This study examined the relationship between students' satisfaction in the newly developed Learning Management System "Acadox", and their perceptions of its usefulness, and ease of use. The study used a descriptive correlational design to examine the relationships among variables, as they exist in their natural settings. To measure students' satisfaction in Acadox, perceptions of usefulness, and perceptions of ease of use of Acadox, a web-basecd survey was developed be the researcher. Data were collected from seventy-five students enrolled in courses that used Acadox as a learning management system in the Middle East region, namely, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The findings of this study revealed that students' perceptions of ease of use, and perceptions of usefulness were significant predictors of satisfaction in Acadox. The findings of this study are consistent with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which indicates that one's perceptions of ease of use, and perceptions of usefulness of the new technology are the key factors that determine whether user will accept or not the new technology.

Article HistoryKeywords Virtualization Virtualization in education Simulation Computing education OPNET network simulator Experiential learning Virtualization technology has been around for many years, and its use is increasingly becoming common in education, in general and in computing fields, in particular. This can be attributed partly to its potential to reduce costs, boost efficiency and overcome limited resources through its virtual applications such as servers, storage devices and networks. However, the question is: "would that be at the cost of the quality of learning?" Besides, the way virtualized environments impact motivation needs further clarification, since it is a neglected area of research. This quasi-experimental study tried to address such questions through investigating the impact of virtualized networking software (OPNET Network Simulator) on students' learning and motivation. 116 undergraduate students enrolled in a computer networking class at one of the universities in Egypt participated in this study, who were then randomly assigned to an experimental group (N= 59), which used the OPNET Network simulator, and a control group (N= 57) which studied the same content via the traditional physical lab. Two instruments; a networking test, and a Motivation Scale were administered to both study groups prior and post the intervention. Results showed that students of experimental group who used OPNET Networking simulator had significantly higher grades and greater motivation levels than those of the control group.Contribution/Originality: This paper's primary contribution is to find out how virtual learning environments can prove more effective than real environment on both learning and motivation. The current study came to this conclusion by employing a quasi-experimental method, while other studies relied mostly on anecdotal or tentative evidence. useful in in the development of Web-based interactive learning resources in engineering education (Ndahi et al., 2007) and in developing interactive digital media (Tan, 2008;Yildirim et al., 2018).

Though MOOCs are usually used as stand-alone online courses, more and more instructors are using them to complement their traditional lectures, others are using them to flip their classrooms. This study investigates the impact of MOOCs-based flipped classroom on engagement in learning and course grades. This quasi-experimental study employed post-test only control group design. Participants of the study consisted of 155 pre-service teachers studying the undergraduate "EFL Teaching Methodology course at one of the universities in Egypt in the year 2018-2019. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental (flipped classroom) (N=78) or a control group (traditional) (N=77). Both groups were taught by the same instructor, the control group was taught in the traditional method, while the experimental group were required to enroll in two English Language Teaching MOOCs, assigned by the course instructor, and complete specific parts of each course, students had to watch videos, read articles, complete quizzes, and come to class prepared to discuss what they have read and watched, and complete in-class activities. Ten weeks later, the instrument of the study, Engagement Scale, was administered to both groups to assess their engagement in learning. Course grades were obtained from the instructor. Results showed that there were statistically significant differences in both engagement and course grades in favor of the ‎experimental group (flipped classroom group). Using MOOCs to flip traditional courses is found to improve students' engagement and learning, this is because students were able to use limited class time to engage in higher‐level interactive learning activities. There is no fear that technology or video lectures will replace faculty, rather it can make their teaching more effective. Integrating MOOCs and flipped classroom can harness technology to radically redesign teaching and learning experiences.

Despite the potentials promised by MOOCs to democratize education, the adoption rate of MOOCs is still low in certain parts of the world, including the Arab region. Research on MOOCs’ adoption in the Arab region is also limited. To fill this research gap, this quantitative study aims to explore Arab learners’ ‎perceptions on the influential drivers and barriers of MOOCs’ usage. Participants of the study were 821 learners, all from Arabic-speaking countries, who were registered in at least one MOOC offered by one of the biggest Arabic MOOC platforms, Rwaq, during the ‎year 2019. Data were collected using a web-based survey. Results indicated that participants were overall satisfied ‎with their MOOC experience. The main reasons behind their enrolling in MOOCs were: they wanted to learn new things; they thought MOOCs were interesting; they needed credentials for their CVs. The main benefits they cited for participating in MOOCs were: the material learned through MOOCs was ‎valuable to me, ‎ the MOOCs’ structure and learning activities were flexible and supported my learning, Participating in MOOCs ‎developed my technological competency‏.‏ The main MOOC barriers were: problems accessing MOOCs materials due to unreliable internet connection, not having enough time to ‎complete all required ‎tasks and assignments, lacking the proficiency to use different tools in MOOCs‏, and the instructor was not there to help. Other findings of the study: gender, age, academic levels were not correlated with learners’ satisfaction with MOOCs. On the other hand number of MOOCs previously completed was significantly related to learners’ satisfaction in MOOCs.