Conference anticipates digital higher education future

e-Learning offers a great opportunity for universities to adapt courses efficiently to the requirements of different categories of students, participants were told at a national conference on digital distance education held in Algeria.

The new e-learning platform provided good opportunities to make up for inadequate management and lack of student places and to improve the quality of higher education while meeting the growing needs of different kinds of learners, speakers said.

The conference on “New Approaches to Designing an e-Learning Course” was organised by the Université de la Formation Continue and the University of Ghardaïa, reported the Algeria Press Service or APS.

Conference chair Djamel Haoued Moussa stressed the importance of e-learning for higher education and continuing training, which were undergoing significant transformation due to the dynamics of technological change and “becoming essential in provision of education and the learning processes of universities and other centres of professional training”, reported APS.

Belkheir Dada Moussa, rector of Ghardaïa University, said new technologies and multimedia represented key educational assets that had revolutionised the student way of life. The new generation of students were busily educating themselves, using new information technologies to gain knowledge and develop special skills.

Many conference contributors said much remained to be done in Algeria to develop a distance and virtual education system, moving from traditional teaching methods to digital education.

The conference was attended by many academics from the country’s universities and representatives from provincial authorities.

Its aim was to raise awareness about the advantages of e-learning for lecturers and students including the ability to collaborate, share educational materials and have access to assignments, evaluations and discussions, reported APS.

Conference sessions included online education, integrating ICTs into courses, new challenges for education and use of the internet in research.

* This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.