E-learning making progress in Morocco

10/05/2007

Many private and public institutions are beginning to see the benefit e-learning brings to students and employees.

By Adam Mahdi for Magharebia in Casablanca – 10/05/2007

[elearningagency.com] Private companies are entering the growing market for distance learning products and services.

Despite numerous technical and publishing challenges, distance learning or 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.

Morocco's FOAD market potential has whetted the appetite not only of local firms, but also of international companies specialising in the online training market. Several publishers from Europe and the United Arab Emirates are working to form close partnerships with local investors in order to market their e-learning products to major private companies in Morocco.

The investors’ interest is not unfounded. According to professional estimates of short-term trends, investment by Moroccan businesses in distance learning programmes will soon represent more than 15% of total training budgets.