E-learning Education for Rural Girls in Morocco

Dear Donors and Partners of Dar Si Hmad,

The girls are now sitting-in and following the virtual, ICT classes in their dorms in Mesti, our Agadir-based  teachers are coaching them step by step so that girls’ success rate is close to a complete 100% in the national and regional exams they are taking towards mid-June.  At the office, we are thrilled and beam with satisfaction, and we wish to share these feelings with you given you have made this project possible.  We hope that all of the 24 rural girls, the first generation of Amazigh mountain girls, will then go on to pursue college education this coming fall.

The first tutoring session was launched on Monday May 19th with classes covering six subjects including mathematics, philosophy, languages (Arabic, French and English), history and geography.  We are keeping a sustained work-plan of one session per evening Monday through Friday.  We are equally doing mock-exams now, giving the girls hands-on experience in passing exams and helping them overcome exam-fright and panic.

The girls spoke with us, and for them this first experience with is very memorable, they were happy that such an opportunity was made possible for them.  They are very much aware that rural-based students get very little support. However, implementing such a project in a remote area was quite a challenge for Dar Si Hmad, we struggled with the internet bandwidth as we had envisioned having interactive sessions with the teachers, but ended up adopting an alternative plan. We began recording the coaching sessions, which are then broadcast at the dorms in Mesti  after we have them delivered there.  The staff at the dorm are partners with us.

During this first phase of the project and after the girls watch the recorded session, they submit their questions to the teachers who then carry follow-ups in the subsequent sessions.  We have also established electronic Q&A as well as tests the girls either to fill or take following the session, the results reach our offices in Agadir the following day (as internet traffic is better early morning), and we are then able to monitor the girls’ progress and tailor the assistance to meet their specific needs.  The second phase of this pilot project will be online sessions with the teachers, these sessions will be scheduled in the morning when the internet bandwidth is satisfactory.

Thank you very much dear donors for your support! We will keep you posted as we go forward with this great adventure. Please check the following pictures.

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Dear Donors and Supporters of Dar Si Hmad,

Our e-learning project is underway! We recently visited Mesti to meet with the delegate of the Moroccan Ministry of Education, the principle of the girls’ boarding school and the students themselves. Everyone was very welcoming and eager to develop a sustainable e-learning platform for the 35 girls at the boarding school.

Though the dorms opened in 1996, this is the first time that the students are introduced to e-learning education. Though interviewed, the girls continue being curious about e-learning and motivated to learn in a new and unknown way. The principle of the boarding school stated that “there is little attention given to rural schools in order to improve the students’ skills and qualifications,” making the potential of this e-learning platform to be very valuable and empowering for these young girls.

We presented the concept of e-learning to the students, it’s functions, style of learning and advantages. Dr. Jamila Bargach, the director of Dar Si Hmad, emphasized how the internet is a learning opportunity,  a valuable tool to educate. From the group of 35 girls, only one is studying science while the others are focusing on literature. This is an opportunity for us to introduce new topics of science and technology to these students, broadening their scope of interests and possibilities in their world.

This visit allowed us to organize our next steps in the e-learning process: we are partnering with Ibn Zohr University in Agadir to conduct the placement tests, and since they’ve previously established an e-learning platform with other collaborators, we will take this opportunity to learn from them. This pilot e-learning project will be conducted offline, though we are still in the process of obtaining sufficient internet-speed in the school in order to synchronize the offline platform with the online one. The e-learning curriculum will first focus on teaching and improving their language skills in English and French, then will expand to teaching science and technology.

We informed the students that they will need permission from their parents to travel soon to Agadir to take their English-language placement test. Once parents approve of the girls’ travel, we will be able to test their English-language level and begin developing curriculum. Our partnerships and spirits are strong for this pilot project!