Pearson and CERT to establish centre for mobile learning

The Centre for Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT) and the world’s largest learning company, Pearson, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish the UAE Centre for Mobile Learning and provide technology, course design and faculty development services to UAE federal higher education institutions and the wider market.

CERT is the commercial, research and training arm of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), the UAE’s largest higher education institution with approximately 20,000 male and female students attending 17 campuses around the country.

The first of many projects initiated under the proposed partnership will help to enhance the HCT as one of the most digitally advanced institutions in the region. It is proposed under the MOU that over 7,000 of HCT’s Foundation Year students, and a similar number of Degree Programme students, will benefit from outcomes-focused mobile and blended learning solutions. Further proposals under the MOU include Personalised and Adaptive Learning technology being implemented at the institution, providing students with highly interactive, customised mobile learning and digital content solutions. There are also plans for Pearson to work with HCT faculty to develop digital capacity and apply world’s best practice in data-driven, blended-learning instruction, ensuring the successful implementation and utilisation of the new technology.

Under the Memorandum, the parties envisage that HCT students will join more than 11 million tertiary learners from around the world in using Pearson’s personalised instructional technology and digital learning content. The proposed arrangement will give the HCT students access to personalised study plans, assessment tools, multi-media resources and student activities, all designed to enhance learning and achieve improved educational outcomes.

Pearson’s CEO, Mr John Fallon, visited Abu Dhabi to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between Pearson and CERT. Mr Fallon said that the mobile learning programmes proposed for HCT have proven to be effective in improving student results in a diverse range of learning environments all around the world:

“Simply putting a laptop or a tablet in a student's hands does not automatically lead to improved learning outcomes. Pearson's learning experts have worked hard to ensure all the digital learning solutions we offer to HCT students, or anywhere in the world, meet the highest standards of quality and are able to demonstrate tangible benefits in improving a student’s learning experience and capacity to learn. We believe this efficacy-based approach to education reform projects like HCT's is the best way to ensure that students' learning needs are being met for the long term”.

Mr Fallon signed the MOU with HCT Vice Chancellor, Dr Tayeb Kamali. Mr Fallon also used his visit to Abu Dhabi as an opportunity to meet with H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mabarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister for Culture and Youth, to further illustrate Pearson’s unwavering commitment to education in the UAE and the wider Gulf region, and to extend Pearson’s gratitude to the UAE Government for its ongoing commitment to the HCT project. 

Mr Fallon said the advancements made by the UAE in education, and the UAE Government’s investment in e-learning will have a valuable impact on the future of the country’s students:

“HCT is aiming to become one of the premier digitally enabled post-secondary institutions in the region, and Pearson is delighted to be a part of such an exciting initiative. By equipping its students with first class digital learning technology, HCT is giving its students the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in the world and help the UAE to grow successfully. At Pearson, we have an “Always Learning” philosophy of providing learners of all ages and all abilities with the educational products and services they need to realise their potential and fulfil their educational goals. HCT is a valuable partner in achieving that goal here in the Arab world”.

Dr Tayeb Kamali, Group Chief Executive of CERT, and Vice Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology welcomed the MOU with a world-leading organisation in Pearson, saying it highlighted CERT’s and the HCT’s ongoing mobile learning strategies designed to provide the best technology for HCT students:

“All HCT students learn in a technologically sophisticated environment, which includes the integration of wireless e-learning facilities, mobile technologies and other resources which all engage our students while enhancing their learning experiences by providing anywhere, anytime learning opportunities,” Dr Kamali said. 

“This partnership with Pearson will enhance the HCT’s emphasis on student-centered, hands-on, technology-focused and workplace-relevant teaching practices, which facilitate the development of our students as graduates who are able to fully operate in today’s technology-driven world,” he added.