators. According to data from the World Bank and the OECD, illiteracy in Saudi Arabia has fallen to below 4 per cent and more and more school leavers are now entering higher education,” he said.

“The country is now in an excellent position to continue to build on these significant educational and associated economic gains by harnessing the power of digital learning solutions,” said Dr Borden.

Mohammed Asiri, country manager in Saudi Arabia, said that the educational technology adopted by universities in Saudi Arabia will be effective in improving student learning outcomes and lead to tangible improvements in institutions’ results. - TradeArabia News Service