Enhancing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vocational Training

The Worldwide Instructional Design System® (WIDS) hosted a two-day summit with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Technical and Vocational Training Corp. (TVTC), the government arm associated with the continuous improvement of technical and vocational education. During the summit, participants explored how WIDS performance-based curriculum design solutions and services might improve Saudi Arabia’s vocational teaching and learning, and as a result, better meet the demands of business and industry there.

“This was an exciting, yet preliminary gathering to lay the foundation of how WIDS might enhance TVTC’s vocational training,” said WIDS Director Leah Osborn. “TVTC provides technical training through a variety of channels, including colleges and institutions, strategic partnership institutes, international technical colleges, private training facilities and flexible community support programs. They have a huge reach and impact on business and industry in the country,” said Osborn. “WIDS integration would tighten courses and programs to improve learning and better meet industry occupational demands.”

Highlights of the Proposal

A three-year proposal plan resulted from the summit, which includes WIDS professional development training for more than 800 TVTC faculty and staff; the participation of five TVTC representatives in the annual WIDS User Group conference; the setup of a main WIDS Repository and 15 satellite WIDS sites; and consulting services to analyze and provide recommendations for graduate placement policies and procedures, as well as to develop and maintain quality related to staff training, facilities and technology.

The summit also included representatives from a number of organizations, including DeSquare Global for Education, in Kuwait, which offers instructional design consulting services across the Middle East and serves as the official agent for WIDS in the region; Al-Arrab for Consulting and Digital Solutions (AARC), in the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia, a private company providing instructional design consulting services to TVTC; Madison College, in Madison, Wis., one of Wisconsin’s 16 technical colleges; and the Wisconsin Technical College System Foundation Inc. (WTCSF), a not-for-profit corporation that works to advance the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS).

To discover more about TVTC, visit www.tvtc.gov.sa. To learn more about WIDS, visit www.wids.org or email info@wids.org.

The Worldwide Instructional Design System (WIDS), based in Madison, Wis., combines performance-based curriculum design solutions, software and training with professional consulting services to deliver engaging, effective and innovative courses, programs and modules.