THE EFFECTIVE USE OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGY INTO SCHOOLS IN THE ARAB WORLD, PARTICULARLY IN UAE

A number of seminars, forums, symposia and conferences have been held in the Arab world mainly to discuss the importance of educational technology and the means of implementing its use in colleges and schools. All the recommendations of these meetings stressed the importance of education technology and the means of training the needed cadre. As far as I know the issue is still being discussed and nothing vital has been achieved. A good number of Arab universities offer MA and PhD degree in education technology but still the Arab world is lacking in the needed number of the specialist with B.A degrees.

Introducing such degree (BA) entails significant changes in the programs of faculties of education so as to cater for the training of teachers to the use of education technology and it will definitely entail the development of already offered programs.
In order to develop such programs we must consider what is going on in other developed countries and the programs offered in those universities. We must also examine the status of teachers in U.A.E schools as far as education technology is concerned – How far they are willing and enthusiastic about its implementation and utility in schools.

In this study I am going to investigate four areas:
1. Teacher’s training in education technology.
2. Facilities available in schools.
3. Teachers’ trends towards the use of the new technology.
4. Teachers’ views and suggestions.

The study aims to find answers to the following questions:
1. Do the teachers of all the subjects in teacher training centers view this new technology as really useful and worth implementing?
2. Are the facilities (rooms, labs) suitable and enough?
3. Do the teachers regard the use of this technology positive?

2. Limitations of the study:
This study has the following limitations:
1-This study deals with UAE only.
2-It deals with academics and policy makers in government schools in the UAE.
3-It have for its sample the following groups:
a.A sample of School administrators, policy makers in the ministry of education in UAE.
b.A sample of school teachers, men and women.

3. Significance of the study:
The significance of this study is seen as follows:
* This study, among others, is very important for its role in preparing personnel involved in education to face the challenge of education in the 21st century.
* It is on the cutting edge of research conducted in this field.
* The findings of this study might be useful to decision makers in developing countries, as they begin to develop this area of teaching and learning.