Omar Majid

The Video Conferencing Learning Environment in Distance Education: A Study of the Interaction Pattern

This article reports on the study undertaken to elucidate the pattern of interactions in the Video Conferencing Learning Environment (VCLE) used as a course delivery mechanism in distance learning. The study involved transcribing the recorded course delivery sessions conducted in the VCLE for three undergraduate Physics courses. The model of interaction used in this study was based on the Oliver & McLoughlin [5] interaction model consisting of five interactive dimensions, namely, the social, procedural, expository, explanatory and cognitive dimensions across five combinations of dialogue exchanges between teachers, students and the class as a whole. The results revealed that there were high frequencies of two-way exchanges between teachers and students in the expository, explanatory and cognitive interactive dimensions. The implication of these findings in terms of the quality of knowledge construction and high level student understanding of the course contents will be discussed and elaborated.

A Framework of an Automatic Assessment System for Learning Programming

Automatic assessment system is a system that will evaluate assignment submitted automatically by the students with the minimum input from human. Studies show that existing works handled only one or two programming languages. They are web-based platform, using marking scheme and strategy, are embedded in the learning management system and provides graphics user interface. This paper presents a proposed framework of an Automatic Assessment System for learning object oriented programming language. We initiate the research by first conducting survey, which investigates the needs of the system in the department. The survey was conducted on two main groups, which are the first year programming students and the lecturers who have experience in teaching programming. The results from the survey show that the Assessment system can help students in learning programming language as well as reduce the lecturers’ workload. We proposed a framework for Automatic Assessment system, which consists of five modules. The modules are teaching module to help students learn and submit program code; real time detector module to show existing error and supply hints to solve problem; marking module to compile, mark, execute, and pre-set evaluation criteria; analysis and reporting module to give instant feedback and social module for interactions between the users.

Authentication of Electronic Version of the Holy Quran: An Information Security Perspective

The advancement in information technology has enabled the proliferation of electronic version of the Holy Quran. Many developers have come up with the electronic version of the Holy Quran which can be read online on computer or on a smart-phone. While such proliferation enables wider propagation of Islam, the introduction of electronic version of the Holy Quran also introduces an eminent threat to Islam. Electronic version of fake or false Quran has been detected. The possibility to securely authenticate electronic version of the Holy Quran would solve a majority of the threats. This study presents a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art, discussion, and a research survey of works conducted in this area. A solution is urgently needed to provide a good content security, and integrity of electronic version of the Holy Quran. This study concludes by summarizing issues, technique and prospects for authenticating electronic version of Quran.

Collaborative Learning Environment with Think-Pair-Share Method and Learning Tools for Learning Arabic Online

Many Muslims whose mother tongues are not Arabic find it difficult to comprehend the messages and meanings of the Quran although they can recite and memorize the verses of the Quran. The existence of many Arabic language centers provides the help needed for this Muslims. However for fulltime working adults, these facilities did not cater for their unpredictable free time. This paper describes a framework for Collaborative Online Arabic Learning software towards understanding Quran (COAL-UQ). The objectives of COAL-UQ are to provide users an online tools for learning Arabic anytime and anywhere, to ease the non-Arabic speakers in understanding the messages and meanings of the Quran and to exploit existing learning tools for learning a new language. We implement the Think-Pair-Share method introduced by Lyman in 1981 in the collaborative software. The software also integrates other online learning tools and utilizes the tools to realize the Think-Pair-Share method. We provide video conferencing tools so users can have face-to-face interactions with human tutor. This is very important in learning Arabic especially to understand the messages and meanings of the Quran.