NeLC has announced the completion of two comprehensive studies conducted by international institutions on K12 and HE in the Kingdom during the COVID-19pandemic, with the aim of documenting and studying the current state, and providing initiatives to develop and advance eLearning practices in the Kingdom according to the latest practices and international standards in this field.
These two studies involved more than 342,000 students, faculty, teachers, parents, and school principals, with 318,000 participants in the K12 study and 24,000 participants in the HE study.
The first study was conducted by the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), with the participation of International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Quality Matters (QM), UNESCO, National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements in the US (DETA), and UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), while the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in collaboration with Harvard University in Public Education conducted the second study.
These two studies were benchmarked with more than 193 countries around the world, and both showed that the Kingdom excelled in variety of options available, for example, the online content and satellite channels available for eLearning in K12, which the Kingdom provided. The percentage of countries that succeeded in providing it at the national level was only 38%.
The study, conducted by OECD and Harvard University, compared the Kingdom's response during the COVID-19 with 37 member states. The results showed that the kingdom advanced in 13 out of 16 indicators on the average of these countries. The study also revealed that teachers have received significant support to overcome the obstacles to provide eLearning. K12 study indicated that there is a clear strategy for reopening schools in the Kingdom, and any gaps are measured and addressed by the Ministry of Education.
OLC commended the great efforts made by the Ministry of Education in dealing with the crisis in terms of the diversity of options, and the agility to ensure the effective transition to eLearning.
The two studies recommended 71 developmental initiatives proposed for K12, and 78 developmental initiatives for higher education. NeLC in coordination with MoE is working on showcasing the initiatives to start the implementation phase.
Given the importance of these studies and its results, NeLC has announced that the institutions will publish their results and will complete the second phase by the end of the first semester.
