An-Najah News - An-Najah University represented by Dr. Kherieh Rassas, Vice ‎President for International Development and External Affairs hosted a training workshop via Zoom application about E-learning challenges facing higher education institutions in Palestine.

The workshop was organized by Erasmus+ and attended by Dr. Ihab Qubbaj, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, Dr. Nedal Jayyousi, Director of Erasmus+ Office in Palestine and other academic and administrative staff from different Palestinian universities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Rassas talked about the overall situation of  e-learning in Palestine and highlighted the importance of the meeting which aims to come up with constructive solutions that contribute to the enhancement of e-learning during the COVID-19 crisis.

She stressed on the importance of higher education organizational readiness to overcome the consequences of the second wave of COVID-19, 2020 fall, with the necessity to assess and offer the needed toolkit.

She also mentioned that An-Najah University has taken a quantum leap in this regard, as it established its own E-Learning Center in 2012. Since then, the Center has been a supportive element for face-to-face learning, and it allowed students to keep up with online learning strategies followed in many countries around the world.

Dr. Jayyousi highlighted the role of Higher Education Reform Experts (HEREs) members as a consultative body to reform the educational system, and offer supporting programs, projects and activities for the teaching-learning process.

In addition, Dr. Qubbaj discussed the challenges that face higher education in Palestine. He also referred to the importance of hosting such meetings which shed light on key proposals, policies and orientations that the Ministry of Higher Education is willing to follow if the current crisis lasts longer.

Moreover, Dr. Nidal Dwaikat, Deputy President of Development Planning and Quality Assurance talked about the e-learning challenges that faced the University students socially and financially, and offered examples from the world about facing online learning challenges.

In turn, Dr. Saida Affouneh, Dean of Faculty of Educational Sciences and Teacher Training presented an overview of e-learning challenges. She paid tribute to the high quality services the e-learning system at An-Najah has provided to the students, regarding the advanced infrastructure, the well-trained academic staff and the high quality online courses and video lectures.

Finally, Dr. Imad Ibrik, Director of Scientific Centers explained the negative impact of COVID-19 Crisis on the implementation of Erasmus+ EU funded projects in Palestine, especially those that serve students. He also explained how they managed to overcome COVID-19 crisis obstacles.

The workshop resulted in a number of recommendations and suggestions that contribute to the enhancement of the e-learning system in Palestine.