The outbreak of coronavirus disease (known worldwide as COVID-19) has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and the virus has now vastly spread to many countries all over the world including Palestine. Largely known, the virus is delivered by transmitting the infection from an infected person to another through direct contact or touching surfaces contaminated with the virus and touching their face (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth).
In particular, Coronavirus has spread recently in Palestine. Corona has affected mostly all aspects of life in the Gaza strip although the local government has taken precautionary measures and procedures to avoid the virus. These procedures aim to reduce the impacts of the virus and to prevent further transmission among the Palestinian highly intensive populated community. Both Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education together with Ministry of Health take cooperate together and recommended precautionary procedures to prevent the spread of the virus among Palestinian students of different levels: school and university.
As a result, the coronavirus pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide. For example, in Palestine, the pandemic has led to the total closure of schools, universities and colleges as precautionary steps by Ministry of Education to protect the Palestinian children, students and staff who may get exposed to the virus.
In response to the closure, the Palestinian Ministry of Education recommends the educational institutions to use ‘electronic learning'.
In this context, lecturers and teachers adopt and adapt alternative strategies and methods in teaching various modules and courses and varying materials and learning/teaching resources. They also use open/distance educational and learning applications, platforms and videotelephony software such as Zoom to teach remotely. Despite the positive side of educational technology, there are still obstacles, e.g. lack of access to technology, weak internet access, etc. These obstacles prevent both students and teachers from achieving educational, teaching and/or learning objectives and increase the difficulty of keeping up with e-learning. Furthermore, students face lack of having textbooks, materials and educational resources they need for learning.
Despite the great amount of research on online and blended learning, there are limitations of some students who are less interested in turning to complete their work as well as teachers who find hard to pace around the room to glance at student work and check progress or gauge their understanding. This leads most researchers to navigate their ideas and investigate areas of improvement to set students up for success and keep them focused on track.
Accordingly, Gaza University aims to organize an international symposium to
1) bring together leading academics, international experts, researchers and local practitioners from the Gaza Strip to exchange experiences, share better professional practices and lessons about electronic learning technology.
2) provide a premier interdisciplinary platform to jointly discuss and develop future directions for a good curricula design of effective education to engage into future thinking that moves forwards to develop skills of teachers, students, parents and to create more inclusive learning environment. This would focus on discussing the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered, and solutions adopted in the electronic education.
3) enhance and build the capacity of teaching staff members on interacting with students remotely through focusing on experience in using various electronic platforms and sites.
4) explore distance learning needs, options and solutions unique to the Palestinian institutions
Panels and Themes of the Symposium
This symposium will have three panels:
1. International Perspectives and Experiences: Practical Practices and Thoughts
2. Electronic Education and the Pandemic: Lessons from the Gaza Strip
3. The Future of Electronic Learning: Perspectives
These panels will address the following proposed themes and topics:
· Effect of school closure and students’ achievement.
· Student learning outcomes during corona pandemic.
· Obstacles facing electronic learning: Cases from different places.
· challenges for using videotelephony software, e.g. Zoom and online educational platforms.
· Interdisciplinary e-learning structures and strategies.
· Remote teaching to e-learning: obstacles and solutions.
