E-LEARNING IN SAUDI HIGHER EDUCATION (original) (raw)
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Establishing the NCEDL (National Centre for E-learning and Distance Learning), electronic universities are some initiatives to introduce e-learning to the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), which have led to a fast, strong, and impressive movement toward e-learning in the Kingdom. However, e-learning in Saudi Arabia is still in the early stage of its development due to many challenges of e-learning that will still have to be faced. E-learning in Saudi higher education has been examined in a number of studies. Yet, focusing on e-learning among Saudi women through the social and religious customs of society is not sufficiently examined. Therefore, this research seeks to investigate the possibilities that exist for the utilization of e-learning in the enhancement of the higher education opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia within the social customs and religious beliefs by identifying the barriers to higher education for Saudi women, the modes of e-learning that currently exist within the higher education programmes in the Saudi higher education system, how e-learning can support higher education opportunities for women in Saudi Arabia, and a successful model of e-learning to improve higher education opportunities for women in the KSA. In order to achieve the aim of this research, a pilot study was made by using a semi-structured interview as a method of data collection from Saudi females who live with their related (mahram) male in the United Kingdom and a three stage coding analysis of the grounded theory analyzing the data collected from the field to formulate a theory and a model. A primarily model was presented which described the contributions of e-learning to higher education of Saudi women. The model is presented consisting of three main categories: (1) social and religious barriers; (2) women's use of the Internet; and (3) women's use of e-learning, as well as a number of sub-subcategories. In addition, the need to illuminate the ability of Saudi women to convert e-learning into a valuable educational achievement is demonstrated. The next stage of our research will investigate all of the issues indicated by the pilot study in order to improve the success of using e-learning for Saudi women's higher education and eventually to devise a research theory.
e-Learning in the Saudi tertiary education: Potential and
2011
The advent of the Internet in the twenty-first century has led to remarkable changes in several aspects of our lives. This advanced technology has become an essential tool of communication and information, thus offering unique advantages to both educators and students. Despite a recent educational revolution in Saudi Arabian educational systems, the issue of access to higher education still remains one of the more enduring challenges. The need for more delivery modes that take education to learners wherever they are, and not within the boundaries of the campus, is thus a necessity. e-Learning could dramatically increase access to tertiary education and training, especially for those learners who were once denied learning opportunities for any reason, such as health, distance or the like. Yet, successful implementation of e-learning requires an understanding of the issues that promote the effective use of the technologies. This article discusses the factors that influence e-learning in Saudi higher education through analysing the perceptions and attitudes of Saudi university students (n = 531). It reports the results of a survey conducted to investigate the acceptance of e-learning in a Saudi higher education institution as perceived by university students. The findings demonstrated that attitudes toward e-learning, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control as well as e-learning systems attributes were critical determinants of students' behavioural intention to use
E-Learning in Saudi Universities, Challenges and Issues
2013 Fourth International Conference on e-Learning "Best Practices in Management, Design and Development of e-Courses: Standards of Excellence and Creativity", 2013
In this research paper a number of diverse types of administrative, technical and general challenges and issues related to eLearning were covered in order to examine the current situation of eLearning progress in Saudi universities, investigate the obstacles preventing high rates of eLearning development and discover what kind of learning procedures people of Saudi prefer to accommodate their educational. A pretested questionnaire was used for the purpose of data collection.
E-Learning and Information Communications Technologies (ICT) in Saudi Arabia
Advances in Library and Information Science, 2018
This chapter argues that increasing the rate of e-learning technological adoption will provide educational affordances related to access to courses and better course delivery for Saudi citizens. Specifically, issues related to gender-related staffing issues and access to education courses. This is primarily because the e-learning technology has the capacity to adapt to dominant features in Saudi society and culture, as well as its potential to be efficiently applied in Saudi higher education settings. However, despite the widespread adoption of information communication technology (ICT) in society, Saudi Arabians have yet to fully experience the transformative effects of this medium, particularly in relation to e-learning. This is evidenced in a lack of deep understanding on how best to implement e-learning and distance learning applications.
2014
Electronic learning (e-learning) has recently introduced by the Saudi government to expand educational opportunities at higher education level, especially for women. However, due to the status of women in Saudi society, understanding the ability of women to take advantage of such technology rather than just making it available to them is required and should not be ignored. In this regard, this study aims to illuminate the ability of Saudi women to convert the opportunity offered by e-learning into a valuable educational achievement, by identifying the factors that affect their ability and the dimensions that characterise their capability requirements. To achieve this, the study adopts the capability approach as a guiding theoretical framework to provide a strong foundation and address the developmental theoretical insights as well as to demonstrate the ability of Saudi women to access and use elearning freely in order to achieve their higher educational goals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from twenty-four women living in the Najran and Northern Border regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using a proxy interview approach. Alkire's and Robeyns' techniques, with the support of the Straussian grounded theory procedures, were used to analyse the data collected. The study finds that the ability of Saudi women to convert the opportunity offered by e-learning into a valuable educational achievement is limited and affected by four factors: tribal society culture, cultural use of the internet, family willingness and government stimulation factors. It also identifies thirty-four dimensions that empower or prevent Saudi women's freedom to access and use e-learning efficiently as a means Dedications This thesis is dedicated: To my dear mother Wadha Al Dugrer who spends her life looking after me and worked hard to bring me up to be a distinctive person not only scientifically but morally. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done and will do in the future for me. I hope Allah provides her a long life with health and wellness to give me chance to repay and serve her even if she does not wait for such things. To all of my dear brothers and sisters: Dr. Ali, Abdullah, Yasra and Naseem. God protects you all as well as your children and facilitates things for you to get your success and achieve your goals. To my lovely wife Ibtisam Al Dighrir and my wonderful children: Saleh, Ali, Taghreed and Raghad. God protects you all and makes it easy for you to achieve your goals. To all of those women who suffer from lack of freedom and inequality as well as male dominations and inability to live their lives as they want. v Publications Some content from the following publications has been used in this thesis by the researcher.
A Socio-cultural Overview of E-learning in Saudi Arabia
Many regard Saudi Arabia as a conservative and religious nation with a perception of some degree of neglect or discrimination towards its female population. This deters many to realize the kind of revolution this nation is going through, especially in the field of education. Many might not realize that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has state of art educational institutions with best possible equipment and infrastructure in the world. In addition, the government is providing very lucrative scholarships to hundreds of thousands of its man and women to study abroad in a country of their choice to acquire the best possible education in their field of study. A very high degree of emphasis is laid on the education of its female section of the society. In this article, we look at socio-cultural issues and their influence on education.
Strategic Shift to Use E-Learning in Higher Education in Saudi Arabia – a Case Study
EDULEARN proceedings, 2017
The main aims of this study are to measure, as well as explore, the impact of the opportunities and challenges in the integration of the Online Learning as a strategic shift in higher education in Saudi Arabia. The significance of this case study should come from the modelling of the Online Learning approaches while highlighting neglected and unexplored areas that could constitute a strategic advantage for any institution. All academic institutions worldwide are going towards offering online courses as part of their curriculum to meet the expectations and aspirations of their learners. With the 2030 vision and raise of technology integration in the classrooms, Saudi higher education institutions should adapt to this changing environment by integrating online learning in their curriculum. This cannot be done without facing some challenges, which will be studied in this research. Proposed solutions and guidelines should be given as part of an elaborated study. The readiness of the Saudi institutions for such a shift will be investigated. The case of Dar Al-Hekma University in Jeddah will be studied, as the university is a premier institution offering high standards of curriculum delivered by high caliber of instructors from different nationalities and background. This environment is fertile for adaptation to the change especially with the longitudinal effort from Dar Al-Hekma University to the use of technology in classrooms. Furthermore, the university has undertaken a strategic planning process in which both authors contributed. One of the findings was to invest in online education and design online courses. A focus group at the level of the university was constituted to study the feasibility of offering online courses in the short term. The research will highlight the major findings at the level of DAH University and expand it to other higher education institutions. The research significance comes mainly in the absence of a related study that portrait the use of e-learning in one of the private universities in Jeddah. The final findings should highlight the requirements behind moving towards online education by discussing the current situation and exploring potential opportunities.
Despite cultural and religious barriers to higher education for Saudi women, female enrolment in higher education has risen, with massive investment in the country's higher education system with specific provision for women.There has been a rise from a mere seven universities about a decade ago, to thirty three universities, including nine private, today. However, opportunities are still limited because of the restrictions of access put upon women. Women often do not attend universities due to early marriage, mobility restrictions, the vast distances, or because their family does not support their attendance, but most importantly universities are effectively inaccessible to women as they need to be escorted by a
Creating Effective E-Learning Systems for Higher Education in Saudi Arabia
2018
A new challenge for universities, particularly in the Muslim world, is the development of effective e-Learning environments and tools that are suitable for both distance learning and culturally acceptable mixed gender collaboration. This research evaluates and develops a culturally sensitive e-Learning system in Qassim University and King Abdulaziz University, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A research process involving mixed methods is applied to existing e-Learning environments to determine how to improve their quality. The aim is to develop design characteristics that ensure more useful and accessible e-Learning tools. A set of guidelines that may be applied to the design of similar e-Learning systems in Saudi Arabia, is then proposed. A number of issues have arisen as a result of the introduction of the new electronic learning environment to the educational framework of Saudi Arabia. The success of existing e-Learning systems appears to be highly dependent on the level of ...
Female Students' Attitude towards E-learning in Saudi Higher Education
2018
New technology has been used inside and outside the classroom to enhance student learning. Elearning is becoming increasingly important in the delivery of higher education in developing countries and has attracted more attention from different scholars recently. The study used the concept of e-learning to refer to the smart infrastructures adopted by various universities with the intention of improving education in institutions of higher education. This research aimed to discuss the factors that influence e-learning in Saudi higher education especially for females learning. The study adopted the survey method and used random sampling to identify the sample of 381 female students in Al-Baha University who filled the questionnaires as participants study. The researcher used SPSS different analytical techniques to get the findings of the study. According to the result, the research established that the attitude of the female University students were positively related to e-learning and...