ictQATAR, the Supreme Council of Information and Communications Technology, is the leading policy maker and regulatory body for information and communication technology in Qatar. Established in 1994, ictQatar is responsible for the roll-out of many large-scale technology projects with the vision of transforming Qatar into a truly knowledge-based and progressive society.
In 2006, ictQatar decided to implement the e-Education strategy with the Qatari Supreme Education Council, SEC, by which the country’s Independent Schools move into a new era of e-education.
As a strategic element to improve and modernize the current education system, ictQatar decided to implement an e-learning solution within Independent Schools targeting K-12 education. The solution was planned to transform traditional, time-consuming, and structured education activities into a modern, engaging, and inviting web-based learning environment.
ictQatar objective was to source a comprehensive infrastructure embracing new platform, modules, and tools that would put the student at the heart of the education process, take advantage of the current teaching capabilities, and involve parents in the e-learning process. With a long-term objective to cover all independent Qatari public schools, a high quality education solution teamed with a specialized taskforce with extensive industry experience and know-how was needed to implement this solution.
To transform its education system, ictQatar began looking for solutions to find the most suitable and userfriendly education portal. After evaluating several market leaders in education solutions, Microsoft Learning Gateway (MLG) solution proved to be most competent.
MLG is a collaborative e-learning framework engaging teachers, students and parents in an easy, secure and advanced means. The solution works to further assist school administrators, and manage school dayto-day activities and schedules.
As a Gold Certified Partner with a proven performance in Microsoft education solutions, ITWORXwas
selected to work alongside Microsoft as their service provider within Qatar. After an initial successful pilot
project, ITWORX went on to deliver one of the largest implementations in the region.
Based on MLG framework standards, ITWORX developed the ‘Knowledge Net’ solution. ITWORX had previous
experience with MLG versions 2003 and 2005 which enabled the multifaceted customization requested by
ictQatar. The solution worked to support both Arabic and English languages, developed selected features,
and modified the interface look and feel to suit the Arab-based education cultural system in Qatar.
ITWORX also complemented the MLG functionalities with the ExamsExpertTM, ITWORX product that enables
teachers to effortlessly create their own question banks, compose and design different questions’ types, and
automatically create exams to cater for each and every level of difficulty.
ITWORX used their ITWORX Education CatalystTM suite to provision the data of classes, teachers, student, and
schedules into the solution’s database. This process abolished the tedious administrative data-entry jobs
that used to consume time, money, and effort of the entire school stakeholders.
ITWORX customized the solution to integrate with ‘MathPlayer’, enabling students to workout their exams
and solve problems without resorting to other applications or physical calculators in syllabi such as Math and
Science. ITWORX also integrated with ‘PeopleSoft’ to populate students and teachers’ data, creating
meaningful system reports.
One of the key success factors of the ‘Knowledge Net’ implementation was the commitment from the Qatari
government. The ‘Knowledge Net’ solution was hosted at ictQatar data centre – Qtel, as a central location for
all education stakeholders (teachers, students, and parents), so as to access the solution’s portal via the
Internet.
Additionally, the deployment speed of the solution at the schools was yet another success factor – a direct
impact of utilizing the ITWORX Education Catalyst suite. The deployment time was drastically reduced,
empowering schools with easy, short time, and faultless operation as well as accelerating the process of
implementation at each school.
The extensive training and high-level of support from the ITWORX technical team represented the strong core
values that define ITWORX as a brand. With over 50 workshops, ITWORX provided end-to-end training to 720
teachers. In turn, teachers were to use ‘Knowledge Net’ system, build their educational content, and transfer
this knowledge onto students and parents. Teachers learnt how to use online technologies, conduct
evaluations and polls for students and parents, and assess responses to surveys. Moreover, the onsite
support ensured addressing and solving all possible issues of usage, leaving the customer with an advanced,
stable, and secure solution.
Qatari K-12 students in the driving seat
The ‘Knowledge Net’ solution helps develop the current technology from a traditional content driven,
teacher centered instructional environment into a higher standard, student focused atmosphere. In such an
e-learning environment, K-12 students are formally being introduced to the world of technology, with simple
access to state-of-the-art facilities, designed to help them advance further within their personal careers.
Students are now inspired to learn through a new approach to education.
Qatari teachers and parents in place
Interested parents now have accounts to access the ‘Knowledge Net’ portal and view school assignments
and resources from wherever they may be. Parents are able to communicate with the teachers through
instant messages, email, and discussion boards. Most importantly, parents are involved with their children’s
educational experience. Teachers are focusing on their role of orchestrating, managing, ascertaining and
coaching students.
New era for Qatar
Technology has come along way from just an instructional tool used by teachers or a simple add-on to the
learning process. Today, technology plays a heavy role with the integration of the e-learning process. Using
the integrated MLG framework, ictQatar has undertaken a total education revolution, a huge step into a
reform that will drive society to a new world of improvements and opportunities. The State of Qatar has set
a fine example and motivated other countries to initiate their own e-learning eras.
