Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies “The Magic Key to Future Learning”

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies “The Magic Key to Future Learning”
The rapid developments in the field of Information Technology (IT) impose on the Arab countries and their governments to reconsider the digital infrastructure and to make radical changes. They need to be able to keep pace with such developments and grasp the digital revolution after the Covid-19 pandemic, which has revealed the defects in their ability to use digital tools and the scarcity of their application. This has revealed the need to create new specializations in academic institutions. It also requires familiarity with a set of specialized knowledge and applied skills in the fields of (AI and technological innovation). This is especially needed in the educational process to meet the needs of the local market and to keep pace with global trends and developments in the fields of knowledge, in the fields of digital management and IT, and the overlap between them in many practical and knowledge aspects in a clear manner.
To address that, the efficacy of smart educational institutions and their ability to keep pace with digital leadership, technological innovation, and AI applications must be leveraged. All of this then should eventually be utilized in the educational process.
I absolutely believe in the role of all of the above in achieving a radical change in education at schools and universities alike in our Arab world.
I also believe in the great effect this will have on changing the way modern educational tools and digital learning methods are used and the process of preparing teachers in the future.
The Arab world also needs international support, to ensure equal access to digital empowerment and technological innovation, especially that our Arab countries are home to creative youth, who cannot find anyone to sponsor their creativity or turn it into innovative projects that generate income for them and their communities. There is also need to ensure equality in the dissemination of the "digital knowledge revolution", which allows them to adapt and embrace a creative approach to enter the digital labor market.
So, what exactly do the educational institutions suffer from?
They suffer from the scarcity of training programs related to AI, trainers, and experts in this field. What do we need to do about that?
We need to introduce targeted training programs, to make AI skills and applications accessible to all, facilitate the use of creative solutions, and adopt a “digital transformation” process concerned with the educational process. We also need the international and Arab community and all the experts and individuals active in the fields of AI related to education to consider establishing clear policies and standards. The aim is to define clear, scientific texts that contribute to spreading knowledge and not monopolizing it by the academic institutions. We will then pass it down to students and build an open source that provides data for free.
I would like to draw the decision makers’ attention to the fact that the accelerating technological era requires the formulation of clear policies to ensure protection for the target groups in the field of technology-based learning, to reduce the obstacles and risks the AI may cause in the field of “digital learning”. They also need to establish clear policies for the AI ethics.
I recommend, out of my concern for the interests of our educational institutions and students, that the international organizations and communities working in this field establish the principle of equality while working on the technological empowerment of our Arab countries.
I would also like to highlight the importance of establishing a framework to assess the academic institutions to measure the Arab countries readiness in terms of the digital infrastructure and its ability to grasp the AI technologies in the fields related to education. It is also important to study the strengths, weaknesses, chances, and challenges the Arab countries face in these fields and find solutions for them. This includes offering comprehensive, fair, and quality training and education opportunities in digital and e-learning in the virtual space for all students.
There is no doubt that AI contributes to enhancing the technical skills required to qualify an empowered and conscious generation in the era of digitization. This requires reconsidering the ability of policy and decision makers, educational leaders, academics, and target parties to reconsider its importance and the role of its digital tools in supporting the advancement of technological innovations.
I would like to draw the decision makers’ attention to the fact that the accelerating technological era requires the formulation of clear policies to ensure protection for the target groups in the field of technology-based learning. They should also aim to reduce the obstacles and risks the AI may cause in the field of “digital learning”, reduce the gap in technological equality, and encourage globalization and openness to the digital world. This is extremely important since the fourth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals stresses the need for countries to respond to all opportunities and challenges posed by AI, to accelerate progress and keep pace with the massive technologies flowing into the world.
It is essential for governments now to make merging education with technology its top priority and to guide its strategies so that they keep pace with the modern, digital developments to build the future and elevate the status of the Arab states on the global level.