Waunakee, Wis. –An initiative to improve higher education and training in Kuwait continues. Six officials from Kuwait’s Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) recently participated in a weeklong Worldwide Instructional Design System (WIDS) workshop in Madison, Wis. At the workshop, the Kuwaitis learned about the latest software developments and how to coach and train others in the design of performance-based courses and programs using the WIDS Model and Software. Since 2004, PAAET has been working to redesign Kuwait’s vocational and technical education programs to better prepare Kuwaitis for entry into the country’s workforce.
Through improved technical education program offerings, the PAAET hopes to help in implementing the government subsidization policy to replace the country’s large population of foreign workers with Kuwaiti natives, at a pace of 10 percent per year, according to engineer Kahled Al-Duraie, assistant director of the PAAET’s Curriculum Development Center (CDC). Of the 2.8 million people who live in Kuwait, more than 1.8 million are foreigners, he said.
“We have great support from PAAET Director General Manager Dr. Ya’aqoob Al Refa’ai, who decided to give this group the opportunity to improve their skills in using WIDS technology in Wisconsin,” said Al-Duraie. “He supports the CDC in all aspects to allow us to implement our plan of developing all PAAET’s programs to international standards by using WIDS Software.”
A non-profit organization that offers instructional design software, training and consulting services, WIDS helps users create learner-centered courses and programs for a variety of delivery methods. The initiative to use WIDS in Kuwait began in 2004 when 10 PAAET representatives were trained in Madison to use the WIDS process and software. The latest group of six Kuwaitis will join the initial core group and offer their own WIDS training upon returning home.
“Our ongoing relationship with Kuwait shows the broad application of the WIDS model and software,” says Dr. Robin Nickel, WIDS associate director. “The WIDS tools are not limited to education in the United States; they can be used in the design of any learning experience where performance and quality are important.”
Kuwait’s vocational and technical education system (PAAET) includes five colleges and nine training institutes, which serve about 35,000 students and offer a approximately 130 programs – sixteen more than in 2004, according to Al-Duraie. By utilizing the WIDS design process and software, he believes Kuwait education will better target industry skills and needs, and therefore, better train learners. “In addition, we will be well prepared to gain accreditation from very well known international organizations for all PAAET’s programs,” said Al-Duraie. “That is our future target.”
The Kuwaiti trainees will continue to use DACUM (Developing A Curriculum) occupational analysis to build new courses and programs using WIDS. In doing so, they identify the skills, by occupation, required to perform a specific job. They then build their courses and programs around those skills, or “competencies.” Complete courses designed using WIDS include competencies with related performance standards and learning objectives, learning plans with learning activities, and performance assessments. Programs designed include program outcomes, external standards, lifelong learning skills, and general education components, all of which can be linked to courses. This ensures that students taking the same course or program – no matter who is teaching it or where it is offered – acquire the same skills, according to Nabeel Abdullah, CDC member.
“Instructors were teaching the same course many different ways,” he said. “We are using WIDS to reach the same standards in program curriculum among all of the PAAET schools and institutes.” As such, the WIDS design process and software provide a needed framework for organizing curriculum and ensuring no critical elements are left out.
The Kuwaiti workshop participants will return home to the CDC to develop programs according to the needs of individual industries, including health care, petroleum and wireless communication. Any new programs, written in Arabic, will be implemented system-wide – offering consistency and quality, according to Dr. Sulaiman Al-Rabah, CDC member.
“We hope all programs will be designed using WIDS,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is to be accredited in the United States and England.”
As such, WIDS Software will soon be installed on the PAAET’s server – allowing faculty to access curriculum files and share their work. Of the 700 faculty of PAET, 200 are already trained to develop curriculum using the WIDS Model and Software. Now, with six new WIDS trainers on hand at the CDC, the organization expects to help many more educators learn to use WIDS each year.
Through improved education and training, PAAET plans to develop nationally based manpower, which currently only accounts for 19.5 percent of Kuwait’s current work force. In doing so, PAAET will better meet Kuwait’s human resource needs – helping bolster the number of employable Kuwaitis.
WIDS provides a set of tools to educators, including a learning design model, curriculum-development software and training. A non-profit division of the Wisconsin Technical College System Foundation Inc. (WTCSF), WIDS offers advanced tools and personal support to help clients design effective learner-centered curriculum.