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Computer Education in Lebanon

Hussein M. Yaghi American University of Beirut

Abstract This article summarizes the results of a nation-wide study that investigated the status of computer education in the Lebanese schools. The basic observation was that schools in the governmental sector were not using computers at all, however, computer education was making a good appearance in the private schools especially after the cease of the war in the country. Like other schools in many places of the world, the computer-using schools in Lebanon were suffering a great degree of confusion about how to integrate computer education into their educational programs in spite of using common software.

Background Many researchers suggest introducing computer education to educational programs [1- 15]. Some researchers advocate educational computing as an essential element in preserving the welfare of children through educating them about relevant technologies and skills [3]. However, these researchers assert that “this noble goal has been little realized, not in the poorest of nations nor even in the wealthiest.” [3 - page 7]. Furthermore, it seems that there is a lack of consensus among researchers about what constitutes a computer education program that can be recommended to schools [16]. Some researchers promote teaching the students useful computer-related skills such as word processing and the construction of electronic spreadsheets and databases [12]. Other researchers defend the use of computers as tools of exploration, research, and investigation in school work because computers encourage experimentation, new discoveries and new ways to solve problems [2,8]. While some researchers strongly advocate teaching programming [9, 10, 12] others suggest to eliminate programmingg from computer education programs for the sake of concentrating on teaching computer applications[17].

Since the present study is a comprehensive survey of the use of computers in schools, it was necessary to examine various aspects of computer-based education which may require involving the students to perform some or all of the following activities proportional to the capacity of students in each grade: (1) to use computers as instructional tools to deliver instruction in different subject matters using computer assisted instruction (CAI) or computer-based instruction (CBI); (2) to train students on skills such as word processing, spreadsheeting, and data base management; (3) to create an environment that promotes higher-order thinking skills through prograrnming[ 1,6,9,10]; (4) to empower the teacher with performance support system that helps in conducting and organizing different educational activities; And (5) to use the computer as an educational subject by itself. The Present Study The primary goal was to quantify computer education in Lebanon. The information in this paper was gathered during the academic year 1994-1995. The scope of investigation was all schools in Lebanon, and the objectives were: (1) to collect quantitative information about the availability of computers ih the Lebanese schools, (2) to identify the existing computer setups in terms of hardware

...&.&.. ~{ } 1996 ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings ‘o,+,~ytm’,?

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Yaghi, H. M. (1996, June), Computer Education In Lebanon Paper presented at 1996 Annual Conference, Washington, District of Columbia. 10.18260/1-2--5926