Google Workspace for Education platform provided more than 600,000 students and 40,000 teachers in Oman with enhanced tools for digital learning since 2020. Recently, Google Workspace for Education and the Ministry of Education of Oman expanded the collaboration to enhance hybrid and distance learning in public schools across the Sultanate.
Following the successful use of the Google Workspace for Education platform during the former academic year, the Ministry of Education in Oman has renewed its agreement to continue using the platform as the primary educational tool for learning and collaboration within Oman’s public schools’ network for the current academic year of 2021 to 2022.
The Google Workspace for Education platform has provided Oman’s educational community with a suite of productivity and collaboration solutions that can flex and adapt to their unique needs and mimic a physical classroom setting. Using tools such as Google Classroom, Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, as well as Google Meet and Chat and other Education support applications, teachers were able to integrate all the tools in their teaching methodologies.
More than 600,00 students and 40,000 teachers in Oman have been able to benefit from the Google Workspace for Education platform educational and collaboration tools since its deployment in early 2020, which has empowered them with new methods of teaching and learning that support distance and hybrid learning.
Recent figures from 2021 reflecting the usage and interaction of students and teachers on the platform in Oman public schools revealed that; more than 150,000 online classrooms were conducted for different school grades and subjects, with the highest levels of organisation in line with the data guidelines of the educational gate. In addition, more than 100 nationwide live streams were delivered to students in the span of one month during the lockdown period, considering a project to broadcast educational lessons via the Google Workspace for Education platform from Muscat based schools, that occurred in partnership with the Oman Telecommunications Company, Omantel, showcasing the widespread usage of the platform among the country’s public schools. In addition to that, more than 250 terabytes of educational data were used on the platform, and Google Meet was widely activated for simultaneous lessons across the network of schools.
Activating e-learning systems
Speaking about the ministry’s efforts to activate remote, hybrid and e-learning in public schools in Oman as a result of the pandemic, H.E Dr Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, Education Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, said: “They say that experience is the best teacher, and we have experienced that in our daily lives during the pandemic. The rapid adoption of remote learning on different levels – schools and universities by countries during the pandemic, was a testimonial in their capabilities of acquiring knowledge and encouraging teachers and students to be creative and innovative through applying effective strategies, and to also prove the efficiency and ability of educational institutions to achieve their goals and ensure everyone’s right to a quality education is still maintained.”
“The pandemic has driven countries around the globe to activate e-learning systems and digital tools to enable remote learning to cope with the new challenges it posed. The ministry has made many strides in this sector, including introducing the general framework for operating schools during the pandemic, a policy for regulating e-learning, educational content documents, general calendar for grades (1 to12), the training programme for faculty and its related functions, and a document highlighting the supervisory roles in e-learning and many other efforts that supported hybrid and remote learning. The ministry sought to effectively implement plans into action to further enhance the development and modernisation of the education process, activate remote learning, enable teachers with the right tools, and enhance the quality and efficiency of the educational process.”
Education and accelerating Digital Transformation
Marc Sanz Lopez, Head of Education, Google Workspace for Education, SCEEMENA, said: “The education sector was one of the key sectors that accelerated Digital Transformation when the pandemic hit, as it became essential to implement e-learning systems and enhance the digital infrastructure of schools to switch to distance learning. We are pleased that our collaboration with the Ministry of Education Oman has been instrumental in ensuring the education of students across the country went uninterrupted over the last two years, and also helped deliver engaging and personalised content that enabled students and teachers to achieve better learning and educational outcomes.”
Google Workspace for Education is an agile platform
Google Workspace for Education is agile and scalable and provides the ability to easily manage thousands of personal devices that connect teachers and students, whether it is for one-on-one learning or for an entire classroom. Students and teachers in public schools across Oman can collaborate in real-time on the platform, within an inclusive learning environment which is adapted to each student’s unique learning style. Google Workspace for Education has successfully allowed educators to streamline workload and enhance productivity among their students through Google Classroom, while also providing consistent, transparent grading and feedback to support this.
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