Are we preparing our students for the digital age?

Where is my future?

Preparing students for their future is always a daunting task for educators. For one thing it places a lot on their shoulders. It is hard enough to keep up with their present needs!? This short article looks at what schools can do to get students up to acceptable proficiency levels in coding, web design, video editing and other related digital skills.? Keep in mind that our students’ Rizq, like everyone else’s, is written for them before they were born.

Passion meets career.

Schools are encountering an increasing number of students hooked on the prospect of a financially rewarding career in Cybersecurity.? With the recent announcement by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the establishment of a new company, Alat, (see PIF’s press release dated 1 February 2024) to make Saudi Arabia a technology hub, already high financial rewards for specialists in this sector in Saudi Arabia are likely to rise even further. A big question mark is whether international, private schools in KSA are equipped to prepare the youth for that challenge. Let’s examine a few reasons why this challenge is not so easy.

Mind the (technology) gap!

Schools cannot be completely up to date in implementing the latest digital innovations. Curriculum standards reflect developments in the real world and the sheer pace of change presents obvious challenges. It takes a long time to write and update a school curriculum! Add to that the average age of educators in schools which is uncomfortably high, plus teachers’ incessant business with routine school duties! Such factors perpetuate the gap between computer skills prevalent in non-education sectors and the teaching profession.?

Entry requirements into Saudi universities for Computer Science do not stipulate substantial prior knowledge – physics and math grades, with Tahseeli, are often adequate. Perhaps for that reason, Computer Science and ICT are not always given the importance in schools that they deserve. Sessions in the timetable are reduced to maintain adequate space for the ‘core subjects’ of English Language Arts (ELA), math, and science.? Parents focus less on teacher and resource quality in Computer Science, which, when all is said and done, carries only half the weight of these ‘core subjects’ in student transcripts.

So, the question is not about whether a gap between the world outside education and the world within will exist – questions relate more to how big that gap will be and how the gap can be at least partially bridged. This article examines a few ways in which schools can rise to the challenge of better preparing students for the future demands of the labor force.

Things digital

What educators can do is prepare the ground to provide opportunities for students to thrive in contemporary society. This acclimatizing of students to ‘things digital’ needs to start at the elementary level. These opportunities nurture the thinking and knowledge-based skills that our youngsters need to follow pathways in higher grades that suit them and match their skills to job market requirements.?

Teaching Computer Science (rather than ICT) does not just benefit students who want a career in Cybersecurity.? Challenging curriculum standards impart Computer Science Practices, called CSPs (algorithms, creativity, programming) as well as Computational Thinking (CT) (e.g. 'creating computational artefacts'), all of which go hand in hand with the teaching of science, using STEM / STEAM / iSTEM approaches. This is well researched in the literature (see for example 'Infusing Computer Science in Engineering and Technology Education: An Integrated STEM Perspective by Paul Asunda, which you can access through a reasonably priced JSTOR account).

Fine, we know it's important. What can we do?

There are at least four critical focus areas that are pre-requisites to schools meeting the challenge: a set of curriculum standards that are fit for purpose, great teachers to deliver them, resources to match the curriculum and space in the schedule for relevant electives and clubs.

1. What to teach?

In international schools in Saudi Arabia, schools typically implement European (IB), UK or US-based standards.? Subjects like Computer Science are often treated differently from core subjects such as math, English and science in that teachers are given freedom to implement whatever standards they see fit.? That works if you have a visionary team of Computer Science teachers who know how to construct vertically aligned relevant standards.

For Computer Science, we at Kingdom Schools adopted, then adapted, ISTE (US-based) standards. These provide us with a set of vertically aligned standards covering domains such as Digital Citizen and Innovative Designer. Its implementation some years ago helped us to abandon the ever so boring approach that we used to, and some schools still follow – endless repetition of topics such as input and output devices and the use of MS apps like Word and PowerPoint. Properly implemented Project Based Learning in core subjects, if delivered to a high standard can be leveraged to inculcate high level proficiency in MS Office 365 apps.

ISTE has a lot of support resources, amongst the most useful of which are their Learning Library and provision of online courses.? I tagged them below.? There are many other sources of curriculum standards and expert help in Computer Science K-12 such as PLTW, Computer Science Teachers Association and code.org, to name a few.

2. Who should teach?

In a nutshell, the answer to that question is great, dedicated teachers!? A curriculum, no matter how well written it is, is worthless without a committed team of passionate teachers, ready with exciting, grade level tasks that are challenging, relevant and doable.??

One litmus test of teacher passion in this area is their willingness and ability to work with students on various school competitions that have proliferated in recent years in KSA.? One of our grade 11 students recently scored first across Riyadh in the National Project for Technology and Artificial Intelligence competition, and one of our 4 teams came in second across Riyadh in the First Lego League competition (hot off the press) held in AlShifaa Area, Riyadh. Recruitment of good Computer Science teachers and continuous professional development are as important as in ‘core subjects.’

3. Resources

Schools vary considerably in their budgets, so a few pointers for all schools, whatever their budget, will suffice. Labs were traditionally arranged with all PCs against a wall, which encouraged students to work in an isolated way. Grouping them into stations of course encourages collaborative approaches to learning and facilitates the acquisition of inter-personal and communicative skills.

Adopting a Bring Your Own Device (BOYD) saves on costs and allows students to save all on their drives; alternatively, some schools prefer to purchase Chromebooks. Some extra equipment such as 3D printers and kits for robots, Raspberry Pi devices would not go amiss; all depends on budgeting. Tell the Finance Department you can't afford not to have them and try to win the odd competition or two to bolster your case. A bit of arm-twisting needed here!

By the nature of the subject, most elements are changing so rapidly, so it may not be feasible to write one decent series of books. Schools need to access resources online such as the ISTE's Learning Library and continually update. ECAs for robotics with the purchase of a few kits and accompanying teaching materials will allows dedicated students to enter competitions and push themselves to their limits.

There are however published materials that embed digital learning into their content. I was recently introduced to Marshall Cavendish Education (MCE) books for English, mathematics and science. They have published books (KG to Grade 6) for these core subjects meshing together Singapore’s world class teaching methods and US and UK standards (separate books for each). Their MCEduHub online platform embeds AI tools for students (to aid self-learning) and teachers (to keep track of learning growth of their students). Definitely something to explore.

4. Creating space for support subjects

School leaders need to do much more than merely implement a decent Computer Science curriculum.? Where electives are offered to high school students, exciting courses can be designed and offered such as Media Studies, journalism, web design etc.? Through electives, our students have acquired digital and computational competencies and managed to publish e-magazines with MS Sway, design logos for school admin teams using AI, and even launched their own, assessed podcast Senior students launch their own Podcast with a celebrity!

Other departments can certainly support this movement. The Arabic team at Kingdom Schools (intermediate stage) played its part by promoting a healthy discussion in digital matters through dedicated dialogue sessions. Students discussed the benefits and challenges of increased reliance on teaching and assessing using digital methods.

Who audits technology adoption?

Accreditation bodies are on board with promotion of digital learning through self-assessment procedures.? Cognia expects school leaders to assess environments, including digital.? The Saudi MoE has launched its own accreditation tool through ETEC. The development of digital skills is stated in Teaching and Learning standard (2), and I am sure this will help. However, useful though these tools are in helping schools develop frameworks, they do not require schools to actively teach higher level skills such as coding, website design etc. The fact that many schools perform lower on the digital environment for 5-year Cognia visits than other environments speaks loud and clear, and that despite last minute pre-accreditation cramming by many!? School leaders in KSA need to urgently audit their own digital strategies.

I hope this article has provided a few insights into why and how to narrow and even bridge the technology gap between the real world and international schools in KSA.?Why not add to the discussion with a comment? It is free!

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