A Review of MOOCs in the Arab World

Sallam, Marwan H.

doi:10.4236/ce.2017.84044

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The increased usage of the internet in Arabic countries has triggered various initiatives regarding open online education deployment (Sallam, 2017). Primarily, individual initiatives began to record videos that explained a variety of educational materials and these videos were uploaded onto the YouTube platform.…”

Section: Significance Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The spread of the remarkable MOOC phenomenon has been witnessed worldwide, and the Arab region was influenced by this global trend. The year of 2013 witnessed the launch of the Rwaq platform as the first MOOC platform in the Arab region to provide fully Arabic MOOCs (Brahimi & Sarirete, 2015;Sallam, 2017). Later, in 2014, in Jordan, the "Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development" and edX officially announced the launch of the Edraak platform (edX, 2013).…”

Section: Significance Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Exploring Student Readiness to MOOCs in Jordan: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Al-Adwan

Khdour

2020

JITE:Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim/Purpose: The current study has been carried out to reveal students’ readiness to utilize MOOCs at higher learning institutions in Jordan. Background: Higher education institutions around the globe are shifting rapidly to reach learners worldwide by providing open education. In accordance with this universal effort, Jordan is committed to offering open access education that allows learners to access knowledge through the Internet and has launched one of the first Arabic “Massive Open Online Course” (MOOC) platforms in the Arabic region. Thus, students must be prepared and ready for this innovation in education. Nonetheless, MOOCs have been incessantly discussed and have faced wide criticism as an insufficient amount of research has been conducted on students’ readiness to be involved in MOOCs. The level of tertiary students’ preparation to utilize and attend MOOCs as a source of learning is unclear. Methodology: Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed model of students’ readiness for MOOCs. Convenience sampling was used to distribute a paper-based questionnaire to the students of three Jordanian universities during a period of four months from May to September 2019. Out of 700 distributed questionnaires, a total of 537 responses were returned giving a response rate of 76.7%. Out of the returned questionnaires, 69 responses were reported incomplete as most of the questions (>80%) were left unanswered; these 69 questionnaires were eliminated from any further analysis. As a result, a total of 468 questionnaires were valid for statistical analysis. Contribution: This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by examining the perceptions of higher education students in Jordan toward MOOCs. The current study extends the continuing debate about MOOCs with respect to determining which factors influence students’ readiness to participate in these courses. Specifically, this study investigates both the cognitive and psychological influential factors that determine the readiness of Jordanian students to adopt MOOCs. The proposed theoretical framework for this research is based on the work of Yu and Richardson, who developed the model of Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR). SOLR is comprised of three forms of competency assumed to be important in examining students’ readiness for online learning. Specifically, these competencies are (1) social competency represent skills, capabilities, and a sense of control, which is necessary for managing social situations and developing and sustaining relationships, (2) communication competency, “the ability of an individual to demonstrate knowledge of the appropriate communicative behavior in a given situation”, and (3) technical competencies, “self-efficacy in technology”. Furthermore, the research model includes an additional competency: self-management of learning, “the degree to which a student perceives himself/herself as being self-disciplined and is able to engage in a greatly autonomous learning setting.” Findings: The results obtained from the SEM revealed that students’ readiness to accept MOOCs in their learning is significantly influenced by four types of competency: social, technical, self-management of learning, and communication. Recommendations for Practitioners: Facilitators of MOOCs should take into account that technical competency can be enhanced by recognizing that technical competency related to online learning should be developed, taught, and constantly reinforced at every educational level as a life skill. Additionally, facilitators and developers of MOOCs should be prepared to find methods to support and inspire student participation, and to recognize the importance of learning skills in the MOOC environment. Furthermore, facilitators and developers of MOOCs should increase the social presence of fellow participants in MOOCs, which in turn facilitates the attainment of collaborative learning. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers may use well-established theories related to investigating online learning usage in exploring students’ readiness to use MOOCs. Impact on Society: A study like the current one would be beneficial for higher education institutions in Jordan to determine the key factors that influence students’ readiness and in turn develop active strategies to address students’ needs in order for them to adopt MOOCs. Future Research: Further studies may include additional factors to better measure students’ readiness to use MOOCs. The additional factors can be revealed by utilizing a qualitative method. Thus, additional studies may employ a mixed-method approach (both quantitative and qualitative) to accurately identify additional factors that may influence student readiness to student readiness to MOOCs and to offer a more holistic understanding of readiness.

show abstract

Section: Significance Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significance Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Student Readiness to MOOCs in Jordan: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Al-Adwan

Khdour

2020

JITE:Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Presently, education becomes open to everyone who can access the internet to online learning anywhere, no longer limited to classrooms and universities only. So, this kind of education is called Open Online Learning (Sallam, 2017).…”

Section: Courses Beyond Borders: Open Online Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…MOOCs) can be considered one of the most innovative technological developments over the web, similar to Online Labs and Virtual Reality (Spyropoulou, Pierrakeas, & Kameas, 2014). Open online learning has made a crucial revolution in the learning experience process which supports different essential activities such as Interaction and cooperation among learners (Sallam, 2017;Salah et al, 2014).…”

Section: Courses Beyond Borders: Open Online Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have improved the teaching and learning approach, and developed students' learning experience and skills in an animated area of interest by offering a number of open educational resources that are mostly free to the largest possible number of students (Kim, 2015). Furthermore, for meeting the learners' needs and supporting the teaching environment in higher education sectors, this trend has emphasized the idea of accessing the courses in an open and scalable way (Sallam, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Framework for Enhancing Higher Education in The Kurdistan Region of Iraq through A Dedicated Digital Education Mooc

Abdulazeez

Salah

Alves

2020

juod

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Technology-enhanced learning is utilized to support teaching and learning processes by using technology. ICT has enabled Open Online Learning to become a phenomenon and a prominent feature of higher education in developed countries because it can deliver a wide range of high-quality courses to a massive number of students and increase the collaborative learning experience among learners. It is possible to suggest that the range of pedagogical practices based on open online learning. MOOCs are presently shifting the educational landscape from classical scenarios to digital scenarios where open educational resources are being shared among universities and institutions. In this paper, a framework based on open online learning for serving higher education institutions in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is proposed. The proposed framework aims to serve teachers and students by providing adapted highquality contents and scaffolding teaching and learning processes, in a cultural-aware context, in order to improve the existing higher education system.

show abstract

The Implementation of Online Medical Education in the Arab World

Dashash

2023

Higher Education in the Arab World

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A Review of MOOCs in the Arab World

Cited by 15 publications

References 8 publications

Exploring Student Readiness to MOOCs in Jordan: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Exploring Student Readiness to MOOCs in Jordan: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

A Framework for Enhancing Higher Education in The Kurdistan Region of Iraq through A Dedicated Digital Education Mooc

The Implementation of Online Medical Education in the Arab World

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About