The OLIVE project digitised a large part of Palestinian teacher training. There was a need for it even before the coronavirus and the war. In the future, the most important thing will be to provide a safe and inclusive learning environment, say the project partners.
Decorative photo.
Photo: OLIVE

Digital transformation has become one of the main priorities at Birzeit University in Palestine, as identified by its five-year strategic plan two years ago.

On the one hand, the needs arising from the emergency and crises created by the pandemic and Israeli occupation and, on the other hand, the need to enhance the quality of learning using new and emerging technologies in education, especially with the new generations of students (digital natives) accelerated the move towards digital transformation, says Ahmad Aljanazrah, associate professor in the Faculty of Education at Birzeit University.

"Many students suffer and can't always reach university, either because of the dangers of military checkpoints or settler attacks."

The safety of students is the university's top priority, so Aljanazrah has been thinking about the need for digitalisation for a long time. He had also noticed that young Palestinians were very much digital natives. He wrote and presented his first concept paper on the subject in 2017–2018 to the university council at BZU, and when he shared it with Hille Janhonen-Abruquah, Professor of Home Economics at the University of Eastern Finland, the idea inspired further discussions.

They decided to create the Olive project, which eventually also included Al Azhar University in Gaza, the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland, and later also received HEI-ICI funding. The four-year project ended in August this year.

During the project, 24 courses were renewed and four online modules and four bachelor's programmes were developed. Dozens of workshops, symposiums and conferences were held, and 15 book chapters and research articles were published. Peer mentoring was practised in its different forms throughout the project.

According to Ahmad Aljanazrah, digitalisation also helps with accessibility and inclusivity, as the needs of special groups can be taken into account and teaching materials were made openly available.

Hille Janhonen-Abruquah says that during the project, all the risks imaginable, and more, were encountered. First came the coronavirus and then the war. The project was completed by three universities, as the war stopped the institutional collaboration with Al Azhar university in Gaza.

"In Finland, there were occasionally feelings of hopelessness. You just have to marvel at the perseverance of our Palestinian partners," Janhonen-Abruquah says.

Rethinking the teaching method

It was also important to modernise teaching in the project. For example, Ahmad Aljanazrah introduced the pedagogy of the "flipped classroom".

Traditionally, lectures are held first and then homework is given to pupils. In "flipped" teaching, students acquire information with online content in the form of short videos, and they come to class to solve problems together.

"The students gave me my best ever feedback as a lecturer when I gave lectures like this," says Ahmad Aljanazrah.

The courses also included so-called maker pedagogy, which emphasises creativity, tinkering, a hands-on approach and problem solving, and was used especially in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, the abbreviation STEM was expanded to STEAM during the project, as artistic expression and creativity were included. The "A" – art – brought a more sustainable and context-relevant approach to science education.

According to Janhonen-Abruquah, pedagogical leadership was unfamiliar to Palestinian schools before the project: the principals are primarily directors of financial administration and school administration. During the project, pedagogical leadership was developed with a lecturer in leadership at Birzeit University and partner schools, and the work will continue after the project.

Old ideas to glory

During the project, a new research group - "Yuhsen" - was also created at Birzeit University, which focuses especially on the assessment of learning through the definition rooted in ancient Arabic and Islamic culture.

Imam Ali, who lived in the 600s, used the term yuhsen to describe a deep mastery of something, but there are also communal aspects to the term and thinking. According to this thinking, a "master" of a field must not only know his subject, but must be generous, humble useful to others and good.

"Every human has what she or he does well," as Ahmad Aljanazrah describes it.

He is a member of this group of researchers.

"Most of us have studied in the West - for example, I studied in Germany - and we have learned the Western education style."

However, even in Palestine, as part of Islamic and Arab culture, there are concepts, ideas and practices concerning learning, assessment and education which are hundreds, perhaps thousands of years old, and researchers now want to re-think what they have learned and draw from and build on the roots.

"We have forgotten our own context."

The group has started a research project to develop assessment. In the project, the Yuhsen group is investigating how learning could be evaluated in a way other than through tests and assigning grades. Grades create competition and, at worst, the idea that mathematics, for example, is only a subject for "nerds or "geniuses". 

A teacher's assessment may even make some people dislike mathematics. What if evaluation was based on more communal values and did not encourage competition? The work on this continues.

Lessons learnt published in articles and a book

The Olive project has also involved collaborative research and has already resulted in a number of scientific articles.

In addition, a book was published on the lessons and ideas from the project, which can be read starting on one cover in English and the other in Arabic.

"It's not a project report," says Hille Janhonen-Abruquah. "The people involved in the project have had the opportunity to think about different things, and the book wants to highlight voices that are not often heard otherwise."

She says in the preface to the book that the Finns tried to support Palestine in some way with the project, but actually they received much more than they could give. In concrete terms, for example, valuable experience of working in the Middle East and the modes of thinking there.

Cooperation continues

Cooperation between Palestinians and Finns will continue even after the project has ended. There are a number of pending applications for education export projects, and the STEAM research group at the University of Eastern Finland continues to cooperate with Maker Studio in Jerusalem.

Janhonen-Abruquah regrets that education cooperation with Palestine does not seem to be continuing.

"There were several applications, but none received funding. This is extremely unfortunate, because cooperation in education has been going on for so long, and when the war ends, it is through education that reconstruction will continue."

That is what she hopes for above all: peace.

The greatest wish is for freedom and a safe learning environment in Palestine

"We have high hopes for the future because we have experienced so many disappointments and great tragedies," Ahmad Aljanazrah says. He has lived all his life under occupation.

"I always see before my eyes how soldiers take my father, my teacher and students to detention cells."

He hopes that the Palestinian education system will one day be able to guarantee a safe and free learning environment for children and young people, similar to that of other nations in the rest of the world.

"You cannot harm children, and the killing of children must not be allowed," he says. "They haven't done anything."

He says that the right of children and young people to live free and learn must be guaranteed, regardless of their origin and religion. He hopes that Palestinian families and children, especially in Gaza, will survive.

Safety and freedom would be prerequisites for learning to take place and for people to have opportunities to build their lives, he says.

"But even in this project, we did our best to learn and teach even though we weren't safe and were still under occupation."

 

Text: Esa Salminen