SDG 4

Congratulating Students and Professors on the End of the Second Semester

Dr. Hamzah: The Achievements of UOB in Digital Education Is A "Success Story"

Dr. Fay Al Khalifa: The Provision of Courses Digitally Shall Continue to Expand, And Students' Engagement is Great

21 June 2020

The President of the University of Bahrain (UOB), Dr. Riyad Yousif Hamzah, congratulated the University’s academics and students on the occasion of the end of the second semester of the 2019/2020 academic year.

Stating that "The challenge imposed by the current circumstances witnessed by the whole world has shown many potentials and opportunities, represented in mainly examining digital education in the work of this chapter."

Also, the President of UOB indicated that what has been achieved at the University is a "success story" in which professors and students alike participated, with great support, and tireless work from the E-Learning Center which is responsible for the Black Board platform and the Information Technology Center that is in charge of the MS Teams platform.

Furthermore, Dr. Hamzah stated that "The academic staff has shown unrivaled enthusiasm for the shift from regular education to digital education, and many of them have created methods that suit the nature of the courses they present. During which, according to statistics, UOB students showed high commitment despite knowing that the atmosphere of studying in a regular classroom is different from watching lectures at home or remotely, stressing that “This experience that the education sector all over the world was forced to go through, opened wide doors for investment in digital learning and technology.”

Also, he stressed that UOB has benefited a lot from this experience, and shall continue to take steps towards enhancing digital education and continuously improving it through its interaction with the observations of professors and students.

On her part, Director of the E-Learning Center, Dr. Fay Abdullah Al Khalifa, stated that: “The statistics we obtained after the end of the second semester indicate the extensive use of many components of digital education, in terms of the number of lectures, attendance hours, creation of digital courses, exchanged messages, video hours, and other components, whether on Blackboard or MS Teams, stressing that these statistics are similar to their counterparts in the statistics of other international universities, and may sometimes surpass them.

She further added "Without going too much into the details shown by the statistics, the number of students who benefited from digital learning and interacted with it reached 22,400 students, while all the academic staff at the University of 868 professors used digital learning in various forms, including broadcasting, recording, presentations, meetings, correspondence with students, recordings and audio broadcasts, and other various means provided by the two platforms used at UOB. Also, 4,625 courses were presented during this period, and the attendance rate exceeded 90% in e-courses, with an attendance period for lectures, and an active interaction by both sides of the educational learning process. "

Moreover, Dr. Fay Al Khalifa stressed that “The E-Learning Center has expanded with the presence of digital learning for the second semester that ended days ago, as well as for the future, as it captured and documented many clinical and laboratory experiments in the Colleges of Science and the College of Engineering, and it continues to document and record what needs to be documented in the rest of the faculties and parts of the University,". Noting at the same time that the Center is in continuous contact with regional and international universities to exchange experiences and have the best implemented ones, either through individual communication or by participating in digital conferences and forums that are widely held these days to study different experiences."

Also, the Director of the E-Learning Center indicated that the experience of UOB received great praise and appreciation in the electronic workshop organized by the British Council in the middle of last month. In which many international universities participated, and the University College London - one of the oldest British universities - praised the steps taken by UOB and the results achieved by its digital education experience.

Sustainable Development Goals:

4 Quality Education

17 Partnerships for The Goals

Key Words:

End of the second semester, A Success Story, E-Learning, Digital Learning, The British Council, University College London, Creating Digital Courses, E-Courses, Information Technology Center

Online Teaching at UOB Starts Officially on Wednesday

11 March 2020

After resuming the work of the academic and administrative cadres at the University of Bahrain (UOB) based on the directives issued by the Coordinating Committee headed by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, the University completed the activation of its e-learning platforms, and announced that Wednesday, 11 March 2020, will be the official start for e-learning and interaction between students and their professors to benefit from the study suspension period due to the current situation.

The Director of the E-Learning Center at UOB, Dr. Fai Abdullah Al Khalifa, said that the Microsoft Teams and Blackboard platforms offer the possibility to download study material for courses and share it with students registered in that course, and they allow communication between students and faculty members as well, whether through the platform’s discussion rooms or live streaming.

Moreover, she confirmed that UOB had started using the Blackboard platform since 2009 to download teaching materials and allow communication between students and their professors, and that this platform is available to be used for e-learning purposes along with the Microsoft Teams.

Also, Dr. Fai Al Khalifa explained that at the present time, all theoretical courses can be offered through these two platforms, and theoretical courses are those courses that do not require laboratories, workshops or halls, indicating that these two platforms are linked to the student information management system to facilitate their use and handling.

For her part, the Head of the Computer Engineering Department at the College of Information Technology, Dr. Aisha Fuad Bushager, said that she started presenting her lectures to her students using electronic platforms and described the experience as "wonderful," noting that the students "interacted with the new teaching method, which allows the professor to write on the whiteboard and students can choose to "raise their hand" to inquire or question or participate and intervene", pointing to the wide possibilities offered by e-learning with its advanced platforms.

Sustainable Development Goals

4 Quality education

17 Partnerships for the goals

Key words

Academic and administrative staff at the University of Bahrain, activating e-learning platforms, the e-learning center at the University of Bahrain, electronic platforms,

Activating E-Learning Platforms at UOB During the Study Suspension Period

Due to the current conditions, the University of Bahrain (UOB) has finished activating its e-learning platforms, and announced that Wednesday, 11^th of March 2020, shall be the first official day for e-learning and interaction between students and their professors to benefit in the study suspension period.

The Director of the E-Learning Center at UOB, Dr. Fay Abdullah Al Khalifa, stated that the Microsoft Teams and Blackboard platforms offer the possibility to download the scientific material for the course and share it with the students registered in the course, as well as allowing communication between students and faculty members, whether through discussion rooms or the live broadcast provided by the platform.

Also, she confirmed that UOB started using the Blackboard platform since 2009 to download teaching materials and for communication between students and their professors, and this platform is available to be used for e-learning purposes along with the Microsoft Teams platform.

Furthermore, Dr. Fay Al Khalifa explained that at the current time, all theoretical courses can be offered through these two platforms, and theoretical courses are those courses that do not require laboratories, workshops or halls, indicating that these two platforms are linked to the student information management system to facilitate their use and handling.

For her part, the head of the Computer Engineering Department at the College of Information Technology, Dr. Aisha Fuad Bushager, said that she started presenting her lectures to her students using electronic platforms and described the experience as "wonderful," noting that the students "interacted with the new teaching method, which allows the professor to write on the whiteboard.", and that students can choose to "raise their hand" to inquire or question or participate and intervene," referring to the wide possibilities offered by e-learning with its advanced platforms.

A Workshop at UOB Discusses Innovation in Interactive E-Learning

Dr. Fay Al Khalifa: The University Is Looking to Expand Its Cooperation With "Blackboard"

Participants in a workshop organized by the E-Learning Center at the University of Bahrain (UOB) confirmed that the upgraded blackboard platform would help in further innovation in interactive education, noting that they have made great use of the platform in the past years.

The Director of the E-Learning Center, Dr. Fay Bint Abdullah Al Khalifa, explained that the blackboard system is an information system for education management, following up students and monitoring the efficiency of the educational process in the educational institution.”

Furthermore, she pointed out that "this system provides great opportunities for students to be in touch with the course outside class, anywhere and at any time, and that is through various tools to view the content of the educational material of the course and to easily interact with it, in addition to communicating electronically with the professor and the rest of the students registered in same the course. "

The workshop was presented by a team from the Blackboard, in which about 30 employees and professors at the University participated, and it explored the options offered by the system to promote intergated learning and innovation in the teaching and learning process.

According to Dr. Fay Al Khalifa, the University is offering 900 integrated courses on the Blackboard learning platform, from which about 12,000 students from the University’s nine colleges can benefit, confirming the University’s endeavor to expand the experience of cooperation with the international platform (Blackboard).

Moreover, the Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the College of Engineering Dr. Bader Darwish Al-Mannai also participated in the workshop and stated that “The blackboard system facilitates several operations, such as communication, informing students about assignments evaluations and allowing them to follow up their course of study in the course,” stressing that “The applications and tools that the system provides facilitate the teaching and learning process for students and professors alike.

Also, Hanan Mubarak Albuflasa, who is a member of the faculty in the Physics Department at the College of Science, stated that Blackboard strengthens the University’s efforts towards digital transformation and improves the education process, especially in light of the steady increase in the number of students.

Furthermore, she stated that " According to what the lecturers reviewed in the workshop, the upgraded version of the Blackboard system shall help in effectively developing and updating the course material, and increasing communication between the parties to the educational process."