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KME0050 · Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 87 Location: U.S.

Hello Everyone--

Can anyone tell me how popular PowerPoint is in the Saudi university classroom? Lectures, lessons, and even sermons are routinely delivered via PowerPoint in the U.S. and I am hoping that if PP is not in vogue in KSA, then at least there is an openess to it.

If Saudi classrooms are set up with LCD projectors, then I would imagine that my own laptop or just flash drive would be sufficient to deliver a lesson. However, I have my own small, very lightweight, portable yet powerful projector that I could bring with me if need be.

Can anyone with university experience tell what is the norm where they work or have worked in recent years?

Thanks!

KME

007 · Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 7:57 pm Post subject: Re: PowerPoint in the Classroom

KME0050 · Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 87 Location: U.S.

boysfromtheblackstuff · Joined: 15 May 2010 Posts: 35

At KSU PYP we have e-podiums and smartboards.

The university places great emphasis on 'using state of the art technology', and some teachers regularly do powerpoint classes.

The e-podiums are connected to the internet, which is handy. There are some 'firewalls' supposedly to prevent access to unsuitable content. But the students know how to by-pass these.

Armed with your class on your flash drive you'll be fine.

KME0050 · Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 87 Location: U.S.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Some places have smart classrooms and fancy technology. How well is it maintained ? What happens when you need a new bulb for that glitzy addition to your computer that projects on the screen ?

I know how to replace a piece of chalk when it is finished. What are you going to do when you can't access the Internet for that demonstration lesson ?

Technology is not the answer to everything ! Remember the language lab ? Or General Westmorland who knew he could win if he just had enough helcopters !

What will you be teaching at university ? Is it a subject that lends itself to Powerpoint ? Much of the teaching that I have seen in Universities is English at a very basic level, and I would have reservations bout using PowerPoint. Some colleauges use WEBCT and Blackboard CE8 but this is by no means universal. The more provincial the university, the lower the level of English.

KME0050 · Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 87 Location: U.S.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

"You get a new bulb"

I will leave you to find out for yourself about just how difficult tasks like this can be. Do not rely on technology and do not expect there to be technical back up and maintenance - at any level at all !

It seems that your naivete extends beyond bringing your 21-year-old son as a mahram !

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Now Scot... don't be such a grumpy old technophobe. Cool

KME...

What Scot is trying to say in his rather curt fashion is that at many of these universities, too much reliance on technology can be quickly frustrated by a lack of technical support. Assuming that the employer will stock commonly needed parts... or that a local shop will carry them... is probably not a good idea. We old Middle East hands know to bring our own.

This problem started with the first incarnation of the White Board... you know the one that needed "non-permanent" markers? The markers were invariably out of stock... seemingly in the whole country. I can't tell you how often I missed have a simple old blackboard and chalk. Well, come to think of it, I had to supply my own chalk half of the time too, but at least it was cheap and it was easy to just throw a box in your suitcase. Laughing

(oh yeah... and erasers for both too)

VS

KME0050 · Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 87 Location: U.S.

lazycomputerkids · Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 360 Location: Tabuk

PowerPoint and Abraham Lincoln
http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/sld001.htm

Classroom technology is...do I need a bullet list for this?

Exciting & Feared & Touted & Abused & Criticized & Inevitable & Passive & Participatory & Promising & Obsolescent and usually expensive.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

A somehwat jaundiced colleague who refuses to post here sent mne this comment

"just saw their riposte. Buy a new bulb... from where? And when you do
find one you are in Riyadh and the bulb is in Jeddah, and then it costs
SR1000. You buy it and replace it and find out it's not the bulb
that's gone, the projector is broken anyway, maybe dust damage. Then
you find the screen has F**k You written all across it and other things
in Arabic, or is ripped or the rollers are broken.

Then you discover everyone knew it was broken, it's been like that for
a year at least.

all these people just cannot comprehend what Saudi is like. And this
applies to every aspect of the country, as we have discussed at some
length."

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I do believe that she already responded sensibly to your concerns... Cool

VS

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I am grumpy and possibly rabid so watch out !

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 1:53 am Post subject:

Where I worked in KSA, we had every kind of technology for teaching available to us...at least at the beginning, until things began to break down. We were required to SmartBoards and Blackboard, which we were taught in professional development seminars, and a knowledge of how to use PowerPoint on SmartBoards and Blackboard was just assumed. Unfortunately, a knowledge of how to use the technology, and frequent use of the technology in the class (whether it was necessary or appropriate or not) was held to equal good teaching. If you did not use the technology frequently, then you were not a good teacher.

This was a new university, and as long as the equipment was new, everything was pretty much ok. However, close to the end of the second year, for some unexplained reason (probably to save money), all the competent IT staff on the women's side were either fired or demoted. There were 2-3 IT people to support several hundred female students and at least a hundred teachers, using technology constantly. Equipment began to age and fail, and there was apparently no money to spend on updating or replacing. Yet the definition of a good teacher (one who uses technology) remained in place. Classes that now depended on the use of technology became impossible to carry on because the technology wasn't working. You can just imagine the level of frustration on the part of teachers and students.

But of course, this was just the women's side. From what I heard, things worked better on the men's side, where it really "mattered". Also, any supplies ordered went directly to the men's side, and the women's side had to beg for supplies that were readily available to the men.