Running head: WHY COMPUTER TEACHERS

Why Computer Teachers in Public Schools at Saudi Arabia Need a Lab Assistant?
Alia. M. Alsulaim
Wright State University

Abstract

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The aim of this paper is to answer the question Why computer teachers in public school
at Saudi Arabia need a lab assistant? In Saudi Arabia, students in middle schools (7-9 grades)
have to take a computer class one period per week. Computer teachers have to have a bachelors
degree in computer science, and schools have to have a computer lab to assist students to apply
the programs that are in the curriculum. In high school the issue is more advanced. Students
have to have a computer class two periods per week and the curriculum is about programing and
coding. Computer labs often consist of 18-25 computers based on the size of classes in each
school.
I have worked four years as a computer teacher in public school in Saudi Arabia. I had
faced some difficulties in lab checking, fixing and updating the labs computers all by myself
especially on test days. Normally the number of students in each class is between 30-45
students, and computer teachers usually have to have at least 12 periods during the week. That
means a large number of students need to be taught and followed up with by computer teachers.
As we know, those computers need weekly checks and system updates. The Network needs to
clean and protect their computer from viruses. That is extra work for computer teachers, which
like other teachers have a lot of paper work to do.
For this reason, I am excited to make my action research answer the question Why
computer teachers need a lab assistant? In this action research, first I am going to define the
computer teachers responsibility in Saudi Arabia. Second, I am going to list the challenges that
computers teacher face. Third, I will present the results for the survey that I conducted asking
computer teachers about the impact of hiring a lab assistant to assist computer teacher in Saudi
Arabia. Finally, I will list some suggestions to improve the work. I hope the result of the

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research develops the education in Saudi Arabia, and highlights the advantages and the positives
effects behind hiring a lab assistant for the Education Ministry in Saudi Arabia.

Computer teachers responsibilities in Saudi Arabia:

The general goal for all teachers in Saudi Arabia is teaching the curriculum in school to
increase quality of education level. Some of the responsibilities for teachers are:

Applying the modern method

Sharing with developing talent aspects on students
Preparing tests question and conducting the test. ( Regulatory Guide on Ministry of
Education, 2014, P 24)

Computer teachers responsibilities in the K.S.A are similar to computer teachers

responsibilities in the U.S.A. For example, in the U.S.A computer teachers key responsibilities
include:

Processing and providing the right combination of computer software, hardware

Learning materials and computer laboratory activities

Taking charge of the computer lab (Computer Teacher-Job Description and Salary
Information, 2012)

Although the Ministry of Education considers the lab assistant in the organizational
structure, girls schools never have one. In addition, it is not clear what a lab assistant means in
the organizational structure, is it lab assistant for sciences lab or a computers lab? Especially
when we notice in that table below counts the elementary school, which does not teach computer
classes, so it means science lab and that need to clarify from the ministry.

The table below represents when schools could have a lab assistant based on the number of
classes:

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Elementary
Job

Number

Middle- School

High School

School

Teacher himself

1-10 Classes

1-6 Classes

1-5 Classes

11 Classes and more

7-18 Classes

6-17 Classes

19 Classes and more

18 Classes and more

LAB
ASSISSTANT

(Regulatory Guide on Ministry of Education, 2014, P 19)

This table is accurate because the computer teachers face many challenges and it is
necessary to collaborate with a lab assistant. Furthermore, computer teachers do the tasks
that supposed to done by the tech-support team like updating and downloading printers
and programs.
Tech- support is a section on each department of education around the K.S.A. According
to (Ministry Education website, 2014) one of Tech- supports responsibility is put
executive action to teach subjects mechanisms by computer labs and follow up their
implementation and evaluating their results. However, because the number of schools that
the tech-support team serves is large, the service is slow and takes a long time to process.
Unfortunately that leads to computer teachers being forced to do their work.
Another challenge that computer teachers face is continuously changing
information is being updated all the time. Changes and updates in technology, software,
hardware, programming languages and computing concepts mean changes to the
curriculum. The computing field is so fast paced and ever evolving that teachers face the
risk of being left behind. Teachers must continue to learn new concepts, new
technologies and to stay on top of information updates and curriculum changes throughout
their career. They must do that in order to maintain high levels of teaching and to ensure

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that the information they convey to their pupils is always up to date and in line with the
curriculum. (The challenges facing the Computer teacher in the 11-16 curr, slide 1).
Also, I searched Twitter for the hashtag # Maanah_mwalimat_alhacb
(#Computer teacher suffering), and some teachers emphasized about the need for lab
assistance. For example:

Alrashed, A [AlrashedAhmad]. (2014, Dec 23). Wrote # In some schools computer

lab teacher is prepared and input data for the school and sometimes she is the

maintenance of computers!
Deema, T[Deema_t].(2014, Dec 30) wrote # I raised two letters to the Department
of Education in I demand the reform of the hardware and cables damaged

generators unburned nor life of those who advocate.

Alsulaim,A[ward1431]/(2014,Dec 29) wrote # administration want her to enter
grades and activity and leadership, resources and list goes on..She is a cake not a
teacher!

The Survey
In a survey I shared with computer teachers and computer teachers advisers about
the impact of hiring a lab assistant to assist computer teacher in Saudi Arabia, the survey
consists of 10 question and get 100 response, 46 computer teachers in middle school, 50
computer teachers in high school, and 4 computer teachers advisors. 58.16% have 8-12
periods per a week, while 29.59% have 12-16 periods per a week and 13.27% have more
than 16 periods per a week. 98.98% have a computer lab on their school, 1.02% said no
she has not computer lab on their school and 2 participates skipped answering this
question. 17.35% answered that each student has one computer in school lab, while
39.80% said two students share one computer, and 42.86% said more than one student use

Running head: WHY COMPUTER TEACHERS

same computer in the class. 93.94% said Yes when the survey asked the question do
you need a lab assistance support? while 6.06% answered said I didnt think about it.
The sixth question in the survey is what are the appropriate responsibility for a computer
lab assistance? 14.14% chose updating computer device, 14.14% chose assist computer
teacher in a particat tests, 14.14% chose contact with technical support, and 89.90% chose
all of the above. The seventh question is does the assist lab assistance will increase or
decrees the productivity of computer teacher? and the answers are 85% chose increase,
while 5.15% chose I dont know and 3-skipped answering. The answers for the question
what are the benefit of computer lab assistant? are 26.5% select focus on teaching the
curriculum, 17.35% select give teacher time to follow students projects step by step,
9.18% do quality work between two schools (a teacher who work in two school), 71.43%
select all of the choses. The last question is what are the negative effect of hiring a lab
assistance? and the answered are 5.32% conflicts with computer teachers work, 1.06%
chose make work slow, while 90.43% chose nothing.

The pictures below show the charts for each question:

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Running head: WHY COMPUTER TEACHERS

The platform for this survey from https://www.surveymonkey.com/analyze/tgPykceDG_2FEhD3M1Cdi2jiCo4F4rQ6jQFk4KCgvznIs_3D

Conclusion
The survey proves that computer lab assistant is a necessary job not expendable.
When 100 teachers agree in most of points on the survey that is clear how important and
useful this job is. Lab assistant has an important role in school. When I took my internship
in summer 2015 with Mr. Kevin Austin, System Administration Tech Support at Wright
State University, we updated and checked the effectiveness of the printer at the computers
lab, and did the computer inventory. This role is empty in Saudi Arabia public school. The
teacher does these tasks and that effects negatively on her teaching ability.

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At the end of this research, the benefits of hiring a lab assistant to improve the
learning process in Saudi Arabia public schools shows in 3 aspects:
1- The benefit for computer teacher:
Lab assistant assists computer teacher by giving her the time to focus on
teaching only, not fixing or updating soft wear.
2- The benefit for students:
When students practice on advanced computer lab that make their
achievements more efficient. Having advanced computers means all
computers can work, viruses free, and with soft wear and hard wear up to
date. Ensuring that happens is the role for the lab assistant.
3- the benefit for school facilities:
Lab assistants can educate other teachers about computer skills, by
presenting lessons on general computer skills that will improve the
educational process.

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