Digital Platforms and its Importance in Enhancing the Educational and Media Role of the National Records and Archives Authority in Oman

Abstract

The Archives' digital platforms constitute a new way to present their services online and interact with users. The National Records and Archives Authority (NRAA) possesses precious collections of archival and historical documents of great importance for documenting the history, political, economic and social life and cultural aspects of Oman during its history. This study explores the reality of the NRAA's use of digital platforms to enhance its efforts to reach the Omani society and raise awareness of documents and their importance in documenting Omani history. The method used in the study is the content analysis to analyze the content of NRAA's digital platforms and identify its role in enhancing the educational role. The study explores also the educational services provided by the National Archives in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to guide the researcher in the evaluation of educational content on the digital platforms of NRAA. The researcher finds that despite the diversity of digital platforms used by the NRAA, there are no educational programs, courses, or workshops for students or teachers on how to use documents and benefit from them in studying the topics of curriculum, and no examples of lesson plans are provided to help teachers in building lesson plans for curriculum topics.