A New Milestone for Reach Out To Asia in Pakistan
- ROTA Launches Mobile Learning Pilot Project in Partnership With Commonwealth Of Learning Through Doha Training Course
Doha, Qatar,14September, 2015: Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), has partnered with Commonwealth of Learning(COL) to launch mobile learning services in Pakistan following a training course held in QF’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Doha.
As a member of QF, ROTA believes in the importance of unlocking human potential as well as the development and power of human capacities, and ROTA’s latest mobile training will help fulfill QF’s important mission of fostering a progressive society and addressing immediate social needs.
The mobile learning project, which ROTA and COL have begun implementing in Pakistan’s SWAT region, will provide students and teachers of schools in remote locations access to electronic learning materials on a local server without the need for grid electricity or internet through the use of the Aptus system designed by COL.
Following ROTA’s four-day training for six teachers and project staff members from Pakistan, educators will now be able to integrate mobile learning in their curricula to provide students with independent learning opportunities and to improve access to learning material and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in the three selected classrooms in the rural areas of the country.
Mr. Essa Al Mannai, ROTA’s Executive Director, said: “This is a new milestone for ROTA in supporting quality education for the marginalized children of Pakistan. ROTA is honored to partner with an esteemed organization like Commonwealth Of Learning and to invite such wonderful trainers for that purpose. They have done a wonderful job creating the new innovative Aptus system that will be of great benefit to the teachers and students of Pakistan.”
The training, held from the 6 to 9 September, was conducted by Canadian professors Dr. Mohamed Ally, Senior Researcher at Athabasca University, and Mr. Ricky Chang, Head of the Technology Department at COL and the designer of the Aptus System.
In addition to the mobile services, a research lead by Dr. Ally will be conducted to determine the effectiveness of the mobile learning on the fulfilment of educational priorities in rural Pakistanand to obtain students and teachers feedback.
COLis an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) to encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies.
Hosted by the government of Canada and headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, COL is the world’s only intergovernmental organisation solely concerned with the promotion and development of distance education and open learning. COL is helping developing nations improve access to quality education and training.
