Training instructors in schools or universities is a necessary step to improve the teaching and learning processes, but without provision of teaching and learning content and educational resources for instructors to use with students, the impact of training would be limited. Many resources are now available online and instructors are trained on how to efficiently utilize these resources to plan for lessons. The EEI has also addressed the challenges for developing countries in the utilization of online resources, specifically the lack of localized content. In Egypt’s case, the challenges include insufficient Arabic content as well as a lack of broadband connectivity in many schools.

Computer Aided Lesson Design

The EEI Digital Content Committee recommended the development of an easy-to-use offline application – Computer Aided Lesson Design (CALD) – to help instructors create lessons. The application provides teachers with a set of functions that allow them to easily design new lesson plans.

CALD provides a library of available learning objects classified according to subject, accompanied by a powerful search engine. Learning objects include different types of media, from PowerPoint presentations to audio and video files. The objective of the tool is to empower instructors in class and help in creating relevant e-content regardless of connectivity-related challenges. Having content available on CDs allows teachers to use high-quality multimedia effects. The application allows instructors to append, modify or add learning objects.

The library is updated periodically from the new lessons created by teachers in order to ensure peer-to-peer learning. CALD is the result of a partnership between MCIT, MoE and Microsoft.
The electronic library was created using the learning objects available at three sources: the content production department at MoE, local content provider companies and files uploaded by teachers to the Innovative Teacher Network website.

Science and technology portal

In order to promote postgraduate scientific research, MCIT, in cooperation with the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), has launched a science and technology portal. The main objective of this portal is to establish and develop the Egyptian National Scientific and Technology Information Network (ENSTINET), and to publish content for the wider scientific community. The first phase of the project involved the digitization of 1.42 million pages from Egyptian science and technology literature, while the second phase will add an additional 3.6 million pages. Data is available in full-text, bibliographic and other databases.
http://www.estp.sci.eg/english/