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King Abdulaziz University has been always striving to provide Lifelong Learning Opportunities for every Saudi citizen in different aspects like defining the necessary policies to avail education to everyone, availing free access to its vast educational resources for those not studying at KAU, hosting different types of events at university that are open to the community, as well as organizing educational outreach activities in local schools, in the community.
To enhance lifelong learning opportunities, KAU is providing efforts to:
1. provide access to various types of educational resources for its students and faculty, as well as for those who are not studying at the university.
1.1 Central Library Resources (Library Affairs)
KAU provides access to Physical Materials via KAU main library. Students can access a wide range of physical resources available at the central library that help them enhance their learning experiences. This includes textbooks, journals, and other print materials that are critical for their studies. As is the case with regular students, online learners can borrow these references or use the study spaces provided by the library. These spaces are equipped with necessary academic facilities, allowing students to study effectively while on campus.
Access to KAU Libraries
KAU has 10 libraries with Public Access.
They are managed by the Deanship of Library Affairs and which provide a huge set of free access services to a wide variety of physical and electronic educational resources, thus, targeting educational institutions and stakeholders. The Loan Policy for non-KAUers can be accessed by clicking "Loan Policy".
Their free services offering are based on their primary goal, which is "availing information services for employees of educational institutions and institutions in Makkah Al-Mukarramah region, as part of the university's national role and responsibility".
1.2 King Fahd Public Library (KFPL)
The second library in KAU is King Fahd Public Library, which, as seen from its name, is a public library which also provides free access to physical and electronic educational resources to the public and for the benefit of the whole community, thus, targeting Academics & Researchers, Youth, Women, Children, People with Visual Impairments.
Its Goals are:
Establishing the concept of reading in society and supporting self and public education at all levels
Providing all kinds of knowledge and information to the beneficiaries
Collecting and preserving cultural elements and enhancing the cultural identity of the local community
Providing electronic services by reviewing the automatic index and electronic data rules
Providing training courses, workshops, and cultural, scientific and social lectures
Creating a public forum to support social and intellectual communication among members of society
The KFPL Library embraces 6 different libraries that target different types of the community such as Academics, Youth, Women, Children, Electronic Library and "People with Visual Impairment" Library.
As mentioned above, access is free to everyone and more details can be fetched from KFPL's main page as well the page of each separate library.
1.3 Access to Electronic KAU Libraries
KAU has at least 8 platforms to facilitate the access to research, e-books, papers, online bookstore and other services.
The King Abdulaziz University Scientific Platform is an electronic platform that contains scientific articles and theses, published at King Abdulaziz University in their full text. It provides access to KAU students and non-KAU students. The Access Link for non-University students is "https://kausp.sa".
Based on King Abdulaziz University's interest in enabling rapid access to electronic educational resources that support the educational process, the Deanship of Library Affairs has launched the King Abdulaziz University page linked to the book provider (VitalSource), the e-textbook platform. To access the platform, please (click here)
In order to facilitate the process of including these resources in the electronic courses on the Blackboard system, the Deanship of E-Learning and Distance Education has designed this guide for both faculty members and students to benefit from this distinguished service. For the guide please (click here)
king Fahd Library is open to everyone, including Jeddah University faculty, employee and students, offering borrowing and study room services to support their academic pursuits.
Open Educational Resources
"Open Educational Resources” refers to sources used in all three branches of the educational process; academic, administrative, and research. In general, these sources can be obtained, re-used, modified, and shared gratuitously. That is achieved by publishing them on a public domain on the Internet, under open licenses enabling free access to all users, to use them for various purposes, reuse them, and distribute them with no restrictions or conditions.
The second UNESCO Open Educational Resources Conference in 2004 expanded the implications of these resources to include:
Educational Resources: Such as curriculums, lesson plans, textbooks, scientific research, and much more resources that support teaching and learning.
Technology: Such as applications that assist in producing and using educational contents, along with "open technology" that contributes to improvements in learning and sharing of teaching practices.
Executive Resources: resources produced or used to ensure the best quality of education and teaching practices, in addition to licensing educational resources.
The “King Abdulaziz Open Educational Resources” initiative webpage provides adequate information about the “Open Educational Resources” concept, along with different mechanisms of producing and implementing these resources in the educational process, in a form of open knowledge resources for all affiliates and sectors of the university.
KAU is committed to avail and share its various educational facilities and resources to serve its faculty and students as well its surrounding community for the sake of a better Quality Education. KAU has 2 main Libraries that serve everyone inside and outside KAU, for free, and it has also established the Deanship of e-Learning and Distance Education for the sake of supporting SDG4 related aspects since it incorporates the philosophy and thought of “King Abdulaziz University Open Educational Resources” initiative, where resources can be obtained, re-used, modified, and shared gratuitously, thus, enabling free access to all users, to use them for various purposes, reuse them, and distribute them with no restrictions or conditions.
The open educational resources movement has been receiving continuous attention all over the globe especially in the field of higher education. The movement has positive reflection on the educational process inside and outside of any educational institution. The core thought of education promotes the philosophy of openness in science and knowledge, King Abdulaziz University, represented by the Deanship of E-Learning and Distance Education invites all faculty members and students to participate in this movement and to take advantage of its outputs in sharing knowledge and information.
This website incorporates the philosophy and thought of “King Abdulaziz University Open Educational Resources” initiative, and provides several resources that represents this thought in easy implementable mechanisms and procedures for all colleges, faculty members, and students.
Vision
To ensure that “King Abdulaziz University Open Educational Resources" initiative achieves the highest educational quality that benefits the educational process at the University and its community.
Mission
To encourage the participation of colleges, faculty members, and students at the University by creating open learning resources of outstanding quality and take advantage of the flexibility of the commons creative licenses.
Objectives
Introducing the open learning resources concept and disseminate openness of information to serve the educational process.
Establishing policies to create open learning resources at the University.
Establishing technical and academic standards to the open educational resources produced at the University.
Enriching the open educational resources initiative at King Abdulaziz University through selected open sources produced by the Deanship of E-Learning and Distance Education.
Recognizing the significance of open educational resources (OER) in fostering sustainable social and economic progress, the National Center for E-Learning (NCEL) established the National Open Educational Resources Platform (OERx). This digital platform facilitates the creation, evaluation, and dissemination of high-quality educational content under open licenses, adhering to established digital content quality standards. Through strategic partnerships with relevant entities, OERx ensures the continued enrichment of its content repository. King Abdulaziz University has actively engaged with OERx by uploading its educational and training resources, thereby contributing to the expansion of open educational content, promoting the values of shared knowledge, and showcasing exemplary OER practices both locally and globally.
King Abdulaziz University also includes many institutes and research centers, some of which have made efforts to support quality education for the general community such as:
● King Fahd Medical Research Center
At King Fahd Medical Research Center, our responsibility is to improve the health conditions of the community by applying many globally distinguished medical researches to improve and enhance health awareness. We firmly believe that our health services to the Saudi community by finding solutions to diseases that affect it with global privileges are a source of satisfaction for us, which will encourage us to increase the community's confidence in finding solutions to all health concerns of the community and in raising health awareness in the community as a whole.
● Institute of Social and Economic Research
The institute provides scientific and advisory studies and services to beneficiaries from the public and private sectors through the capabilities and specializations of the university and its various cadres of doctors, faculty members, researchers and technicians, and through contracts or solidarity with international bodies such as universities and internationally known consulting companies. Through this service, the institute has contributed to providing scientific solutions and applied studies in various medical, engineering, educational, social and economic fields and in the fields of technology, environment and urban planning.
And other centers and institutes that make distinguished efforts to achieve the goals of sustainable development. (Please refer to Goal 4 report for more details)
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