efore COVID-19, students in Jordan could only learn in-person at public schools. Each day, children had to attend crowded classrooms. Direct teacher-to-student instruction was the preferred method of education, and teachers bore a great deal of responsibility in the process while parental involvement was very limited. The roles of teachers and parents have shifted since COVID-19, however, with new teaching strategies being adopted to guarantee equal and inclusive access to education for all children in Jordan. These new strategies, still in early stages of development, have great potential for improving equitable learner access across Jordan, even after the pandemic has run its course.
Jordan is in the heart of the Middle East and has for years been beset by many political and economic challenges. Some of these challenges—such as the repatriation of Jordanian expats after the Gulf War and an influx of Syrian refugees—have created serious challenges for Jordan’s public schools. The number of students in classrooms approximately doubled, meaning more crowded classrooms and heavier loads on teachers. Jordan’s Ministry of Education (MOE) sought to meet these challenges by building more schools/classrooms and providing better professional development for teachers. Unfortunately, not much focus was given to using technology as a tool for instruction, and the concept of distance learning was never introduced.
In March 2020, COVID-19 caused the closure of all Jordan’s schools and it became necessary to quickly create ways for students to learn from home. To meet this challenge, the MOE turned to public media, available technology, and motivated teachers. The MOE plan included three phases: response, recovery, and sustainability. During the response phase, all core subjects were filmed and screened on the national TV channels so that students all over the kingdom could watch them and learn. This immediate response to the sudden crises was very simple and direct but students were unable to interact with each other or their teachers. To meet this gap, decision-makers implemented the DARSAK platform. DARSAK is a virtual hub that allowed teachers to track student progress more simply while allowing students to watch any given lesson more than once without charge.
In the recovery phase, the MOE developed the new learning management system, “Noor Space,” which was linked to EMIS to allow teachers and schools to track attendance, monitor engagement, and set online assessments. Accordingly, students felt close to their teachers again. Moreover, the MOE created a platform for professional development where teachers could learn best practices to improve their online teaching skills.
Leveraging Technology for Jordan’s Future Education System
Schools are open again, but the MOE intends distance learning to remain an important part of the education process, calling distance learning “an important method of teaching and learning.” Moving forward, then, Jordan will adopt a hybrid teacher and learning system.
There are challenges to maintaining a hybrid system in a developing country such as Jordan. Challenges include poor infrastructure in public schools, lacking technology and smart devices, limited internet coverage especially in remote areas, and a lack of plans for including students with disabilities.
While parents became key players in the education of their children during school closures and they have become inseparable partners in the process, many parents struggle to maintain close interaction with learning. This is exacerbated by poverty—which increased significantly during quarantine as unemployment doubled. Many families were not able to afford buying smart devices for their children and in some disadvantaged areas parents didn’t even have smartphones. This means that their children were not able to access educational content which was uploaded on the platforms. This led to “learning loss” and a growing disparity between the students who managed to access the e-platforms and continued learning with their classmates and their teachers on the one hand, and students who were unable to access the e-content.
To address these gaps, the MOE should seek solid partnerships with organizations that have the capacity to improve digital infrastructure—particularly in disadvantaged areas. Also, the MOE should work closely with education experts to identify key areas of the learning loss in order to develop innovative and responsive remedial programs to bridge the deep gap between what was anticipated for the future on the one hand and the current unsatisfying learning reality on the other hand.
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Jordan Embraced New Learning, Teaching Methods Amid COVID-19
Photo by Giovanni Gagliardi on Unsplash.
September 9, 2022
Jordan’s new learning and teaching strategies adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic have great potential for improving equitable learner access across Jordan, even after the pandemic has run its course, writes the Ministry of Education in Jordan’s Laila Abu Qatousah.
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efore COVID-19, students in Jordan could only learn in-person at public schools. Each day, children had to attend crowded classrooms. Direct teacher-to-student instruction was the preferred method of education, and teachers bore a great deal of responsibility in the process while parental involvement was very limited. The roles of teachers and parents have shifted since COVID-19, however, with new teaching strategies being adopted to guarantee equal and inclusive access to education for all children in Jordan. These new strategies, still in early stages of development, have great potential for improving equitable learner access across Jordan, even after the pandemic has run its course.
Jordan is in the heart of the Middle East and has for years been beset by many political and economic challenges. Some of these challenges—such as the repatriation of Jordanian expats after the Gulf War and an influx of Syrian refugees—have created serious challenges for Jordan’s public schools. The number of students in classrooms approximately doubled, meaning more crowded classrooms and heavier loads on teachers. Jordan’s Ministry of Education (MOE) sought to meet these challenges by building more schools/classrooms and providing better professional development for teachers. Unfortunately, not much focus was given to using technology as a tool for instruction, and the concept of distance learning was never introduced.
In March 2020, COVID-19 caused the closure of all Jordan’s schools and it became necessary to quickly create ways for students to learn from home. To meet this challenge, the MOE turned to public media, available technology, and motivated teachers. The MOE plan included three phases: response, recovery, and sustainability. During the response phase, all core subjects were filmed and screened on the national TV channels so that students all over the kingdom could watch them and learn. This immediate response to the sudden crises was very simple and direct but students were unable to interact with each other or their teachers. To meet this gap, decision-makers implemented the DARSAK platform. DARSAK is a virtual hub that allowed teachers to track student progress more simply while allowing students to watch any given lesson more than once without charge.
In the recovery phase, the MOE developed the new learning management system, “Noor Space,” which was linked to EMIS to allow teachers and schools to track attendance, monitor engagement, and set online assessments. Accordingly, students felt close to their teachers again. Moreover, the MOE created a platform for professional development where teachers could learn best practices to improve their online teaching skills.
Leveraging Technology for Jordan’s Future Education System
Schools are open again, but the MOE intends distance learning to remain an important part of the education process, calling distance learning “an important method of teaching and learning.” Moving forward, then, Jordan will adopt a hybrid teacher and learning system.
There are challenges to maintaining a hybrid system in a developing country such as Jordan. Challenges include poor infrastructure in public schools, lacking technology and smart devices, limited internet coverage especially in remote areas, and a lack of plans for including students with disabilities.
While parents became key players in the education of their children during school closures and they have become inseparable partners in the process, many parents struggle to maintain close interaction with learning. This is exacerbated by poverty—which increased significantly during quarantine as unemployment doubled. Many families were not able to afford buying smart devices for their children and in some disadvantaged areas parents didn’t even have smartphones. This means that their children were not able to access educational content which was uploaded on the platforms. This led to “learning loss” and a growing disparity between the students who managed to access the e-platforms and continued learning with their classmates and their teachers on the one hand, and students who were unable to access the e-content.
To address these gaps, the MOE should seek solid partnerships with organizations that have the capacity to improve digital infrastructure—particularly in disadvantaged areas. Also, the MOE should work closely with education experts to identify key areas of the learning loss in order to develop innovative and responsive remedial programs to bridge the deep gap between what was anticipated for the future on the one hand and the current unsatisfying learning reality on the other hand.
