C RITERIOS DE ADJUDICACIÓN :

The Computer and Information Centre (CIC) in the MoE was established in 1996. Initially, it began by offering basic computing services, however today it has expanded a great deal in terms of capacity and the range of services being offered, with a steady growth of maturity in its processes. An exclusive department under the CIC is responsible for integrating ICT into schools. According to the CIC‟s website, their main responsibilities are deployment of IT laboratories and LRCs in Saudi Arabian schools for both boys‟ and girls‟ sectors; and partnering with IT specialists for initiatives for teacher training, supporting software, content and implementation of the e-learning pilot project (MoE, 2008c).

In relation to improvements of the integration of ICT into education, the MoE established the project of transforming school libraries into LRCs (MoE, 2002). LRCs are school utilities, which provide teachers and students with a rich learning and teaching environment, and they include several different information resources related to curricula. Students are encouraged to deal with these resources directly to gain knowledge, skills and new experiences by using different kinds of educational materials, books, tools, new technologies including CDs, applications, educational software, and the Internet (MoE, 2002). LRCs also include rooms for self-learning and are open for all subject teachers, including science teachers. The major objective for establishing LRCs is to “provide an appropriate learning and teaching environment that helps learners to make use of the different types of educational resources” (MoE, 2001, p. 155).

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The above mentioned is about Saudi schools in general but focusing on Riyadh schools, I have not found any reports on the availability of new technologies. During my doctorate I looked for resources, documents, booklets, brochures or reports that could help me to know what ICTs might be available in Riyadh schools, however, I did not find any of these. I visited the Educational Technology Centre in Riyadh, which is one of the departments belonging to the General Directorate of Boys Education in the Riyadh Region. I met the Head of the Educational Technology Centre responsible for providing schools with needed devices, educational equipment and tools and asked him some questions about the availability of new technologies in primary schools. He provided me with a list of ICTs, which were available at least in some schools (Personal communication, 24, April 2008). In particular, in almost all schools were a computer, presentation devices (such as data projectors), slide-show devices (such as digital Over Head Projector), digital video cameras, digital temperature probes, scanners, printers and CD-ROMs or DVDs (audio or video); and ICTs that were available in some schools including digital cameras, digital microscopes, local software (such as Manahge or Dawalj), educational games and the Internet.

According to the head of the Educational Technology Centre, each school had been provided with many CD-ROMs containing presentations, photos and video clips, educational games, graphics and enrichment of different materials. The schools had been provided with many of these CDs/DVDs every semester and were produced by different educational departments or by teachers and supervisors in the administration. He also reported that depending on the number of classes per school, schools were provided with computers and presentation devices. He said, “It could be argued that every 7 classrooms have been provided with a projector”.

In relation to the local software such as Manahge or Dawalj, he said that in the past, the local software programs were supplied to some schools, however after reviewing them, the Department decided to stop the supply because some included mistakes and they were not effective tools. In this regard, Bingimlas (2006) also evaluated Saudi local software such as Knowlogy, which can be used for primary science and found that Knowlogy was not very successful in helping teachers to

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develop the learning environment because it focused on a Computer-Assisted Instruction model of learning, underpinned by a behaviourist instructional strategy.

The head of the Educational Technology Centre also reported that there were at least two computer laboratories in each secondary school, available for teaching computer studies. In some primary schools, there were computer laboratories designed for learning and teaching with the computer and they were used for training students on the basic skills of computer use.

He indicated that there was learning resource software called Semanoor, which was still under development in Riyadh however, the program could be connected to the Internet allowing more teacher input from a local area. According to the Semanoor website, it is an electronic system that includes all the curricula of the MoE in Saudi Arabia and the practical application of e-learning. The project introduces the infrastructure of the educational environment with the use of new technologies for establishing an electronic technical lesson library, prepared by teachers. The library could be available for other teachers, students and parents through different means such as; hard drives, compact drives, CD-ROMs, flash memories and e-mail. According to the Semanoor website, the teacher can raise the efficiency of the lessons presented in the classroom and students can review the lessons at home at any time, and can also obtain more patterns of those lessons from teachers in other schools (see www.semanoor.com.sa).

The above was a personal communication with the Head of the Educational Technology Centre in Riyadh regarding the availability of ICT in Riyadh primary schools. The next section focuses on Saudi studies on the use of ICT in the classroom.