Culture & Education | Friday 5 July, 2019 12:29 am |

Edraak, an initiative of the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development (QRF), recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. This momentous occasion marked successive years of educational achievements that left a positive impact on both learners and teachers across Jordan and the Arab world. Launched by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah in 2014 as a leading open online learning platform, Edraak aims to create a paradigm shift in the way education is delivered and accessed in the Arab world. By providing high-quality, Arabic online courses developed by a group of regional and international experts and academics, Edraak strives to grant adults and school students the opportunity for continuous learning and high quality K-12 education. Today, Edraak reaches more than 2.3 million learners from around the MENA region, of which one million were registered by 2017 - only three years after its launch.      Over the past five years, Edraak succeeded in building a track record of impressive educational achievements, most notably the Continuous Learning Courses that allow learners to develop their skills and knowledge in varoius fields. These include technology, science, healthcare, business and entrepreneurship, innovation and professional and personal development, among many more. To date, Edraak has issued more than 250,000 completion certificates for learners enrolled in more than 110 courses offered on the Edraak platform. Building on these significant accomplishments, Edraak embarked on a new transformational journey last year that reflects Her Majesty’s vision for better education. Combining two primary components - advanced technology and high quality educational content - Edraak launched its K-12 platform in September 2018, in collaboration with Google.org - Google's philanthropic arm. The organization extended a 3M USD grant and the participation of specialized Google employees towards developing advanced technology that offers teachers and parents distinct online learning experiences. In cooperation with experts and academics, Edraak produced free Arabic educational resources that are aligned with school curricula in the Arab world.  The K-12 platform includes kindergarten through twelfth grade mathematics curricula, offering more than 1,200 instructional videos and 7,500 exercises of various difficulty levels designed engage learners through gamifcatoin and active learning strategies. Moreover, Edraak received a grant from the Jack Ma Foundation to develop the English language digital curricula for grades seven through twelve. This new K-12 stream will be launched in September 2019, while the remaining grades are set to be released in the summer of 2020. In efforts to enhance all aspects of the educational journey and empower its key stakeholders, the K-12 platform targets not only school students, but also teachers and parents. The platform offers customized content consists of video lectures, interactive questions and exercises and remedial education. The material is developed using pedagogical methodologies that empower teachers with the tools they need to design and deliver modern learning experiences. The K-12 platform also provides educational tools and resources for parents to help them guide their children’s learning journey.  Today, the K-12 platform reaches more than 124,000 teachers and 230,000 students from different grades. Edraak has announced its intention to cover other major topics gradually over the coming years. Commenting on her experience, Eman – a teacher from Jordan – said, “The K-12 platform is a free databank for teachers. It has helped me to follow up on my students and keep in touch with parents, all the while maintaining privacy and keeping learning fun.” Edraak CEO, Shireen Yacoub, thanked everyone who was a part of this journey and contributed to its success. “The rapid yearly increase in the number of enrolled learners - especially among women who make up 49 percent of those registered - reinforces that open online education is indeed a flexible learning tool that allows individuals of all ages and backgrounds to acquire the knowledge they desire and overcome barriers such as time, place, language and financial capacity. By helping learners in the Arab world achieve their objectives and bridge gaps in their university or school education, Edraak delivers on its mission to revolutionize access and delivery of education in the MENA region to empower Arab leaners access better life opportunities”.  She added, “Leveraging our partnerships with multiple stakeholders, we will continue to do our best to harness technology to empower millions of Arab learners in the coming years through blended and online education and to pave the way for building generations capable of leading economic and social development