Help teachers resolve problems in the classroom, Dubai conference told

A wrap-up of the three-day Global Education Forum at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Students attend computer class at the Sharjah Institute of Technology. Educators say teaching methods and curriculums should evolve constantly to keep pupils engaged. Satish Kumar / The National

DUBAI // Education ministries around the world should examine the problems teachers face in classrooms and try to resolve them, experts told a conference on Thursday.

“There is a need to get educational funding, not for huge massive projects but for small projects reflecting on the teaching practice,” said Huw Jarvis, senior lecturer in English language teaching at the University of Salford, Manchester.

“We should look at action research, where it starts with looking at what issues teachers have in the classroom, investigating what’s going on, why there are issues and coming up with solutions,” he said. “It’s very teacher-based.”

Mr Jarvis was speaking on the third and final day of the Global Education Forum at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

In 2008, he conducted a four-month study on how 60 Emirati students from Zayed University used technology in their free time and the language with which they obtained and transmitted information.

The study included an equal number of Thai students for whom English was the second language.

The research, supported by the British Council, concluded that most of the university’s students used computers every day and relied significantly on English with computer applications.

Mr Jarvis said that “61.5 per cent of Emirati students said social media helped them to practise English. Through social media, they have unlimited opportunities to learn the language outside the classrooms.”

He said new education policies must help students to “function efficiently, effectively and appropriately as connected global citizens in both their first language, and in English as the second language”.

But his research needs to be updated for current trends.

“Since the research social media has grown,” Mr Jarvis said. “If funding is available I will come back to research more on this.

"We need to look at how people are using technology inside the classroom and outside. We need to see the range of devices they use and their impact on languages.

“So much information is gathered today using mobile devices.”

Educators said teaching methods and curriculums should evolve constantly to keep students engaged.

“We prepare students with knowledge that will change drastically in 10 to 15 years,” said Prof Mohamed Embi, deputy director of the education faculty at the National University of Malaysia.

“Many educators tend to blame the students if they don’t learn well. Perhaps we should change the way we teach.

“For learning to be meaningful, it has to be active and interactive.”

Prof Embi encourages his students to publish their work on YouTube and social media, rather than simply hand it in.

Dr Cindy Gunn, associate professor at the American University of Sharjah, said students had to be trained in proper use of the internet as an educational tool.

“We have to teach students how to validate, synthesise and document information,” Dr Gunn said.

She said it was often assumed that students were tech-savvy, capable of multi-tasking, comfortable with using technology in classrooms, expected a fun and interactive learning environment, and were easily distracted.

At the conference Dr Samia Al Farrar, chief education officer of Taleem, one of the largest group of schools in the UAE, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to education.

Dr Al Farrar joined the group in 2009 and was previously the principal of Amman Baccalaureate School and a director at Al Bayan School in Kuwait.

She was a member of the Jordanian ministry of education council for 13 years, and of the International Baccalaureate Academic Committee from 1997 to 2003.