UAE company launches digital classroom platform



A home-grown education program complete with digital avatars and an interactive calendar is being trialled to help engage pupils in the classroom.

Called Alef, which is the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, the new education platform had been three years in the making by Alef Education, a privately-held education technology company based in Abu Dhabi supported by the Abu Dhabi Financial Group.

“More than three years ago, a group of 300 education and technology experts – brilliant minds from leading universities around the world – came together to work on this new initiative that hopes to redefine education,” Jassim Alseddiqi, CEO and managing director of the ADFG, said at the product launch Sunday. “After years of dedication and hard work, we have put in place an integrated educational system that caters to the needs and challenges of the future.”

The platform is currently being used by 240 pupils in grade six at a Ministry of Education curriculum school in the capital region. Officials say they are in the process of expanding to 1,000 pupils in the near future.

“The key building blocks include artificial intelligence, natural language processing, hypermedia content, and really engaging user interface,” said Vikraman Poduval, Alef chief technology officer. “It supports multiple languages and it adapts to many curricula.”

Alef works as an online platform that allows pupils to sign in, select an avatar, view an interactive academic calendar and complete independent-learning lessons on a variety of topics.

The lessons were designed by Alef Education and are “curriculum agnostic”.

Each lesson begins with a short video addressing the main themes of the subject or topic being taught. Pupils are then prompted to answer a number of “technology-enhanced questions” to help determine their level of understanding of the subject.

The quiz also maps out how the student can proceed – that is, whether he or she needs to review basic concepts or can move on to the basic, intermediate or advanced “depth of knowledge” learning, which takes about 20 minutes to complete for each topic. One of the features of the platform is used for group work, which is called “experiential learning” in Alef-speak. The example demonstrated by Alef Education officials showed a screen with an image of marshmallows and uncooked spaghetti with instructions for teams of students to work together to build the tallest tower.

“There is a library of this experiential learning,” said Mr Poduval. “During this process, they learn how to plan, they learn how communicate, they learn how to challenge each other.”

Dr Saleh Al Hashemi, Alef’s CEO, said the learning platform is not meant to replace the teacher, but to help him or her focus on the needs of the pupils more effectively.

“The role of the teacher is needed, however, it changes with this,” said Dr Al Hashemi. “This platform or this solution builds efficiences in the classroom. This platform takes care of 90 per cent of the routine items that a teacher or instructor would do, and therefore it gives him the time to turn his attention to where his expertise is needed. He can focus on actual attainment from the student.”

With the Grade 6 curriculum complete, Alef Education is currently designing the content for the remaining grade levels – something officials say differentiates the platform from other more established learning management systems.

“We are not a textbook digitiser. The content that we provide and the design of our educational framework is proprietary to us,” said Pathikrit Banerjee, Alef’s director of special projects. “It is designed in a way to make it more engaging.”

Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners

Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta​​​​​​​
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)

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Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed 

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

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Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

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Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

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Popular Vote Tally

The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

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How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Company%20Profile
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The biog

Name: Ayisha Abdulrahman Gareb

Age: 57

From: Kalba

Occupation: Mukrema, though she washes bodies without charge

Favourite things to do: Visiting patients at the hospital and give them the support they need.
Role model: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation and President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood.

 

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