Abstract

Due to the outbreak of COVID 19, universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including Jazan University, have closed their doors and  shifted to distance education which has been carried out completely. Accordingly, it was necessary to train the faculty members, especially the new ones, in how to deal with the technology and use the available teaching aids so that the educational process continues to the best of its ability. Jazan University has been tremendously successful in this direction with some obstacles in students’ use of educational means but they have also been trained. Also, one of the obstacles is the poor internet in remote areas inhabited by students. Jazan University successfully has used BLACKBOARD as a very interactive and excellent aid for distance learning where teachers can deliver their lectures online and students take different types of exams, summit assignments, take quizzes, participate actively or doing oral presentations. BLACKBOARD has assisted both teachers and students so that the learning process could go ahead successfully. It was really a thrilling experience for the author as a teacher and for his students as well to turn completely to the distance education during the suspension. The author teaches English as a foreign language which indeed  needs a lot of practice, so he exerted a lot of efforts to make his students involved in classes, participate and practice their English effectively through BLACKBOARD. Therefore, his students have benefited well while sitting at their homes by interacting and participating in live discussions. BLACKBOARD is really a fruitful program during the suspension.

In recent years, the educational system of Uzbekistan is undergoing dramatic changes aimed at the formation of highly qualified personnel in demand in the labor market. In this regard, the country’s leadership is taking active actions and measures to reform the system of education. This article highlights the key changes in the education system of Uzbekistan and the main challenges facing the country in the coming years. The problems and solutions of distance learning during the COVID-19 period in Uzbekistan are analyzed in the article as well. The author of the article makes an attempt to discuss the existing definitions given to distance learning and given his own one. the phenomenon “distant education” is rather new term in our education system. Truly speaking, globally it is not so old-fashioned phrase either. As the word “distant” has actively being used in our everyday life after the “technological boom”, in particular, since the second half of previous century, not so many people have already been accustomed to managing their needs in distance. Development can completely modify and modernize human life. After the introduction of personnel computers and world web wide our life has gradually been enhanced in every point. Thus, the current condition and as well as the future prospects of newly found way of education have urged the authors on investigating the subject and provide with fruitful findings for the further improvements. 

Keywords: education, innovative development, high education, science-technical progress, reformation, university.

BLACKBORAD: One of the e-learning management systems where it manages the educational process in a synchronous and asynchronous way, and allows a safe learning environment for teachers to present their courses and lectures through the multimedia.