My Middle East Education Philosophy

My Middle Eastern Educational Philosophy: The Relationship to Teaching and Learning in the Middle East

By
Joyce Pittman, Ph.D.

Teaching Philosophy

My middle eastern teaching philosophy is an outgrowth of 35 years of education, work, and life experience philosophies that include powerful political, cultural, and economic factors. I believe that many factors motivate relationships that exist, emerge or converge between the separate elements of learning and teaching in today’s educational system. My basic philosophy of education , Middle eastern and otherwise, is centered on three essential principles of learning and teaching: cognition, performance, and values. The principles are described as follows:

• First, any educational system must include a framework that includes high standards and academic rigor that is consistent with an individualized and flexible approach to curriculum, instruction, and learning.

• Second, an academically challenging educational environment must support both an intellectual and practical interdisciplinary curriculum that reflects the real world that teachers and students encounter in Middle-Eastern and world cultures.

• Third, transforming global educational systems of teaching and learning must include integrating information and communication technologies.

Statement of Scholarly Interests as they Apply to the Middle East

Currently, my research is focused on educational reform using information and communication technology to improve curriculum, expand learning opportunities, and improve learning for all learners. Many developing and developed countries are expanding efforts to replace outdated educational systems with research-based practices to support a world-class educational system to prepare the world’s next generation of individuals, citizens, and workers. The roots of a small but growing body of information indicate that large-scale spending on information technology is having a significant impact on education and perceptions about the meaning of being educated. Increasingly, my body of scholarly work includes the study of investments underway in middle eastern educational systems and empirical success factors for improving learning, English language learning, and educational/digital equity in this part of the world. For example, since the early 90s, middle eastern Reform efforts show that the richest knowledge base places emphasis toward both educational change and modernization of schools and curriculum. However, a need has emerged for new implementation strategies to fully account for substantial changes or impact that may result from widespread reform efforts within an educational system.

In the research on educational reform in developing and developed countries, much discussion is about the English language teaching and learning, which is often cited as one of the most significant change factors impacting education in the middle east and throughout the world for that matter. However, many middle eastern schools in Arabic nations have began teaching English on a large-scale to the extent of requiring teachers to teach in English beginning in elementary school in order to emphasize modernization and ties to the West. World leadership, such as UNESCO and its members have turned attention to critical success elements such as:

1. Instructional Applications and Cognition (learning styles and culture)
2. Technology Utilization and Equity
3. Special Populations (English-Language Learners, culture, Gender /M-F)
4. Information and Technology Resource Centers
5. Education and Knowledge Technologies Research and
6. Teacher Education and Training

My current research and teaching is based on the supporting graduate and undergraduate education and such field based research in Middle Eastern educational systems to inform the process of creating rich teaching and learning communities in technological environments. This process falls within the communicative or socio-collaborative learning theory, which includes instructional and communication technologies as a primary component of the learning process. Such an educational approach and philosophy places high value on educational research (i.e. learning styles and culture) and teaching of English in schools to students and teachers who know little of the language itself and do not understand how to effectively use technology to bridge the gaps in their knowledge or have no way to determine or judge their success. Similar to the introduction of new technologies, the widespread integration of English language usage in Middle-Eastern education and society struggles to become a widely accepted practice at all levels. The problem is confounded exponentially when technology and inadequate research are added to the mix. This problem could lead some educators, teachers, and linguists recommending against forward-thinking change in the middle eastern educational system unless new practices are studied and the results shared globally within these worldwide systems.

As part of any Middle East reform movement, one needs to understand how educational technology originated in all schools and not just the middle east. Middle eastern schools reached their present condition in part from practices that emerged in the West and other parts of the world as leaders searched for a model unique to the needs of its unique society. Many most urgent education issues relating to technology usage remain confused unless we examine the roots of teaching and learning with new technologies. Some important questions about instructional applications include:

1. What concepts of the educated person dominate emerging instructional applications?
2. How were the ideologies: knowledge, education, schooling, teaching, and learning redefined in the context of technology integration/utilization via educational reform efforts in developed and developing countries?
3. How did ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic factors limit or expand educational opportunity with technology integration in education reform efforts?
4. What are information and technology resources centers and why are they needed Middle-Eastern educational systems?

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