Morocco/OER

by James Kay, Sero

Policies Survey notes:

Of the Arab States that responded to the questionnaire, Morocco appears to be most active in the OER movement. The Ministry of National Education created the National Laboratory of Digital Resources, which produces and collates digital educational resources, some of which are OER. There are also several other projects in this field in Morocco. For example, the Korea International Cooperation Industry project produces digital resources that are free to access and use for scientific disciplines at the secondary education level in partnership with Al Akhawayn University in Morocco. There is also a Unit for the Promotion of Software and Open Educational Resources at the Moroccan-Korean Centre of ICT Training, which was created with the main objective of promoting the use of software and OER to support the national policy of widespread use of these technologies through the GENeralization of Information Technologies and Communication in Education (GENIE) programme by offering very low-cost, and often free, ICT solutions.

The GENIE programme, which incorporates OER, and the strategy adopted by the National Laboratory of Digital Resources of the Ministry of Education, where a reference to OER is presented in draft ministerial notes regarding validation and certification of digital resources that are in development.

Overview

Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in Northern Africa. It has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Algeria to the east, Spain to the north (a water border through the Strait and land borders with three small Spanish enclaves, Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera), and Mauritania to the south via the Western Sahara territories (which have unclear legal status). It has a population of nearly 32,000,000 and an area just under 447,000 square kilometres (173,000 sq mi). Morocco is the only country in Africa that is not currently a member of the African Union and it has shown no interest in joining. However, it is a member of the Arab League, Arab Maghreb Union, Francophonie, Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Mediterranean Dialogue group, and Group of 77. It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Morocco is a de jure constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco, with vast executive powers, can dissolve government and deploy the military, among other prerogatives. Opposition political parties are legal, and several have been formed in recent years Morocco is divided into 16 regions and subdivided into 62 prefectures and provinces. The political capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca; other large cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes and Oujda. Every Moroccan speaks at least one of the two languages Berber and Moroccan Arabic, as a mother tongue. Both languages have regional dialects and accents. Most Moroccans practice Sunni Islam and are of Arabized Berber and Berber stock. Arab-Berber comprise about 99.1% of the Moroccan population.

Further information

For further general information see Wikipedia:Morocco/OER.

Education in Morocco/OER

For a general description of education in Morocco/OER see Education:Morocco/OER.

e-learning

For a description more focussed to e-learning see E-learning:Morocco/OER.

Despite numerous technical and publishing challenges, distance learning ((involving some e-learning)) is gaining momentum in Morocco in both the public and private sectors. Short-term forecasts show that 15% of private companies\’ training budgets will soon be dedicated to distance learning programmes. The increased availability and functionality of information technology (IT) has brought new teaching tools to the Moroccan market, including mobile phones, video-conferencing, e-mail, discussion forums, chat software and document sharing. Open and/or remote learning (formation ouverte et/ou à distance, or FOAD), provides flexible training opportunities to individuals, businesses, and government bodies. Training packages can be tailored according to individual or collective needs and electronic resources can be accessed from anywhere. Because classrooms are virtual, students can study at their own pace and teachers can instruct and assess on a flexible schedule. An increase in the number of government-sponsored FOAD projects suggests a general shift towards the greater use of IT in the training sector. Morocco's finance ministry recently decided to integrate a dedicated distance learning service into its organisational structure. The Ministry of National Education has begun work on an interactive television system (TVI) which aims to provide remote training for teachers across the Kingdom. Since 2006, Abdelfadil Bennani, President of Ibn Zohr University, has led a particularly ambitious project to create a Virtual Moroccan Campus. The campus aims to pool the resources of e-learning programmes throughout the university system, with the ultimate goal of developing full remotely-provided courses of study at the vocational, undergraduate, and graduate degree levels. Despite the growing popularity of e-learning in Morocco, it is still in its infancy. For Radouane Mrabet, a teacher and researcher at the National School of Information Technology and Systems Analysis (ENSIAS), FOAD’s slow progress in the country can be explained by the exorbitant costs of developing training platforms and modules. "Even when these two major stumbling blocks are overcome, organisers must be prepared to bear the cost of tutors to provide support and remote supervision to trainees," he added. So far, the private sector is best equipped to handle those costs. "Businesses are starting to fund distance learning for their employees," remarked Said Tahrir, Managing Director of the Moroccan subsidiary of business-training firm Formademos. Many large international corporations have already begun to provide their employees with virtual training modules that complement conventional training already in place. Training centres have not been blind to these developments, and many have made a marketing push to capture the e-learning market. Formademos has launched two Masters programmes aimed at university graduates with at least one year of work experience. One programme offers a degree in "education and employment systems technology", and the other program offers a degree in business administration. (1)

Internet in Morocco/OER

As a result of the enabling policy of the government to spread the use of ICT in all aspects of life in Morocco, a liberalisation and privatisation policy in the telecommunications sector led to the reduction of telecommunications cost and resulted in a rise in the number of cyber cafés and access to computers and Internet, even in small towns. Currently it is estimated that there are 4.6 million Internet users, which represents a 15.2% penetration rate in the population and a 4.5% growth rate since 2000. (1)

References

1. ReVica/VISCED page for Morocco (http://virtualcampuses.eu/index.php/Morocco)

Reports

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