JEDDAH: Online training has become a way of life. People have witnessed an upsurge in learning through the Internet or CD-ROMs, so-called e-learning. Corporate houses and educational institutions have discovered that in addition to being a tool for employees to keep pace with newer challenges, e-learning can ensure considerable savings, as it makes education available to anyone, anywhere.
To save time in this fast-paced world, many people begin to look for credible institutes of knowledge. There are online courses in management, business, human resources, computing, self-improvement, HR, and many more. Learning plays a central role in our day-to-day life, and online learning offers a cost-effective method to deliver a wide variety of subject material at a very low cost. E-learning has become accessible and is gaining credibility as a medium among business enterprises. Employees are trained through e-learning in order to look at fast and short-term returns rather than waiting for strategic long-term benefits.
Especially in countries like Saudi Arabia, with fewer institutes, online learning plays a potential role. Mohammed Zafar, a graphic designer with a multimedia firm, wanted to pursue a course in interior design without leaving his job. However, in the absence of evening institutes for such courses in Dammam, he decided to acquire education through e-learning.
There is no doubt that e-learning has opened an exciting range of possibilities and opportunities for learners around the globe, but have all learners had the chance to benefit from such developments? To answer this, GreenLeaf International Institute has been established to ensure access to quality education to young people in the developing world at convenient time. This is a dynamic, Web 2.0 enabled online learning institute based in Bangladesh. It offers courses and other online materials for free in Arabic, English, and Bengali on a variety of subjects that will enhance the skills of youths in developing countries, including Saudi Arabia.
GreenLeaf founder and Chief Naguib Chowdhury said, “The aim to set up this institute is to promote free education and develop skills among youth in the developing world, which will eventually help them to be self-employed or get employment. GreenLeaf has gathered young talented educators to come together to develop the course content in order to foster quality education to fellow young people.”
He added that students do not need to attend classes physically, yet they can learn and share new ideas and insights with other students in a virtual classroom setting accordingly. GreenLeaf’s idea of “Youth helping Youth” is simple yet attractive and invites everyone to join the youth, driven by online knowledge activism.
Bushra Hamdan Al-Ghamdi, a Saudi student and Arabic content translator at the GreenLeaf International Institute, said, “Enriching the Arabic content through the GreenLeaf institute contributes to building a knowledge base fit for today’s youth in terms of ease of access to information. It offers a unique service through the development of educational material and makes learning extremely easy for youth. The best educational content and opportunities are available in the institute to an increasing number of people, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries.”
The key to creating the best e-learning material for such institutes is to put a subject expert together with a design expert on the production team. This mode of education has gained popularity among the public all over the world by the numerous advantages it offers to the student.
“Apart from the classical arguments of cost and consistency, e-learning has also made education accessible to an increased number of students. You can work in one city and get your undergraduate qualification from a university in a different city,” said Syed Nayab, an HR recruiter.
“Saudi Arabia has the capacity to become a major e-learning hub with its growing IT prowess and education system,” Noor Al-Hassan, a Saudi teacher, said.
Change is the buzzword of e-learning. Students are no longer restricting themselves to traditional classroom learning and have taken to alternative means of gaining knowledge, including e-learning.
Ibtihal Fatahni, a science student at the Saudi Electronic University, said, “The electronic university has the flexibility and quality output to the market needs. It frees the learning process from the confines of the classroom, as it is an open, flexible and distributed learning process, or blended e-learning.”
She believes e-learning has the potential to overcome the non-availability of universities and qualified teachers in Saudi Arabia. Live online tutoring, streaming videos, and virtual classrooms are some of the solutions that e-learning can offer to these problems.
Inclusive e-learning institutes gaining popularity
