In modern society, where computer technology thrives, there is a process of total computerization of all spheres of human life, the list of which, of course, includes education. Using computers and electronic resources in the learning process is already a quite common practice for absolutely all educational institutions, from kindergartens to higher education institutions. Hoq (2020) states that “education program is going through a significant amendment with the expansion of innovative technologies and speedy expansion of the Internet” (p. 457). In the context of global transformations taking place in the field of science and technology, the problem of the competitiveness of scientific knowledge and education is becoming increasingly important.
Nowadays, education is often perceived not only as the main social institution, or an important element of future development and stability. It is also considered to have a socio-cultural value closely related to the preservation of national identity in globalized multicultural societies. At the same time, education has a place among leading factors in the development of culture and economic growth of the country. The increase in the spiritual and intellectual potential of the people, as well as the economic and political stability of the state are directly related to the level of intellectual development of population.
Modern trends in the strengthening of globalization processes in the field of education address the pedagogical process as closely related to technologies and online platforms. For example, Al-Hazmi (2017) states that “Saudi Arabia needs a continuous effort to reform English education programs to better prepare its students for the economic and political impact of global changes” (p. 147). In the XXI century, the world political processes will be controlled by those countries that today invest the most in educational system and educational technologies. Moreover, according to Hoq (2020), “huge eruption of pandemic virus, natural tragedy, and other factors took place in the world, distressing not only health industry, but also the education sector” (p. 458).
The introduction of educational technologies into the content of the educational process implies the integration of various subject areas with digital technology. Awareness of the emerging trend in the process of school digitalization bears great importance to the educators, as it can be used quite comprehensively. As a result, the need for enhanced technological skills in teachers appears in the educational system. When using new technologies, the teacher develops new pedagogical thinking, which requires a clear structure, linguistic clarity, and validity of their teaching methodology. This paper explores the role an online educational platform might have in the process of development of technical skills in the primary school teachers in Saudi Arabia. The specific platform that is examined in this context is My School.
Statement of Research Problem
The modernization of the educational system in Saudi Arabia is primarily associated with an attempt prevention of conflict between values ​​and patterns of behavior of the traditional type and new values ​​generated by globalization. Al-Hazmi (2017) states that “the country, being the heartland of Islam and the cradle of Arabic language, has a big responsibility for maintaining the purity of Arabic language and Islamic culture” (p. 135). This is especially true for primary education, in which students undergo the first step of socialization. Al-Hezam (2017) claims that “moving from early childhood education (ECE) to primary education is considered a critical moment both in the life of a child and in their educational trajectory” (p. 47).
Over several years of purposeful state educational policy, Saudi Arabia has achieved significant success, the main of which is the creation of a structure for effective primary and secondary education. Mirghani (2020) adds that “the Kingdom has initiated a plan to invest in human capital including educational reform with regard to primary and secondary education geared toward preparing students for higher education and the workplace” (p. 59). One of the results of this structure implementation is the My School online learning platform.
My School is an online learning platform, also known as virtual learning environment. According to Hoq (2020), “Learning Management Systems (LMS) are widely used for e-learning; in most of the cases, they are the initial point of online education program” (p. 457). The environment is distributed freely within the Saudi Arabia educational system. The platform implements the philosophy of comprehensive pedagogy and is focused primarily on the organization of interaction between teacher and students, while being also suitable for supporting full-time education. My School platform is designed to take into account the achievements of the modern pedagogy, with an emphasis on the interaction between students such as discussion. It can be used for both distance and full-time education, because the platform has a simple and efficient web interface. One of the main tasks the teacher faces within the platform is the right organization of the educational process. When implementing a learning course, the teacher has to form the educational and methodological support for it, and determine the main and additional educational materials, as well as electronic resources, for classroom and extracurricular work.
My School, as the main way of organizing learning process, serves primarily as a form of communication between teacher and student. It is a modern comfortable educational electronic environment, student-centered and empowering internal motivation. Application of virtual educational platform My School in primary education contributes to increasing the efficiency of the learning process, and, undoubtedly, attributes to the formation of students’ competencies.
In the long run, this platform is aimed at improving country’s national education system in accordance with the tasks of foreign and domestic policy. Thus, the national educational tradition in the Saudi Arabia is based on the cultural and technical components that can create an effective modern education that meets the challenges of the global world. According to Mirghani (2020), “four areas for educational development were identified to invest in: improved school governance, teacher professional growth, modernising the curriculum, and strengthening early year education” (p. 61). From there, arose the need to study the effects the My School platform has on the educational process – primarily, on the performance of teachers. The research strives to determine whether the use of the platform helps teachers acquire and improve their technical skills.
Significance of the Research
The relevance of this research is determined by the needs of modern society in updating the content and technology of higher education. According to Al-Hezam (2017), “despite there being no uniform and consistent curriculum for use of digital technology in Saudi Arabia, many teachers apply the technology due to its many benefits” (pp. 50-51). The learning process that uses modern information and technical software allows teachers to organize an effective modern scientific and educational process, and it is important to evaluate the results of it. However, Mirghani (2020) states that “the question arises as to whether teachers implement what they have been exposed to during training sessions, and if in fact training sessions do address teachers’ actual needs” (p. 65). In Saudi Arabia, there is an understanding of the need to create its own effective education system, since in the modern world, a highly qualified internal labor force is one of the factors of stability and security of the state.
Saudi Arabia’s education development strategy is largely based on the symbiosis of traditions and innovations closely related to the transformations in Islamic society, as well as prospects for national development in the context of globalization. Alharbi and Madhesh (2017) supply that “the country is currently expanding its system of special education institutes to make them more consistent with the inclusive policies and practices of other nations” (p. 946). Additionally, this strategy emphasizes the need to take into account the accumulated experience of previous generations. That is why the Ministry of Education of the Saudi Arabia was faced with quite the hard task. Not only it is needed to solve the problem of modernizing education, but also to create modern educational platform that meets the requirements of the global world.
The My School platform solves both objectives, as it has proved to have the potential of changing the educational process of primary school entirely. Mirghani (2020) supplies that “although quality education is imperative for the development of human capital, the need for training educators is essential” (p. 65). From there, arose a question: what kind of impact would these changes have on the teachers, who are, essentially, the central part of this process? This research examines a specific aspect of this question that might have the most importance to it – the potential of developing teachers’ technical skills through the platform.
Research Aims and Objectives
The effectiveness of the management of the learning process depends not only on the objective content of knowledge communicated to the student, but also on the structure that is used to educate them. Al-Hezam (2017) states that “in this digital age, digital devices, such as laptops, iPads and video games, are commonly utilized by children as they are growing up, with a wide range used everywhere, especially in schools” (p. 48). Thus, a well-designed online learning platform should provide a solution to specific problems the teacher encounters in the process of education. This research aims to prove that a successful educator must possess not only the relevant knowledge, but also the skills and abilities to present this knowledge. They must be able to mobilize the attention of students, develop their thinking, and form socially significant value orientations in them. In this regard, technical skills prove to be of the utmost importance to any teacher – and, specifically, to a primary school educator. Thus, the first objective of this study is to determine whether the constant and active use of the My School platform brings a significant impact on the teachers’ abilities to operate technical means.
Modern learning technologies can be represented as a set of consistently implemented technological means for transferring information, organizing educational, cognitive, and other types of developmental activities, and regulating the course of the pedagogical process. The central place among them is occupied by the technologies for organizing learning activities, which is, in essence, the direct implementation of the concept of the pedagogical process. The efficiency of learning is ensured through the use of a more concentrated presentation and unification of content. Moreover, the use of online learning platforms provides the orientation of education technologies towards a larger number of students, as well as more efficient use of existing training space and technical means.
The use of computer technologies in primary education ​​allows not only to provide access to the necessary information resources, but also to create a new educational space and intensify the educational and cognitive activity of students. According to Abouelnaga et al. (2019), “the use of educational technologies extends the access to learning, stimulates equality, enhances the internal efficiency of the educational systems, and generates education of superior quality” (p. 4153). This research aims to study how the My School platform affects the effectiveness of training through the development of teachers’ technical skills. Therefore, the final objective of this paper is to evaluate the changes the use of the platform provides: the level of the teachers’ competencies before and after the implementation of it.
Research Questions
The study is expected to prove the impact of the introduction of My School learning platform on the quality of primary school teachers’ technical skills, whether positive, neutral or negative. Another point of the study is to analyze data regarding the consequences of the use and application of My School platform for the teaching process. For scientifically grounded management of the educational process, a teacher needs not only to know well the subject they teach, its current state, its connection with other subjects, life, and its practical use. Moreover, they also need to be able to successfully transfer their knowledge to children using various means, among which the leading place take modern technologies. Al-Hezam (2020) supplies that “benefits of educational technologies include ease of information delivery, the attractiveness of the tools to students, and existing familiarity of students with the digital technology” (p. 51).
Each school subject, or each area of ​​scientific knowledge has its own characteristics, its own difficulties, and its own basic method of cognition. In this regard, for each school discipline, there must be a deeply thought-out teaching methodology that applies modern technology. Knowledge of learning technologies helps the teacher to ensure a deep understanding and solid assimilation by students of the foundations of science, the connections between natural phenomena and the surrounding life. Abouelnaga et al. (2019) state that “the constant concerns among educators towards the attainment of superior learning outcomes and the fulfillment of expectations and demand have led to the birth of innovative learning methods” (p. 4151).
Thus, the skillful application of the technical skills gained in practice proves to be crucial for the comprehensive development of the students, specifically in primary school. Al-Hezam (2020) adds that “the majority of the teachers agree that the use of digital technology is to the benefit of the students and most teachers are able to identify the benefits of digital technology” (p. 51). The research proposes a question: how does the My School platform influence the technical skills the teachers already have? What role it plays in the development of these skills, and what are the consequences of its implementation for the teaching process? These are the questions the research is aimed to answer through quantitative analysis.
Operational Definitions
The research’s hypothesis is: the use of My School platform plays a significant role in the development of technical skills among primary school teachers. To the variables that need to be taken into consideration belong age, gender, and the level of the skills. The skills that will be examined consist of Word and Excel processing, electronic presentation, knowledge of computer network related to My School platform, and web navigation knowledge.
Age is defined as the participating teachers’ age in years, while the gender definition assumes two categories: male and female primary school teachers. These two definitions help differentiate the participants’ pool, and provide more relevant context to the research.
Word and Excel processing skill can be defined as being able to work with the Microsoft Office suite, freely create Word and Excel files and work with them, and operating Excel tables. Within this skill, the teacher needs to know how to input and navigate data, and do elementary calculations using these programs.
The skill of electronic presentation refers to the knowledge of the program Microsoft PowerPoint, which is used to create presentations. Subsequently, the teacher needs to be able to create and modify PowerPoint presentations, use interactive features of the program, and implement presentations into learning process.
The knowledge of computer network related to My School platform is absolutely necessary for the teacher that would be using it. Within this skill, educators have to understand how the computer network works in general, as well as use the software for the My School platform freely.
Web navigation knowledge is another crucial skill for any educator. This point addresses the general understanding of how the Internet works: how to search and gather information and media files, how to navigate the data sources, and avoid unreliable sites.
In this research, technical skills are defined as the ability to navigate the Internet, use programs such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and work with the My School’s network software. Age is measured in full years, while gender presumes two kinds of teachers such as male and female. Thus, the research examines the correlation between the use of My School platform and the age, gender, and the effect on the listed skills levels in primary school teachers.
Methodology and Research Sample
To correctly gather and interpret the data, the method of quantitative and qualitative analysis is applied. The analysis is to be conducted on the information gathered from a specific sample: primary school teachers. The research targets a wide audience that constitutes the sample: teachers of different age, gender, and with various levels of technical skills. For this study, a pre-post test design is used: the teachers’ technical skills will be evaluated before the use of My School platform, and after two weeks of actively using it. Data samples will be divided into two categories: gender and age, each with several subcategories. In the gender group, the subcategories will be represented by male and female subgroups. In the age group, three subcategories will be applied: age of 20-27 subgroup, age of 28-35 subgroup, and age of 36-46 subgroup (NUMBERS MAY VARY). For the evaluation of technical skills, a self-assessment questionnaire will be used. [PLEASE INSERT THE STATISTICAL TOOLS YOU WILL USE] will be applied to assess the pre-post mean knowledge and skills scores differences, with regard to age and gender differences.
References
Abouelnaga, H. M., Metwalli, A. B., AlDhmour, K., Shoshan, H., Saleh, M., Mazouz, L. A., Abouelmagd, H., Alsmadi, S., Aljamaeen, R., Eljawad, L., & Hamad, A. L. (2019). A survey on educational technology in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 14(22), 4149–4160.
Al-Hazmi, S. (2017). Current issues in English language education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Journal of Modern Languages, 17(1), 129–150.
Al-Hezam, D. M. (2017). The impact of digital technology on children’s transition from kindergarten to primary school: Bringing concepts from international research and practice to Saudi Arabia.Waikato Journal of Education, 22(2), 47–52.
Alharbi, A., & Madhesh, A. (2018). Inclusive education and policy in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Education Research and Reviews, 6(1), 946–956.
Hoq, M. (2020). E-Learning During the Period of Pandemic (COVID-19) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: An Empirical Study. American Journal of Educational Research, 8, 457-464. Web.
Mirghani, T. M. (2020). The growing demand for education in Saudi Arabia: How effective is borrowing educational models from the West?Journal of Education and Learning, 9(6), 59.