The Effects of Information Technology on The Educational Sector in The United Arab Emirate

Abstract

Online education, distance learning, e-learning, flexible learning, collaborative learning, anytime, anywhere, virtual learning, a multimedia approach to learning, have all emerged as direct results of the information technology revolution in education. Teaching and learning have been greatly facilitated by IT applications' widespread use in higher education, and other educational institutions. In this study, we looked at how the introduction of new technologies has altered teaching and learning in the United Arab Emirate (UAE). Due in large part to claims made around the turn of the century about posited characteristics of today's youth, referred to in the debate as digital natives, international research in recent years has documented the access to, and use of, digital technologies by young people in many parts of the world. In response, many governments and educational institutions around the world have considered or accepted the need to rethink their educational systems, with an apparent focus on increased integration of technology into teaching and learning, in an apparent effort to remain relevant to students of today, and the society of the future. However, since most prior study on this topic has been undertaken in more developed nations, the recording of the impact of technology on the young Arab population of the UAE is a significant contribution to this debate. The rapidity with which new technology have altered traditional ways of life has had far-reaching consequences for people everywhere. Managing schools and educating students in the modern era is difficult because of the disruptive nature of new and developing technologies. While IT certainly merits study on its own, it is having a far-reaching impact in every discipline. Access to a plethora of information at anytime, anywhere in the globe is made possible by advances in communication technology, testing one's capacity for information assimilation and evaluation. In an era of instantaneous information sharing and widespread use of information technology (IT) in everyday life, work, and classrooms, lifelong education may finally become a reality, one in which the rapidity with which technology evolves necessitates a continual reevaluation of the learning process itself.