RIYADH: Saudi teachers have been facing their own learning curve after being forced to run lessons online in the wake of school closures due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Tutors from preschool to university level are having to come to terms with the new norm of remote learning but some have mixed feelings about the long-term prospects of virtual classroom teaching.
Since the start of the global health crisis, video meeting platform Zoom has been one of the most popular communication tools for people working from home. In June, the US tech company announced a 169 percent increase in its revenues on the previous year, while the number of daily users rose to 300 million.
Other platforms, both local and international, have also seen a rise in usage for educational purposes.
The Saudi Ministry of Education’s online school platform, Madrasati, provides the Kingdom’s students with more than 120 hours of content every day and the likes of YouTube have seen a marked increase in the number of visitors accessing educational videos.
But while Zoom, Blackboard, Moodle, and other learning management systems have made many educators’ jobs easier, the transition from physical to virtual classrooms has not been without its hiccups.
Reham Ali Kutbi, a high school teacher from Makkah who tutors in Al-Abwaa, told Arab News that while the process had been bumpy, she was now ironing out the kinks.
“At the beginning, we had our fears and concerns regarding the new nature of the educational process. However, once we started and got the hang of it, it was quite smooth. Although we’ve had abundant technical difficulties, we have overcome them one by one,” she said.
For Kutbi, the most difficult part of teaching online was getting to know her new students.
“Tests and participation might reveal their (educational) levels, but they do not tell me much about their character. It is absolutely important for me to connect the subject with their hobbies and interests, to make them like it more,” she added.
Haya Al-Subaie, who teaches at the college level in Riyadh, said that while she enjoyed certain aspects of online learning, she was eager to return to in-person learning and that distance learning was not for her.
“The best part is being in the comfort of my home. I can nap between my classes or play video games. The worst part, however, is the teaching itself, which is mentally demanding. I always catch myself tense and frustrated after each class.
“Another tiring part is that my students assume I’m available 24/7. The emails never stop, and I’m tired,” she added.
Teacher of first-year university students in Riyadh, Sarah Al-Khalil, told Arab News that the technical difficulties of online learning far outweighed the convenience of being able to work from home.
“The best part of teaching from home is convenience. No more traffic and getting to be comfortable, whether by your setting or clothes. Technical issues are the worst part, if something is wrong, everyone’s time is wasted and patience runs thin,” she said.
She also found the inability to directly interact with her students difficult to deal with, especially being unable to monitor if they were fully participating in lessons.
“Students also often refuse to turn on their camera and/or their mics. The lack of interaction is frustrating,” she added.
After weeks of trial and error, the teachers had some advice for those still frustrated and struggling with online learning.
“Always have backup Wi-Fi, utilize the breakrooms, let students present and be involved as much as possible, and always consider students’ circumstances, means, and time. Online learning does not mean that students are available for a lecture 24/7,” said Al-Khalil.
Al-Subaie said: “Keep an open mind and constantly remind yourself that students are as frustrated as you are. We should always be patient and compassionate and take good care of your mental health.”
All three teachers agreed that distance learning had its uses, and that online classrooms could still be effective when the COVID-19 pandemic was over.
Al-Khalil said: “I like virtual classrooms, they are innovative, convenient, and suitable for revisions, presentations, and teaching listening skills.
“Moving forward, I think a combination of traditional classrooms and virtual classrooms need to coexist. Not every class requires physical attendance, and this should be addressed and implemented.”
Kutbi, however, said that while online classes came in handy, they should only be targeted for certain students. “In the end, I’d prefer that we go back to attending schools and keep distance learning for students who need improvement.”
Virtual classrooms present new learning curve for Saudi teachers
https://arab.news/yh9gc
Virtual classrooms present new learning curve for Saudi teachers
- Tutors from preschool to university level are having to come to terms with the new norm of remote learning
How researchers in Saudi Arabia are turning desalination waste into valuable resources
- Industry experts are working on technology to recover minerals from the highly saline waste liquid produced from desalination.
- Brine, a byproduct from turning sea water into fresh water, can also be repurposed for energy production, KAUST professor says
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has established itself as a global leader in the rapidly advancing water desalination market, doubling its production capacity, while developing new technology to repurpose the harmful byproduct of the process — brine.
While desalination is effective for achieving water sustainability, producing drinking water from sea water in arid regions, it leaves behind a highly concentrated saline fluid. If this brine is disposed of back into the sea without treatment, it poses a potential danger to marine ecosystems.
Simply put, brine is highly concentrated seawater that contains contaminants, including chemicals used during the desalination process.
“The chemicals should be all neutralized,” said Noreddine Ghaffour, a research professor at the Water Desalination and Reuse Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
He told Arab News that “there is no reason to dump chemicals into the sea, because they are all negatively affecting marine life, including chlorine and antiscalants.”
Water desalination scientists in Saudi Arabia have developed technologies to neutralize chemicals in brine before discharge and to disperse salt over a radius of up to 2 km when reintroduced into the sea.
Ghaffour, who was granted Saudi citizenship for his work and expertise on desalination, said that researchers and industry experts believe the future of the process is in recovering minerals, while treating the brine and achieving zero liquid discharge.
While around 70 percent of Earth is covered in water, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh, of which 1 percent is easily accessible, according to the National Geographic website.
Water desalination separates salt ions from sea water to make it safe for consumption. Salinity levels vary by body of water; for example, the Red Sea has 40 grams of salt per liter, while the Arabian Gulf’s salinity is 45 grams per liter.
The three main water desalination technologies employed in Saudi Arabia are: multi-stage flash distillation, a thermal process using evaporation and condensation; multiple-effect distillation, which uses electrical energy to break down water ions; and reverse osmosis, which separates water molecules through a semipermeable membrane.
All three technologies produce brine, but reverse osmosis plants generate lower quantities compared with the other two methods.
DID YOUKNOW?
• Some elements, like lithium, are 5,000 times more abundant in the ocean than on land. Lithium is crucial for Li-ion batteries. (Source: KAUST)
• In 2021, Saudi Arabia set a world record for the lowest energy consumption in mobile desalination, reducing it to 2.27 kWh/m³. (Source: Desalination Lab)
• By 2040, 33 countries, including 14 in the Middle East, are projected to face extreme water stress. (Source: Desalination Lab)
Reverse osmosis, according to Ghaffour, uses a method called membrane separation, where osmotic pressure is overcome by a semipermeable membrane that filters out salt ions, allowing only water molecules to pass through.
Ghaffour explained that although the semipermeable membrane effectively filters out about 99 percent of salts, some still manage to pass through, producing brine.
Moreover, osmotic pressure — the force applied to a solution to prevent a solvent from passing through a semipermeable membrane — requires a lot of electrical energy.
“Electricity is one of the most expensive energy forms… the main problem with (reverse osmosis) is that we do this under pressure,” the KAUST professor said.
He added: “The more salt, the higher the osmotic pressure. In order to pass only water molecules through the membrane, we need to apply a pressure which is higher than the osmotic pressure.
“And the osmotic pressure in Red Sea water, for instance, is 30 bar… so we need a pressure higher than 30 bar, which is a very high pressure.”
He also explained that “recovery” refers to “how much water we recover from the sea,” adding that “if the recovery is 50 percent, this means that salt contents are doubled.”
Ghaffour said selecting the correct location for a desalination plant is highly important. Authorities must choose sites with a reliable water intake that will not disrupt marine ecosystems or impact densely populated areas.
According to the UN Environment Programme, unless waste water is properly treated and dispersed, it may form a dense plume of toxic brine, which can degrade coastal and marine ecosystems.
Increased salinity and temperature can reduce dissolved oxygen levels and contribute to the formation of “dead zones” — areas where few marine species can survive.
Ghaffour said that while brine is bad for the environment, it has not caused significant global environmental harm. Over the past 30 to 40 years, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region have experienced few negative side-effects from the desalination process, he said.
Concern over waste water from desalination returning to the sea at a higher temperature is less of an issue with the reverse osmosis method, Ghaffour said. “We have the same temperature as sea water, maybe one degree more, which is affordable.”
Researchers are determined to achieve zero liquid discharge, which involves treating brine until only solids remain. However, this process also concentrates all the salts in the same place.
To remove salt ions from brine, a complex and costly process called mineral recovery is used.
The challenge in mineral recovery lies in the fact that high-value minerals, such as lithium, rubidium, and uranium, are present in brine at very low concentrations.
To make the process efficient and economically viable, further technological advancements are needed.
Currently, “there are no technologies to handle this huge volume,” Ghaffour said. “We are talking about huge volumes of water, like 1 million tons of water (recovered) every day, it’s higher than a river.”
Several technologies have been developed for mineral recovery on a smaller scale. One method involves chemical treatments that precipitate different salts in stages, starting with calcium carbonate and ending with lithium.
Another mineral recovery method involves the use of ion exchange membranes or absorbents designed to capture specific minerals, such as lithium.
One of the largest areas of current research is the magnesium hydroxide family, particularly for its applications in the cement and concrete industry.
Saudi Arabia is already using nanofiltration technology to produce magnesium from magnesium-rich waters, with the next step being the extraction of magnesium hydroxide for cement production.
Expensive and critical minerals like rubidium — which costs around $3,000 per kilo — as well as uranium and lithium, are of great interest, but are costly to extract due to their low concentrations, requiring significantly more energy in the process.
From a commercial perspective, businesses prefer to purchase lithium from produced water — a byproduct of oil and gas production — rather than from brine.
Brine can also be repurposed to enhance the efficiency of the desalination process. Due to its high osmotic potential, brine can be used for energy production.
Ghaffour said that several companies are utilizing reverse electrodialysis to generate energy, which is then used to power the reverse osmosis process.
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In addition, to achieve a circular carbon economy, reverse electrodialysis can be combined with brine dilution for mineral recovery, allowing part of the brine to be reused in an efficient closed-loop system.
“This is what I call a seawater factory,” Ghaffour said. “We take seawater and we produce everything from seawater without polluting back.
“Many experts are saying that in the future, desalinated water, which is what we need most, will itself be a byproduct, because we will have so many more valuable products from the sea. Then this desalinated water will be just one of the byproducts.”
However, he believes that turning this vision into reality will take time.
“We have to distinguish between two things. One is science and the second one is technology scale-up.”
In September 2024, Lihytech, a KAUST startup, announced a partnership with Aramco to strategically collaborate on recovering lithium from oilfield brines using direct lithium extraction technology and a membrane developed at KAUST.
Ghaffour is also collaborating with a Singaporean company, MediSun Energy, to integrate desalination with energy and mineral production, aiming to optimize these processes as a whole. A pilot facility has already been installed in China, with plans for another installation in Saudi Arabia.
“The whole world is working on this (mineral recovery and optimizing desalination). We will see a lot of developments in this, in my opinion,” he said.
Visionary eight-year-old Saudi wins global competition with glasses for blind
- Vision Friend uses cameras, sensors, and alarms
- Design beat nearly 1,000 entries from 19 countries
JEDDAH: An eight-year-old inventor from Saudi Arabia won an international competition for designing a pair of glasses that aim to help blind people navigate the world safely.
Lama Al-Badin, from Dammam, won an $800 cash prize for her Vision Friend design after beating nearly 1,000 entries from 19 countries in the “Glasses of the Future” competition.
Organized by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, the competition challenged children worldwide to reimagine eyewear to support eye health and accessibility.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Organized by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, the competition challenged children worldwide to reimagine eyewear to support eye health and accessibility.
• Despite her young age, Lama Al-Badin demonstrated resourcefulness throughout the competition. She acknowledged the challenges she faced during the design phase.
Al-Badin’a design impressed the jury with its cameras and sensors that would detect obstacles and alert blind and visually-impaired users of dangers through various alarm sounds and vibrations.
“I always have scientific discussions with my family at home, which often spark various ideas that serve life in meaningful ways,” Al-Badin told Arab News.
“When I learned about the competition through a school announcement, the idea for the glasses emerged. I envisioned them as a companion to help people face road dangers through sensor systems. I wanted to add warning tones to enhance their auditory sensitivity and active awareness.”
Her design incorporates eco-friendly materials such as bamboo and recycled plastic, and includes cutting-edge features like sensors, an alarm system, and a multi-functional charging case.
Despite her young age, Al-Badin demonstrated resourcefulness throughout the competition. She acknowledged the challenges she faced during the design phase and said, “embarking on a new experience was an exciting challenge for me.
“During the design phase, the main challenge was translating my idea and vision from paper into a digital design. At that point, I sought help from my older sister because I hadn’t yet learned this type of drawing.”
Winning the competition has brought immense pride to her family and the country. She said: “I feel happy and proud. Winning is a motivation for me to develop further and achieve more accomplishments.
“I feel proud and hope to be an active member in the development and building of my beloved country.”
Her family, too, played a pivotal role in her journey. “They were very happy with this wonderful achievement. My family is my primary supporter, and I thank them.
“They have been my source of inspiration and encouragement. Praise be to God, I live in an aware family. At home, we love exchanging information and brainstorming solutions to all kinds of problems.”
Al-Badin’s design resonated with Caroline Casey, president of the IAPB and a member of the competition jury.
“The thing that stood out the most was how conscious and aware Lama was about her role in protecting the planet that she lives on and her ability to see how technology can be an enabler,” she told Arab News.
“In her mind, there were no barriers in the way of creating a product that was friendly to the planet and friendly to humans. When you consider her glasses, you’d think, ‘Yeah, why aren’t I doing it?’”
She continued: “A young person’s imagination doesn’t seem to focus on what we can’t achieve but on what is possible. I just love her approach and can’t wait to wear a pair.”
Casey also underscored the broader impact of initiatives like the “Glasses of the Future” competition. She said: “I want every child to be able to ‘see their future,’ both literally and metaphorically. Ensuring that every single child on this planet has access to affordable, accessible eyecare and health determines the future potential of our global citizenship and planet.”
Alongside Al-Badin, five-year-old Grace Rita from Kenya won the Younger Kids category for her vibrant and imaginative glasses, A Friend for My Eyes.
Rita’s design focuses on making eyewear fun and approachable for children with features like glow-in-the-dark frames and customizable lenses.
Besides Casey, the competition’s judging panel was composed of a global jury of experts, including Jo Frost, parenting expert and TV personality, and Dr. Prabha Choksi, ophthalmologist and founder of the Dr. Choksi Vitiligo Foundation.
Frost told Arab News: “I was truly impressed by the creativity and innovation of these little geniuses, each design brought a big smile of joy. We can all agree that eye health is often overlooked in our busy day-to-day lives of raising children, despite its importance to a child’s development and future.
“However, with Lama’s design’s inclusiveness, scientific aspects, and Grace’s bright and inspiring colors, these designs not only demonstrate the need to engage children in the global conversation about eye health but also empower eyewear wearers around the world.”
The competition also comes on the heels of critical research by the IAPB, which revealed that children with low vision learn only half as much as their peers with good or corrected vision in school.
This study, released in collaboration with the Seva Foundation on World Sight Day, underscores the profound impact of early interventions like eye exams and prescription glasses.
Japanese orchestra meets video gaming in Riyadh
- World-renowned Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra performed two nights of concerts at Princess Nourah University’s Red Hall
RIYADH: What does video gaming and the orchestra have in common? Collaboration, immersive experiences, and the art of storytelling at its finest.
The world-renowned Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra spoiled guests with two nights of concerts powered by Qiddiya Gaming at Princess Nourah University’s Red Hall on Thursday and Friday.
Producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV Naoki Yoshida and renowned sound editor and composer Masayoshi Soken took the opportunity to introduce themselves to a full house of fans, wearing traditional Saudi thobes.
Arab News had the opportunity to interview Yoshida, Soken, senior story designer Natsuko Ishikawa, and localization supervisor Michael-Christopher Koji Fox.
Yoshida expressed his gratitude toward the game’s loyal fans in the Middle East, saying: “I’m really appreciative of the fans in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia that have loved the Final Fantasy franchise.
“We are finally here to give back to the community that’s loved us and supported us for so long. To be able to bring them the excitement, we are bringing them sound and music.
“We don’t envision this as the end; we envision this as something that’s going to connect us into the future.”
In the first part of the concert, the orchestra performed works like “Victory Fanfare” and “Moebius.”
In order to give gamers a true gaming experience, Soken had the idea of creating the same in-game pause during the orchestra’s performance to reflect the battle in the game.
Soken said: “During that battle, there’s an in-game mechanic where time stops and the player stops, so when playing that song in concert we want the players to feel like that in music; the game experience and their memories of the game are connected in that way.
“We wanted to figure out a way to recreate that time stop while being played in the concert by an orchestra. So the idea we came up with is if time stops in the game, how about making the concert stop?”
Soken’s idea was turned into reality and the crowd was in awe as the orchestra paused for a few seconds.
In charge of creating graphics and videos, Ishikawa said her job was about picking scenes that resonated with the players.
She said: “What we created here feels like it was created by the Final Fantasy development team, even though it’s a concert.”
Unlike a typical concert, in which each song evokes different emotions to each individual, Soken said gaming concerts created a joint emotional experience.
Soken said: “With a game concert, everyone is experiencing the same thing because they experienced the same game, so everyone shares that excitement.”
More than 100 musicians traveled from Japan, accompanied by vocalists, to bring the soundtrack from Final Fantasy XIV to life.
Soken said: “We know that Saudi Arabia and Japan have a long history of friendly collaboration but there has not been a lot with music, and there’s probably been nothing with gaming music.
“The people that experience (the concert) will be able to go home and tell their friends how exciting an experience it was and how these people from Japan brought this great thing that we have never seen before.”
The event also offered fans a dedicated merchandise area featuring exclusive items and other products shipped directly from Tokyo.
Diamond ticket holders also had the opportunity to meet Yoshida, Soken, Ishikawa, and Fox, receiving a signed poster and photo.
With over 30 million total registered players, Final Fantasy XIV is one of the most popular MMORPG games today, while Qiddiya, which was launched in 2018 under the leadership of King Salman, is an emerging capital for entertainment, sports and culture that aims to enhance the quality of life of visitors and residents.
Saudi Heart Association teams up with Bayer to enhance cardiac care
- Partnership aims to educate Saudi healthcare professionals on cardiovascular disease
- Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH: The Saudi Heart Association has entered a partnership with healthcare leader Bayer to enhance cardiac care and educate Saudi healthcare professionals on cardiovascular disease to reduce mortality and improve heart health.
“We are proud to announce a new partnership between Bayer and the SHA aimed at advancing cardiovascular care in Saudi Arabia, focusing on improving early detection and prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” Bayer, a global leader in life sciences with a strong emphasis on healthcare and nutrition, posted on X.
“The goal of the partnership is to strengthen bilateral cooperation to improve cardiac care in Saudi Arabia in alignment with Vision 2030. The agreement will prioritize early detection of at-risk patients of cardiovascular diseases who exhibit a combination of modifiable risk factors (such as hypertension, smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity, high cholesterol) and non-modifiable risk factors (such as age, family history, gender, and genetic predisposition),” a statement from Bayer said.
CVDs are a major health concern globally. In 2016, more than 200,000 Saudi citizens were living with CVD and the current prevalence of CVD in Saudi Arabia is expected to be significantly higher, given the rise of CVD risk factors in the country (obesity, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, hypertension and others).
Saudi Vision 2030 aims to reduce the clinical and economic burden of CVD and scale up vitality and longevity in a new era of comprehensive healthcare.
From a health economics standpoint, CVDs are a burden on healthcare systems directly through expenditure and indirectly through years living with the disease, low productivity, premature morbidity and mortality.
Under the terms of the partnership, Bayer and the SHA will seek to advance educational initiatives for healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia, with a focus on the primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Throughout the partnership, emphasis will be on delivering educational lectures and hands-on workshops for healthcare professionals, introducing them to the latest diagnostic tools that streamline early CVD detection in a cost-effective manner.
Additionally, the partnership will promote evidence-based early risk management local guidelines and strategies in clinical practice, aligning resources to achieve superior patient outcomes.
Elaborating on the partnership, Maged ElShazly, managing director, Bayer Saudi Arabia, and country commercial lead for Bayer Consumer Health, said: “This partnership marks a significant step forward in advancing cardiovascular health in the Kingdom. Aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, our goal is to collaborate closely with the SHA to support the government’s efforts in reducing CVD mortality and morbidity, improving heart health, and enhancing the quality of life for individuals at high risk.
“Additionally, this collaboration with SHA will further propel our efforts to develop and implement local guidelines for effective CVD management, ensuring long-term impact and sustainability in healthcare practices across the Kingdom,” ElShazly said.
Bayer will support SHA with two main initiatives — a key opinion leaders’ engagement campaign to promote early CVD risk management among healthcare professionals and a media campaign to raise public awareness about CVD risk factors, early detection, and prevention strategies.
King Salman Center for Disability Research signs agreements
- Prof. Imed Gallouzi, chairman of the Center of Excellence for Smart Health at KAUST, emphasized the significance of the new partnership with the King Salman Center for Disability Research
RIYADH: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology signed an agreement on Thursday with the King Salman Center for Disability Research aimed at enhancing collaboration between the two parties in diagnosing, managing, and treating disabilities.
The agreement was signed in King Abdullah Economic City by Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, special advisor to King Salman and chairman of the board of trustees of the King Salman Center for Disability Research, and KAUST president Prof. Edward Byrne.
Prof. Imed Gallouzi, chairman of the Center of Excellence for Smart Health at KAUST, emphasized the significance of the new partnership with the King Salman Center for Disability Research.
