Beirut, 14 September, 2017: Kamkalima launched the Middle East’s first of its kind online educational platform during a ceremony held at the Grand Serail in Beirut. The event was attended by a number of school representatives, specialists and media personnel.
Kamkalima platform utilizes artificial intelligence in the service of better learning and education in the Arab world. It targets elementary, middle school and secondary school students regarding all things related to the Arabic language, with special emphasis on the skills needed by students in the twenty-first century. Its main aspiration is to introduce the Arabic language to new generations in such a way that it speaks to their tendencies, abilities and interests, while also simulating contemporary social issues surrounding them. It also hopes to bridge the gap between these youngsters and their mother tongue.
In her speech, Siroun Shamigian, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Kamkalima, explained the rationale behind the establishment of the platform. While training teachers on the use of interactive technology with their students, she noticed that the extra work and effort that Arabic language teachers have to put it is tremendous given the limited resources available to them. “With the help of my colleagues in the Arabic language and sociology department, we decided to take on the challenge and provide Arabic language teachers with adequate technology that would help them better deliver the intended message to their students,” said Shamikian. “Three years later, around 25 schools registered with us, benefiting 8000 students with Kamkalima’s educational platform.”
Samar Asso, Education Officer at Kamkalima, described the platform’s mechanics and its key tools. She said, “We have set up a digital library that contains a set of educational texts, which are divided into various axes that we chose to reflect contemporary students’ characteristics: sustainable development and environment, technology and science, arts and culture, career orientation, health and current social issues. These axes are integrated and interrelated with school textbooks, addressing the learner’s intellect, body and mind while meeting the diverse interests of different students.
Jad Jabbour, CTO at Kamkalima, spoke about the platform’s technological techniques as well as the developments and improvements it is constantly undergoing to continue to achieve the same outstanding results.
Suzanne Talhouk, Media Advisor and founder of the NGO Feil Amer stressed the importance of bridging the gap between the Arabic language, students, professors and technology by utilizing modern and contemporary methods. She discussed the importance of generating interactive content that both reflects reality and speaks to students’ dynamic interests. She added, “From this standpoint, Kamkalima is an empowering platform for teachers and students alike with a key role in changing perceptions of the Arabic language.”
Kamkalima addresses school principals, coordinators, teachers, entrepreneurs, academics and non-governmental organizations concerned with the Arabic language or educational developments in general, providing them with educational assistance and modern techniques to facilitate the education process. It also provides schools with analytical reports and statistics related to learning processes, teaching and student performance that will help them assess the educational situation and make appropriate decisions.
A live test was conducted for the audience on how the platform works.