Jordan Times
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Science curriculum to be digitized
By Ruba Saqr
AMMAN — The Ministry of Education on Monday signed an agreement with mobile
operator Fastlink to digitise the science curriculum of all-school grades — one
that is described by specialists as a unique model integrating IT into 12 years
of education.
Under what Education Minister Khalid Touqan described as the “first-ever
e-learning agreement with a Jordanian counterpart,” Fastlink will sponsor local
IT company Rubicon with $1.8 million to develop an electronic curriculum that
parallels textbook scientific materials for classes ranging from grade one up to
Tawjihi.
Touqan said the agreement exemplified a “pioneering and strategic partnership”
with the private sector to transform learning into an IT-enabled process.
Digitising science curricula is the second such endeavour in the country
following a previous deal with CISCO Systems to digitise the mathematics
curriculum.
“Today, we witness the first of its kind Jordanian-to-Jordanian agreement -
since the launch of the Jordan Education Initiative last year at the World
Economic Forum held at the Dead Sea,” Touqan told reporters.
The initiative is a five-year educational reform plan to modernise teaching
techniques at the country's 3,000 schools, in a bid to propel Jordan into the
world of knowledge economy.
Touqan said scientific computer modelling and 3-D visualisation are the primary
ingredients of the programme. It will offer students struggling with complex
scientific information an array of multimedia systems that would make difficult
subjects such as “particles breakdown” interesting.
The e-curriculum, which includes high school scientific topics (physics,
chemistry, biology and geology), is “one of the first modules in the world,”
according to Rubicon's vice president Isam Ayoubi. “No one in the world has ever
developed a grade 1-12 e-curriculum,” he said, adding that all international
attempts pertaining to digitising scientific curricula he knew of were limited
to a certain grades.
Speaking of the impact of the e-curriculum on the Kingdom, Rubicon CEO Randa
Ayoubi said: “we hope that Jordan would sell such curricula to other Arab
countries in the future,” adding her company has already received several
inquiries from neighbouring countries interested in purchasing a copy of the
programme. Rubicon, she added, has already finalised a big chunk of the
e-mathematics curriculum with CISCO (expected to be officially launched in
September), while work on developing the e-science curriculum will start in June
this year.
According to Fastlink CEO Mohammad Saqr, the e-science curriculum takes up to 18
months to develop — one small step for contemporary schools, one giant leap for
future generations. “We believe that Jordan's prime resource is its human
capital,” Saqr told reporters.
Minister of Information and Communications Technology Fawwaz Zu'bi, who was
present at the signing ceremony, hailed the “strategic partnership” between the
Education Ministry and Fastlink, saying the scheme resembles the integration of
the private sector in the “change wave” that will lead to creating a bright
future for all of Jordan.