Morocco: “The women scholars here are even more important than men.”

Dina Temple-Raston, The Female Quran Experts Fighting Radical Islam in Morocco "The morchidat program leverages a woman’s familial and social influence to combat radical Islam at the level of the sidewalks—and at individual mosques. “We’ve found over the years that if we have women organize something at the mosque, 450 people show up. If the men are put in charge, they’re lucky if 25 guys make the effort,” El-Azaar said."

Afghanistan: Breaking down cyber barriers

qantara.de, Breaking down cyber barriers "Groups of teenage girls huddle around computers in a bright blue classroom, some typing furiously, others browsing blogs with the latest fashion trends. Just outside, people go about their daily business in Afghanistan's bustling city of Herat, famed for its ancient fortress and beautiful blue-tiled mosque.

"A few months earlier, these teenagers didn't know how to switch on a computer. These days, the girls at Goharshad Begum High School in Afghanistan's third-largest city, post to Facebook and Twitter, update their blogs and code with ease."  More info here: Digital Citizen Fund (DCF)

Natakallam

Quartz, Syrian refugees are offering Arabic lessons to students abroad through Skype "To get started, you fill out a simple questionnaire on Natakallam’s website, then specify your availability in a shared spreadsheet. Classes can be bought singly or in bundles. A Natakallam administrator looks over each prospective student’s level, goals, general interests and preferred schedule, and matches him or her with a conversation partner." This is a great idea. See natakallam.com

Sunnis and Shias: What's the story?

BBC, Sunnis and Shias: What's the story? This looks like a useful guide.

KSA, English language and the net

Arab News, Winds of change: English teaching in Saudi Arabia, 9 May 2014 "For several years now, English has been touted to be an important lingua franca in many countries where it is widely used as a means of communication among various ethnic groups and people of different backgrounds. The advent of the Internet has only reinforced its eminence where almost 30 percent of the data is in English. In addition, most of the world’s music is in English (although this is debatable) while job opportunities are certainly better in non-English speaking countries with good salaries and perks."

Concerns over online Qur'an teaching as ex-Pakistan militants instruct pupils

Guardian, Concerns over online Qur'an teaching as ex-Pakistan militants instruct pupils, 17 June 2013 "Religious websites and instructors enjoy mini-boom reading Qur'an online as British Muslims tap into distance teaching."

Bolstering Education and Science in the Arab World

Council on Foreign Relations, Bolstering Education and Science in the Arab World, 29 Jan 2013 "The good news is that the brewing revolution in higher education–driven by new technologies and online learning–provides an unprecedented opportunity for students anywhere in the world to access information and knowledge. (MOOCs is my new favorite word.) With an internet connection, a student in Cairo can now take a course on artificial intelligence at Stanford. A student in Tunis can watch Khan Academy videos explaining calculus."

International Islamic Conference on Prophetic Sunnah

Bahrain News Agency, International Islamic Conference on Prophetic Sunnah urges the UN to enact laws which incriminate the desecration of religions, 13 Jan 2013 "The conference recommended the creation of effective, qualified internet websites in order to introduce the prophetic story and to instill the love of the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in children and to educate them on Islamic ethics and proposed the creation of a specialized international academy in order to spread prophetic guidance and to respond to misunderstandings and to train teachers in order to teach the prophet's story through modern and attractive teaching methodology."

Islamic Virtual University to be established in UAE

Islamic Virtual University to be established in UAE - University World News: "The United Arab Emirates has granted the land for and offered to bear all expenses related to the construction of the Islamic Virtual University, which aims to expand education and research cooperation in the Islamic world, produce and disseminate teaching knowledge, and promote higher education quality, internet access and e-infrastructure."

Declaration on Media and Information Literacy adopted by Fez International Forum

StarAfrica.com, Declaration on Media and Information Literacy adopted by Fez International Forum, 4 Jul 2011 "The First International Forum on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) was organized through partnership among UNESCO, the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University (Morocco), the Islamic Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO), the Arab Bureau of Education for the Golf States (ABEGS) and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and other partners. It was held from 15 to 17 June 2011 in Fez, Morocco, under the auspices of His Majesty King Mohammed the Sixth."

Philippines: Facebook helps education

sunstar.com.ph, Facebook helps send Zamboanga kids to school, 16 Jun 2011

"THANKS to Facebook -- coupled with concerned netizens of the World Wide Web, 34 poor Christian and Muslim kids in Zamboanga City are going to school as scholars this year and thousands more will get to read books, use free computers and study in a private library in a far-flung place hardly reached by the Internet."

‘Arabizi is destroying the Arabic language’

Just picked up this one up (a little late) via eAraby

Renad Ghanem, ‘Arabizi is destroying the Arabic language’, 19 April 2011

"Most Arab Internet users find this way easier than typing in Arabic. Teachers fear that this will weaken their Arabic language ability or even replace the language in the future. Arabic professional professors from the Arab world consider it a war against the Arabic language to make it disappear in the long run."

Other opinions are also presented in the article.

Islamic Virtual University

ameinfo.com, Board of Trustees of Islamic Virtual University meets in Sharjah [press release], 8 Mar 2011"The Board of Trustees of the Islamic Virtual University is meeting at a second session at ISESCO Regional Office in Sharjah, from 9 through 10 March, to take necessary measures and identify appropriate mechanisms to launch this project, which is part of the action taken by the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World, a body affiliated to ISESCO."

'Understanding the Upheaval in the Middle East'

Sarah Kabanagh & Holly Epstein Ojalvo, The Basics: Understanding the Upheaval in the Middle East - NYTimes.com learning and teaching issues

Virtual universities

University World News - Islamic World: New network of virtual universities, 16 Jan 2011: "Ministers of higher education, science and technology from member countries of Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) last week announced that they will set up a network of virtual universities, based in Iran and financially supported by the Islamabad-based OIC and the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah."

Edufina

StartUpArabia, Edufina: A University Research Portal For The Arab World, 13 Oct 2010 "Edufina is a newly launched startup that aims to fill in an empty space providing comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date information about universities around the Arab world."

Details: edufina.com

Looks useful.

Arabic language issues

BBC News - Reading Arabic 'hard for brain', 4 Sep 2010 "The University of Haifa team say people use both sides of their brain when they begin reading a language - but when learning Arabic this is wasting effort."

UK Islamic Studies Network

The UK Islamic Studies Network is now on Facebook.

Saudi Arabia

Habib Trabelsi, Middle East Online, Saudi seeks to purge textbooks from ‘hatred’: Ministry of Education introduces amendments in religious programs taught in Saudi schools, 26 Jul 2010 Interesting article, which includes this element relating to the visit of Noura Al-Fayez, Vice-Minister of Education for girl affairs, to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in 2009: "Sheikh Sulaiman al-Douish, a tenor of Salafism, scolded Fayez for having visited a "male school and sat between men."

""This is a stupid and clumsy act," railed Sheikh Douish, who regards gender mixing absolute evil and sedition, in a long article published on the internet."

Darul Uloom profile

Edna Fernandez, Daily Mail, Inside the Muslim Eton: 20 hour days starting at 3.45am with the aim of producing Muslim elite of leaders, 20 June 2010

"... the school vigorously encourages IT skills and study of sciences, and it plans to raise millions to build a new science block in the future.

"Recreation time lasts until 7pm but this is a group of boys for whom the iPod, Facebook, mobile phones and Harry Potter novels are banned, along with surfing internet sites other than those approved by imams."