Assessment: Jordan (5 months)
The first week I arrived in Jordan temperatures averaged at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit and there was not a single pair of shorts to be seen. The iEARN office had just finished a big exchange with students from the United States. Ten students from Jordan had been to the U.S. during the spring and received computer repair and student help desk training at a school in NYC through collaboration with the MOUSE project. In July those 10 Jordanian students, along with 10 visiting American students, then trained another 20 students in Amman during the second part of the exchange. The idea is to have a student-run help desk functioning inside the school to provide more effective IT assistance and give the students skills training as well as responsibility and work experience.
This is the first time the program has been taken outside the U.S. and given the amount of technology being invested and brought in to schools across Jordan, it could be a strong program for the country.
I contributed to the final report on the exchange component of this project by writing a comprehensive report on the activities conducted and outcomes achieved during the exchange.
1. Bringing MOUSE Squads to Jordan
I helped design an implementation strategy for introducing and launching the project in Jordan and pitching the plan to potential partners and financial supporters. I created informational materials outlining the background of the project, evaluating its present status, detailing a yearlong timeline and defining the measurable impact of the program.
I also created and delivered a PowerPoint presentation outlining the background and role of MOUSE and iEARN, achievements and progress to date, an implementation timeline and the impact of the project at individual, school, national and regional levels.
2. Jordanian Teacher Training Certification Program
The Jordanian Ministry of Education (MOE) has also placed great emphasis on improving teacher training through long-term certification programs. To meet that need I have assisted Tuhamie Dawas in designing a 180-hour teacher training certification program. This training program incorporates teaching methodologies, iEARN programs and the integration of technology in the classroom. It also provides teachers the tools necessary to effectively educate young Jordanians with tangible school-to-work skills. The training consists of four segments designed to meet the needs and requirements of teachers as well as those of MOE.
The training levels are:
1. iEARN Training and PBL (50 hours)
2. Web and Technology Skills Training (60 hours)
3. Conference and Peer-to-Peer Training (40 hours)
4. Online Educational Project-building (30 hours)
This program meets and exceeds all the standards set by MOE and is designed to provide applicable skills training for educators and students. The outline also includes measurables for evaluating the program and defined tangible outcomes for impact assessment.
3. BRIDGE Exchange Selection
The BRIDGE (Building Respect through Internet Dialogue and Global Education) program combines online collaborative projects with face-to-face exchanges. The program includes two three-week exchange components, one with Jordanian students traveling to the United States and then a second with American students coming to Jordan.
I designed the nominee evaluation sheets for the Jordanian student selection committee, which consisted of myself, iEARN Jordan Country Coordinator Mohammad Jarrah, two representatives from the U.S. Embassy and one from the Ministry of Education. This program is sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
4. Grant Proposal Research
During my time in Jordan I researched an array of potential grant opportunities, outlined the projects they could be used for, and established a file detailing the deadlines, criteria and application process for each potential funding opportunity.
5. PEARL Project Implementation
The Pearl World Youth News was created in collaboration with The Daniel Pearl Foundation to establish an international news service with stories from trained youth reporters worldwide.
As a former reporter I had a strong interest in the project but believed it needed more structure to be applied successfully in Jordan. I expanded on the existing certification course by implementing bi-weekly meetings and a timeline for completion of the online course requirements. I contacted three schools about the project, designed an application, interviewed students and selected 15 for the pilot semester.
Several obstacles slowed the progress of the project. First, the registration for the course, requiring separate login usernames and passwords from the rest of the iEARN site caused difficulties and confusion. Secondly, once registered, many students seemed confused by the assignments and needed further guidance as to what was being taught and how to complete the assignments. Third, once students began submitting their assignments they were not receiving feedback from the editors in New York, which resulted in a loss of momentum and enthusiasm. Fourth, since the project was conducted outside of the school it was definitely perceived by some students and parents as extracurricular and therefore a lower priority. At certain times attendance was too low to utilize the meetings to their full potential.
At the time I left Jordan students were actively engaged in completing the online course assignments but were still waiting to receive any feedback from the editors. Some students had submitted their work four weeks earlier. I had contacted the New York office and explained the problem but to the best of my knowledge students are still waiting for editorial comments.
6. Teacher Training in Madaba
November 24-27 we conducted an iEARN teacher training workshop at the Lib School for Girls in Madaba. This training was coordinated with MOE and was led by iEARN Lebanon Country Coordinator Eliane Metni. The intensive workshop trained 43 Jordanian teachers and administrators and the closing ceremony was attended by several representatives from the U.S. Embassy and the MOE.
Prior to the workshop I visited the school with MOE representative Khitam Al-Utaibi. We met with the principal, teachers and students about iEARN and the new Learning Resource Center, which has been established at the school by MOE. This school is part of a larger UNIFEM initiative called ‘e-Village’ to create what the organization describes as a “gender-sensitive, economically empowered communities where ICT is extensively used to achieve a better quality of life”. `I also met with members from UNIFEM and participated in steering and planning committee activities for the project.
7. Other Activities
During Ramadan iEARN Jordan students participated in an indoor soccer match and iEARN Jordan also donated to and helped with an iftar for orphans at The Modern School in Amman.
Two days a week I also volunteered at The Modern School, helping with the KG2 English classes and learning Arabic from the classes, students and teachers. I also took a colloquial Arabic course in the evenings that met three nights a week.
Additional Comments and Information on the Status of Jordanian Educational System (Initial Assessment)
School is compulsory through grade 10 and public school classes are taught predominantly in English while most of the private schools teach in a dual Arabic-English language format. The Ministry of Education (MOE) oversees the public schools and all teachers employed there are government employees. All educational textbooks and materials used in the public system must be in Arabic and permission to work with public schools must be granted from MOE.
King Abdullah II has invested significant funds in improving the Jordanian educational system, including the creation of a new national curriculum and an online portal, which are being launched this year. The king has also purchased computers for the public schools although the delivery of the hardware has not necessarily translated into computer accessibility and use nationwide, though the potential is there.
The population of Jordan is growing rapidly. It has already expanded from 586,000 in 1958 to approximately5.75 million in 2005. That number is supposed to double again by 2026 and more than 75 percent of the population lives in urban areas. Literacy rates have doubled and the focus on educational reform is having a significant impact.
In 2003, the Jordanian government launched the Jordan Educational Initiative (JEI) in collaboration with Cisco Systems. The government seems open to new ideas, partnerships and initiatives, but there are many organizations vying for the available funds and so many international and national players there is a degree of inefficiency and potential overlap.
iEARN Jordan is not officially recognized as a local non-governmental organization at this time, which means it may not independently work with any segment of the public school system.