Nada Al Mazmi, an Emirati woman “Learning Approach” is the bridge of communication between students

A unique experience dedicated by Emirati media student Nada Al Mazmi for the first time in the UAE and the world, by achieving the top 10 positions in the "Digital Learning Future Challenge", launched by Expo 2020 Dubai for students around the world. It is intended to develop the future of digital education systems in the region and abroad, to provide equal educational opportunities for students, and to benefit from technology applications and digital solutions. It is launched in coordination with the Italian Commissioner for “Expo Dubai 2020” and accreditation from the UNESCO “The Future of Education”, aimed at reimagining the features of the future of humanity through knowledge and learning.

Pioneering Experience

Describing this pioneering experience with great hopes of winning, she said, “633 students from 47 countries participated in the Digital Learning Future Challenge. The competition topic revolved around the possibility of creating and developing a project idea that contributes to shaping the future of education around the world. It is to be based on solutions of the digital technology and currently-available technology, in order to provide the possible remote knowledge in a smart and flexible way for students, not only from various social and economic backgrounds and educational levels, but also from any country around the world.”

She added, “The students participating in this challenge, which has been working on for more than six months, were classified into student groups of varying ages and with various specializations and levels. They are equally divided by the award’s organizing committee, to include nationalities and outstanding university and school experiences in the fields of media, applied sciences, humanities, and other fields of knowledge”. She noted at the same time that she was the first Emirati student to represent her country in competitions, along with six school and university students from Italy, France and the United States of America.

In the same context, Nada Al-Mazmi, a third-year student at UAE University, confirmed: “The challenge is based on competition in creating a project that advances the reality of education around the world includes 48 groups, which are tested and tried and then sorted on the basis of the cost-effectiveness of their results, to select 20 groups. Then, the final qualifiers will be announced as the 10 best winning groups, and I was very happy to be chosen to be the only Emirati to reach this stage.”

International Standards

The distinguished project, which Nada Al Mazmi Group called “Learning Approach,” revolves around the idea of ​​creating a smart and mobile educational “caravan” that is equipped with the latest educational technologies and advanced technologies.  “Despite the limited number of students available to learn in this mobile school, in my opinion, it lives up to the highest standards of quality and excellence offered by the most successful and prestigious educational institutions. It provides an integrated distance learning experience that can overcome the difficult social and economic conditions. Many students around the world, either because of the challenges imposed by the (Corona) pandemic, or the destruction, poverty and asylum imposed by wars, she added.

However, this relies on the curricula and experiences of educational specialists from around the world and the smart and flexible ways that suit various social and economic backgrounds, and even the educational levels of students around the world.”

She added: “To facilitate the task of searching, learning, managing content and benefiting from it, the caravan is equipped with smart access cards equipped with bar codes, which include all student data, educational stage, and even academic specialization and geographical location. Once you log in, all settings are automatically configured to respond to the student’s needs and level. For example, if he/she is a child, he/she will be addressed in a manner appropriate to his/her educational courses and intellectual abilities.”

On the other hand, she confirmed, “In addition, this project was provided with detailed videos and simplified illustrations that facilitate the learning process. It will be later equipped with a robot to respond to the various inquiries of students and facilitate their learning process. In order to further establish the principle of efficiency in matching this experience to their different requirements, comprehensive and extensive surveys were conducted in each country, to find out the references and information that students would like available in their specializations, and to include them in the project data.”

Acceptance & Interaction

She pointed out, “To ensure the effectiveness of this step, at some point an expanded number of schoolchildren in different countries were invited to measure their acceptance of the experience and their ability to invest its benefits to develop their educational reality. We were frankly surprised by the great enthusiasm of many people, and their acceptance of this experience and their clear harmony with it. Especially the children known for their resistance in the beginning in accepting the experience of education in general with its traditional systems in place today. It encourages steadily, in my opinion, the adoption of the implementation of this pattern to be an effective alternative to school education. It is a motivating experience of learning, the experience of cross cultural process and effective communication between peoples, in light of the convergence achieved by the revolution of technology and digital communication.”

Future Aspirations

Nada Al Mazmi was enthusiastic about describing the success of “learning approach”.  She appointed out that it is possible to present the idea during the “Expo 2020” activities. The major parties in the UAE and Italy are surely interested in adopting and approving it. She stressed, “I am very happy with the wide echo of the project, and with the enthusiasm of many companies.  This is what motivates young Emirati talents to engage in innovation, exchange experiences and bring people closer together, and thus, re-imagine the experience of knowledge and learning in a world of increasing crises and uncertainty, as well as fragility due to the implications of the (Corona) pandemic.

Nada Al Mazmi: "Major companies inside and outside the UAE have promised to sponsor and implement the project."

The “Learning Approach” project revolved around the idea of creating a smart and mobile educational “caravan” that was equipped with the latest advanced educational technologies.