Akram Al-Rawi

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. …

A Holistic Approach to Develop IS Curricula: Focusing on Accreditation and IT Certification.

Introduction Information Systems (IS) are complex systems requiring both technical and organizational expertise for design, development, and management. Many academic institutions worldwide aim to generate an IS curriculum that produces graduates with solid foundation in IS and equipped with the skills that make them readily employable. However, all aspects of the computing fields including IS are faced with great pressure from industry to train students on specific IT technology and skills. As a result, university level IS curricula need frequent updating to answer the need of industry and to remain effective. The highly competitive Information Systems field requires universities and colleges to train students on the use of the latest technologies. Some academic institutions are redesigning their curricula to include IT certifications into their curricula. This process provides graduates with a solid foundation in IS and one or more IT certificate. Businesses today need college graduates to make an impact and become productive employees almost immediately after joining the work force. Information Systems (IS) programs are accredited by oversight bodies to determine whether the program provides quality education (Lidtke & Yaverbaum, 2003; Lunt, Lawson, Goodman, & Helps, 2002). Currently, ABET (Computing Accreditation Commission, 2004) is the accreditation body with responsibility for accrediting all programs in the computing field. The Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) is responsible for the accreditation of IS programs. The IS 2002 model curriculum provides recommendation for the core IS curriculum to meet ABET criteria. While ABET specifies the 120 credit hours for the Bachelor degree, IS 2002 addresses 33 credit hours only. Currently, there is a move by a number of colleges and universities to form partnership with IT vendors such as Microsoft and Cisco to provide hands-on experience that prepares students for successful entry into the job market and to sit for Industry Certification exams (Houston, Blesse, & Herrod, 2005). Many employers are looking for IS graduates to acquire certification in addition to their Bachelor degree. IS graduates can demonstrate that they have the necessary skills to be productive by acquiring one or more appropriate IT certificates. The IEEE and ACM recognize the importance of the IT certifications and provide their members with over four hundred online courses leading to technical certifications. In this paper, an IS model curriculum that addresses accreditation requirements and certification needs is proposed. The model addresses all ABET criteria, which provide recommendations for general education (GE), IS environment, major core courses, major electives and general elective courses. The model curriculum uses the IS 2002 report (Gorgone, Davis, Valacich, Topi, Feinstein, & Longenecker, 2002) to implement the IS core courses. The model also provides a framework to integrate IT certification in IS courses at various levels of the curriculum. n example of how to use the proposed model curriculum is developed. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The second section lists the criteria for accrediting IS programs. The third section introduces the IS 2002 recommendations for curriculum development and addresses some of the implementations issues. The fourth section discusses the proposed comprehensive IS curriculum. The fifth and sixth sections discuss embedding IT certification into the IS curriculum. The seventh section presents an example of how to implement the model curriculum. Finally the eighth section is the conclusion. ABET Criteria for Accrediting IS Programs ABET, a recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, is a federation of 30 professional and technical societies representing these fields. Among the most respected accreditation organizations in the U. …

Effect of Windows XP Firewall on Network Simulation and Testing

Introduction Cisco Networking Academy (CNA) is widely used in high schools, colleges, and universities all over the world. The Cisco Networking Academy Programs provide critical skills needed by students to work in the IT field. The program offers Web-based content, online assessment, handson labs, instructor training, and preparation for industry certifications such as CCNA and CCNP (http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/netacad/). The networking academy is used primarily to prepare students for Cisco certifications; it is also used for non Cisco certificates, such as CompTIA A+ and Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP). The Cisco Networking Academy courses include lab components which are an integral part of all CNA courses. For instance, the CCNA1-CCNA4 courses lab components include routers, switches, as well as some basic equipment and cables, to simulate and test network protocols in a lab environment using Cisco Internetwork Operating System (IOS). Cisco Networking Academy also promotes a product called Packet Tracer 4.0 (PT4) to simulate and test LAN connectivity. It is used as an alternative to the hardware lab to assist students who have no access to CNA hardware lab. Typical Cisco Networking Academy Program which offers CCNA1-CCNA4 consists of a rack-mounted routers and switches along with few other devices to simulate and test network connectivity. The lab deals with different routing protocols: some of them are Cisco proprietary routing protocols such as EIGRP, and some non Cisco proprietary protocols such as RIP and OSPF. The simulation problem under investigation in this paper involves two Cisco routers, one Cisco switch, and two PCs (hosts) running Windows XP along with a serial cable (DCE/DTE) to connect the two routers. Following the completion of a particular Cisco Networking Academy lab simulation, it is typical to test the connectivity between the host computers using Windows ping.exe and tracert.exe which implement the TCP/IP protocol ICMP. A successful ping from all the hosts means that the network is functioning properly at the network layer level. If the ping is not successful it is necessary to start troubleshooting the network until the ping is successful. However, there are cases when the ping is not successful and yet it was not possible to find any problem with the network. On the other hand repeating the same simulation using Cisco Packet Tracer 4.0 simulation software the phenomena is not observed. The objective of this paper is to investigate the reasons behind the ping failure when a network is configured a certain way under the Windows XP, and provides a solution to resolve this connectivity issue in a lab environment. A brief introduction to Windows XP Firewall settings is given in the last section of this paper. Connectivity Tests using Ping and Tracert The ping command is a good tool for troubleshooting Layer 1 through 3 of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model and diagnosing basic network connectivity (Odom, 2005). Using ping sends an ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) packet to the specified device (host, server, router or switch) and then waits for reply. The IP address or host name can be pinged. In order to ping the host name of a router, there must be a static host lockup table in the router or a DNS server for name resolution to IP addresses. The traceroute command, abbreviated as trace, is an excellent utility for troubleshooting the path that a packet takes through an internetwork of routers. It can help to isolate problem links and routers along the way. The tracert command uses ICMP packets and the error message generated by routers when the packet exceeds its Time-To-Live (TTL). The Windows version of this command is tracert. Cisco Networking Academy uses the ping command in the lab of the CCNA1-CCNA4 curriculum as a means to verify that the network layer between the source and destination is working properly. …