The State of Online Learning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A COVID-19 Impact Study for K-12

N

304

Foreign Countries; Online Courses; Educational Technology; Elementary Secondary Education; COVID-19; Pandemics; School Closing; Leadership; Curriculum Design; Curriculum Development; Student Evaluation; Student Needs; Faculty Development; Teacher Competencies; Administrator Attitudes; Teaching Methods; Teacher Attitudes; Parent Attitudes; Student Attitudes; Governance

To ensure that high quality online learning is being offered in the future, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) commissioned a study to understand the state of online K-12 education pre-, peri- and post-COVID based on the academic period from March 9-May 14, 2020. The intention was to determine opportunities for improvement while identifying areas of excellence that could be highlighted against an evaluation framework for quality K-12 online learning. Using this information, K-12 education within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would be positioned to make improvements to the overall student learning experience. The study focused on eight dimensions, each with several subdimensions, and included survey and interview data, contextualized within the KSA K-12 environment for both development and analysis. Dimensions included Leadership, Curriculum Design and Planning, Online Teaching and Learning, Assessment, Technology, Student Support, Training and Support, and Evaluation and Continuous Improvement. Each of these dimensions and their associated subdimensions are discussed at length in the report, but there were several overarching themes that emerged. The report has been organized into four primary sections as well as several appendices. The introduction provides context for the study, the methodology section provides information regarding the development and analysis of both quantitative survey instrumentation and qualitative protocols, and includes a summary of participants, the recommendations section provides data interpretation and recommendations by dimension and subdimension (aligned with the Future Action Framework), and the considerations for future study section contains recommendations for further research based on this study as well as findings indicating potential future expansion. Finally, the appendices provide the Future Action Framework summary of recommendations, the literature review, survey and interview protocols, and a list of figures. [This study was coordinated with the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia's National eLearning Center.]

ERIC

2020

ED608877