The Supreme Education Council (SEC) is the governmental authority responsible for the development and advancement of all levels of the education sector in Qatar. It defines national educational policies and sets educational goals, plans and programs in accordance with the strategic objectives of Qatar. It takes a key role in the development and implementation of educational initiatives through its many subsidiary institutes. The SEC is an active member of the Qatar Digital Government (QDG) program. Its aim of improving educational performance across Qatar will be greatly assisted by the online opportunities afforded by the QDG.

SEC Objectives

The main objective of the Supreme Education Council is to achieve and maintain the highest educational standards in Qatar. Technology has a key role to play in achieving this objective, and its membership of the QDG is therefore pivotal.  

The goal of the SEC’s online presence is to provide an advanced, interactive academic gateway that promotes learning anytime, anywhere. This goal sits perfectly with the aims of the QDG. By providing state-of-the-art applications and a common ICT infrastructure to enhance customer experience and accessibility, Qatar Digital Government is working to ensure that the nation’s digital progression matches its physical and economic transformation.

SEC Challenges

A major hurdle faced by the SEC was the lack of collaboration and interaction between all educational stakeholders such as students, parents, teachers, school administration staff as well as SEC specialists As a result, the SEC has started focusing on improving online communication and collaboration facilities by developing an integrated learning program using the latest technological solutions available to encourage effective communication, creativity and innovation anytime anywhere.

Solution

The Supreme Education Council has developed an integrated learning environment accessible via the Internet to encourage all users to collaborate and communicate effectively. For this regard, the Supreme Education Council has launched various initiatives to provide electronic services to all educational stakeholders. One of the core initiatives is the e-Learning program, which includes various strategic systems and applications such as the "Learning Management System" which is the core e-Learning system. In addition to that, the Supreme Education Council has launched the One-to-One, e-Content, e-Library and other educational tools which support the educational field to achieve the highest academic standards worldwide.

The main objective of all systems and tools provided by the e-Learning program is to develop effective educational processes and provide various e-services based on integrated digital technology, in order to enhance the efforts of the Government of Qatar in improving the quality of teaching and learning as one of the main goals of Qatar vision 2030.

All e-Learning Initiatives can be viewed here.  

Results

The LMS has achieved remarkable results since its inception and implementation. With guidance from QDG, SEC’s online presence now offers a reliable network for other ministries, organizations and individuals within Qatar access to up-to-date facts, figures, and academic information. With a familiar online social media setting, the LMS allows easy, comfortable communication and collaboration capabilities, including the facilitation of partnerships in the learning community. It provides informal ways to view information and content remotely.

The LMS also provides a knowledge-based environment where learners, teachers, researchers and Supreme Education Council specialists use technology to enhance overall educational experiences. It contains flexible and high quality learning tools that encourage creativity and diverse personal and professional teaching and research.

The online platform covers the entire educational life cycle. It offers a multitude of e-services that enable the creation of assignments, lesson plans, course plans, e-contents and online exams for students, as well as increasing and supporting teachers' innovation. Through channels such as LMS, QDG is focused on creating efficiency in government administration, and developing a more open government with enhanced participation of citizens and residents.

What users say

Elaborating on the role of e-learning in improving the quality of education in Qatar, an English language teacher from Hamza Bin Abdul Mutalib School said; “When we launched the e-learning project, I found the missing piece of the puzzle. The e-learning portal and program has provided the necessary tools for the delivery of information in a smooth, easy, fun and entertaining way. My students are now more engaged in class.”

An eighth grade student from the same school commented, “I used to face a problem studying at home because I could not communicate with my teachers when I didn’t understand a certain subject.

However, since I received my tablet, my problem was solved because now I can communicate with my teachers very easily and ask them questions from home.”

Success story in numbers

• The project started with three pilot schools at the end of 2011, and increased to 100 within a year.
• As of 2015, LMS has been implemented in all independent schools in Qatar, including primary, preparatory and secondary.
• 120,545 students, 19,645 teachers, 47414 parents and 13,330 school administrative staff and management use the portal.
• A survey conducted in May 2014 with 5,100 students, 1,792 teachers and 84 administrative staff, states that E-Learning’s impact on student response rates increased by an average of 70%.