Abdallah Tubaishat

ICT Experiences in Two Different Middle Eastern Universities

Introduction The importance of higher education to gain prosperity and to develop human resources is understood by under-developed countries. Three quarters of Arab universities were established in the last 25 years of the 20th century (UNDP: Arab Human Development Report, 2003). Students in higher education require a very flexible environment to communicate and collaborate with their peers to accomplish tasks needed to succeed. Social and cultural values of a society do impose different rules based on gender. Females in Arab society are usually subject to different sets of rules as compared to their male counterparts in the same society. These rules may severely limit the learning opportunities for females. In western society, culture and social values do not impose any restriction on individuals based on their gender. Students in higher education regardless of their gender can meet, communicate, and collaborate at anytime at any place of their choice. In contrast, most Middle Eastern society is based on gender segregation that permits limited interaction between genders. Culture and social values in UAE and Saudi Arabia strictly enforce gender segregation, while countries such as Jordan and Lebanon are moderately liberal in this matter. Advances in networking technologies and the Internet can have a significant impact on teaching and learning in higher education (Hodges, 2004; Muhlhauser & Trompler, 2002; Smith & Winking-Diaz, 2004). In a technology mediated learning environment, students and teachers use a wide range of ICT tools to communicate, collaborate and share resources; these tools provide anytime anywhere learning opportunities. We begin by providing an overview of how ICT could be used to enhance traditional instructor-led teaching to alleviate the impact of social and cultural values on higher education; to make the learning environment a place to pass information and knowledge from teacher to students, from students to teacher, and from students to students; and a place for creative thinking and learning. Next, we discuss education and learning environment in two Middle Eastern countries. We then discuss their ICT infrastructure and its impact on higher education. We conclude by presenting the findings from a case study based on surveys conducted at JUST in Jordan and at ZU in the UAE. Education and Learning Environment The UAE secondary schooling system remains very traditional with teacher-led classes where memorization is emphasized (Sanders & Quirke, 2002). Students prefer all-knowing teachers who provide them answers to all questions. Only the UAE citizens can attend the public education system that has separate schools for boys and girls. The private education system is mainly for ex-patriots and is usually not segregated by gender at the school level. Some private higher education institutions have a co-education environment while others have separate arrangements for male and female students. The UAE provides free education for its citizens at all levels of education. United Nations (UN) statistics indicates that the UAE is among the most developed nations in educating female students (Information in the UAE, 2005). Each major center of population within the country has two colleges of technology, one for males, and another for females. ZU was established for the national female population. The University has five colleges and most of the faculty members are western educated. Its faculty endeavor to provide students learning opportunities in an American style of teaching ensuring a very high quality of education. ZUs operations and policies reflect the impact of social and cultural values on higher education. Women enroll in higher education more than men and their ratio is 6:2. In UAE, 20% of the total work force is now women. Women have gained access to higher education, though they are still largely excluded from government decision making. …

Using a Learning Management System to Foster Independent Learning in an Outcome-Based University: A Gulf Perspective

Introduction Information and communication technology (ICT) has become a popular tool to facilitate and enhance teaching and learning. Many academic institutions are using ICT to provide support to their curriculum, expand student learning experiences and support the institutions academic program learning outcomes. Moreover, a number of universities are using ICT to be more competitive (Norman, 2007). The Gulf region has seen a major increase in the presence of universities from North America, Europe and Australia. Most of them offer a combination of face to face and distance learning programs. The number of students enrolling in these universities has increase dramatically as people are increasingly moving to the Gulf region for employment (Al-Doub, Goodwin, & Al-Hunaiyyan, 2008; Biju, 2010). Students in the Gulf face difficulties when joining universities offering US and Western style academic programs. One major challenge is the learning habits and styles that students have acquired while in middle and high school. Students are used to the guided teaching and fact based model compared to the independent project based model used in higher academic institutions particularly those offering distance learning programs. The second challenge comes from the fact that students in this part of the world generally graduate from segregated primary and secondary schools that focus on memorization to gain knowledge. Therefore, students have learned to completely depend on their teachers for acquiring knowledge. As a result the concept of problem solving and critical thinking is almost foreign to the majority of the students. This problem seems to be more severe with female students joining higher education institutions. Statistics show that more than two third of the students joining Colleges and Universities in the region are female students. Most public universities in this region are segregated and are trying to find solutions to the dependence of students on teachers. Some academic institutions have identified solutions that include using technology in the classrooms; others have adopted alternative educational models to encourage students to become independent learners and requiring them to own a laptop for an alternative way to learn, communicate, access resources, and share information. A recently established outcome-based university, Zayed University (ZU) has campuses for both female and male students. ZU offers specializations in the fields of business, communication and media sciences, education, information technology and arts and sciences. This segregated university uses an American educational model and has recently achieved accreditation by the Middle States Accreditation Body (http://www.msche.org/). Since its establishment, the University has focused on having a high tech campus that provides the latest technology to facilitate learning. The campus provides students and faculty with wired and wireless connections to various electronic resources. Currently, the University requires every student to purchase a laptop computer. In the year 2000, the University adopted an outcome based Academic Program Model (APM) to provide focus to its curricula and measure student achievement. Two sets of learning outcomes were adopted by the University. University learning outcomes (ULO) are high-level outcomes that focus on life skills, and College specific learning outcomes (CLO) which relate to the abilities needed by students to be successful in their field of study upon graduation. The University provides a technology mediated learning environment where each student and instructor has access to a wide range of ICT tools to communicate, collaborate and share resources. These tools provide anytime anywhere learning opportunities. Currently, more than 5,000 students have access to courses and learning materials on campus and from home via the Blackboard Course Management System (http://www. …

Using Technology-Mediated Learning Environment to Overcome Social and Cultural Limitations in Higher Education

Introduction The importance of higher education to gain prosperity and to develop human resources has been realized by under-developed countries. Students in higher education require a very flexible environment to communicate and collaborate with their peers to accomplish tasks needed to succeed. In western countries where higher education is common, individuals regardless of their gender can meet, communicate and collaborate at anytime at any place of their choice. University campuses provide facilities and resources that students can use any time. In some countries and societies, it is not possible due to the cultural and social reasons. ZU was established for national female population of United Arab Emirates. The university has five colleges and most of the faculty members are western educated to provide students learning opportunities in American style of teaching ensuring a very high quality of education. ZU operations and policies reflect the impact of social and cultural values on higher education. Advances in networking technologies and the Internet have a significant impact on teaching and learning in higher education (Hodges, 2004; Muhlhauser, 2002; Smith & Winking-Diaz, 2004). ZU campuses are fully networked that allow students to connect to the university network and Internet from anywhere on campus. Each student is required to purchase a very recent laptop that she is supposed to carry with her while she is on campus. Each faculty member receives a laptop with a three-year replacement schedule. Normal working hours are 8 to 5 and students are allowed to be on campus during this period. For cultural and social reasons, students are not allowed to be oncampus after normal working hours and on weekends. Social and cultural values of a society could impose different rules based on the gender. Females in a society are usually subject to different set of rules as compared to their male counterparts in the same society. These rules could severely limit the learning opportunities for females. In this paper, we will present a case study using hybrid teaching approach to answer how technology could overcome these limitations without violating and changing any established society rules. In a technology-mediated learning environment, students and teachers use a wide range of Internet based tools to communicate, collaborate and share resources; these tools provide anytime anywhere learning opportunities. In this case study, we have used the following tools in our learning environment: Blackboard, a web-based Learning Management Systems (LMS) that has discussion forum functionality and assessment tools, email and conferencing communication tools. We also used server-based computational tools such as databases, web-servers and compilers needed for CS/IS courses. This paper discusses how educational technology could be used to enhance traditional instructor-led teaching to alleviate the impact of social and cultural values on higher education to make the learning environment a place to pass information and knowledge from teacher to students, from students to teacher, and from students to students; and a place for creative thinking, and learning. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 discusses motivation and related work. Section 3 explains teaching and learning environment at ZU. Section 4 presents methodology and results of a case study based on a database course to show that technology-mediated environment can overcome limitations and constraints imposed by the social and cultural values. Summary and future work is presented in Section 5. Related Work Distance education is used to accommodate those students who could not attend regular school to learn in a traditional learning environment. Invention and adoption of Internet has a significant impact on distance education and traditional classroom based teaching. Web-based learning (WBL) has become a major trend in teaching and learning. …

An Information Security Awareness Program to Address Common Security Concerns in IT Unit

Educated and trained people are critical success factor in any IT work environment to minimize threats or misuse of the organizational assets that may damage the growth, excellence, and efficiency of any business. However, humans are always the weakest point in any security plan. Awareness is by far the most successful technique that does not cost much when compared with training and education and may reduce the total expenditure on security. Having a properly planned information security awareness program greatly impact the raising of the awareness level among the organizations staff. Information Technology unit represents a critical success factor in knowledge management and plays a major role in the decision-making process within any organization. We assess that the initial step in delivering any security awareness plan to the business should start from within IT unit, and this is aligned with the perception that security is the sole responsibility of the IT department. Most of the former studies proposed general information security awareness programs and guidelines, but few of them targeted IT unit. The purpose of this research is to propose an information security awareness program (ISAP) to be used by IT unit to enhance the level of information security standard regardless of the organization type. Our research study differs from other studies in that we targeted the IT unit when building ISAP. Furthermore, we identify several awareness knowledge areas for each sub-division.

Analyzing students’ performance using multi-criteria classification

Education is a key factor for achieving long-term economic progress. During the last decades, higher standards in education have become easier to attain due to the availability of knowledge and resources worldwide. With the emergence of new technology enhanced by using data mining it has become easier to dig into data and extract useful knowledge from data. In this research, we use data analytic techniques applied to real case studies to predict students’ performance using their past academic experience. We introduce a new hybrid classification technique which utilize decision tree and fuzzy multi-criteria classification. The technique is used to predict students’ performance based on several criteria such as age, school, address, family size, evaluation in previous grades, and activities. To check the accuracy of the model, our proposed method is compared with other well-known classifiers. This study on existing student data showed that this method is a promising classification tool.

Using Student e-Portfolios to Facilitate Learning Objective Achievements in an Outcome-Based University

Several researchers define e-portfolios as a digital collection of students’ work accomplished throughout their time of studies in an academic program (Buzzetto-More, 2006; Love, McKean and Gathercoal, 2004; Paulson, Paulson, & Meyer, 1991; Siemens, 2004). E-portfolios can be a rich resource for students and faculty. Students learn to identify and reflect on their learning experiences and show accomplishment of learning outcomes. Faculty members provide students with feedback and guidance to help them accomplish these learning outcomes. In this study student eportfolios consist mainly of a collection of project-based activities that provide students with opportunities to demonstrate mastery of skills and abilities. The College of Technological Innovation (CTI) has been evaluating student e-portfolios using an E-portfolio Assessment Management System (EAMS). The EAMS was developed by the University to provide students with an electronic environment to submit, get feedback, reflect and save key learning experiences. The rationale of the EAMS is to allow students to gather, store and present important projects. The students’ e-portfolios are also used to demonstrate growth toward achieving specific learning outcomes to measure what students have learned and are able to do when they complete their degree program. Students start using the EAMS in semester three of their degree programs and begin the development of a working e-portfolio by archiving all major projects, their instructors’ feedback as well as their reflections.