ICT for Educational Excellence in Jordan

This chapter discusses the Jordanian Ministry of Education’s reliance on both the local private sector (public-private partnership) and foreign aids in order to accelerate its integration of ICT to meet the needs and demands of the knowledge-based economy. The discussion sheds light on strings attached to the role played by the Ministry of Education, as the central educational authority, in the diffusion of ICT across the education system. Understandably, in the Jordanian context, likewise other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, the education system has to deal with a great deal of complexities in which, internal and external issues can impede reform efforts. Partnership with local and international partners might be needed in the Jordanian context in order to initiate reform especially the large-scale and costly ones. ICT-related reform initiatives are expensive and require expertise in various areas which might justify seeking external assistance by the educational system. However, external involvement can impact the integrity of the educational reform when it is left with inadequate coordination and efforts in order to keep them in line with national interests and agendas. Furthermore, the impact of these issues can be severer when they are not taken into account during the planning stage of the reform. Thus, this chapter discusses major issues arose when international partners and the local private sector were involved in ICT-based education initiatives in Jordan.

Multimedia Use in UAE Education Context

The growth in use of multimedia in United Arab Emirates schools has accelerated in recent years. Multimedia can be useful for both teachers and students alike. For example, multimedia is viewed as an important source of educational aids and a generator of resources that can add a lot to their performance. On the other hand, multimedia is positively perceived, for it makes the learning processes more comfortable and more enjoyable that leads to an improved performance. Generally, children are excited and fascinated by technology, and they are more receptive to lessons that are aided by multimedia. This is perhaps why many teachers are using multimedia in their classes to accomplish their learning objectives by creating a more interesting learning environment. For educators, multimedia provides a golden opportunity to promote interactive, technology-based collaborative learning that is perceived positively by all parties involved. This chapter investigated the role of the multimedia technologies in enhancing students’ performance as many studies showed that technology has a great effect on improving students’ reading, writing, and other skills. The study is also aimed at increasing educators’ awareness of the importance of multimedia technology use in classrooms.

A Low-Cost Learning Object Repository for Egyptian Teachers

Within the last five years, governments and education authorities worldwide have developed and implemented approaches to facilitate access to a wide range of quality digital resources and reduce the costs of production. This chapter reports on a study which invited school teachers and university academics in Egypt, as a developing and Arabic-speaking country, to cooperate in establishing a learning object repository to store, locate, and share quality learning objects for class teaching and e-learning programs. The proposed solution is originally a vendor hosted web-based groupware, file management, and sharing system that meets the basic criteria of instructional learning object repositories called eStudio. Motivators and inhibitors to using the repository, factors that determine locating, using, and sharing learning objects within the repository and their qualities are assessed to help in developing repositories that demonstrate an understanding of the existing needs and the work practices of Egyptian teachers and other user groups.

Enhancing e-Learning Environment with Embedded Recommender Systems

Recommended learning objects are obtained by using a range of recommendation strategies based mainly on content based filtering and collaborative filtering approaches, each applied separately or in combination.

E-Learning Status and Quality in Context of Arab Universities

This chapter discusses the status and quality of e-learning in Arab Universities located in the Middle East. The first objective of the study was to provide an analytical overview of the use of e-learning and the quality of electronic courses and learning objects in these universities to fill the gap in the literature in this particular topic regarding the Middle East region, and also to draw into different solutions and recommendations in order to make a successful match that could result in a better adoption and serving of the e-learning technology. The study was based on two different approaches that included a survey to navigate the official websites of universities in the region plus a survey into e-learning courses to obtain the current stand of e-learning quality in the region. The results of each approach have been analyzed, and the outcomes and recommendations were presented to be used for future adoption and other related studies.

Meaningful Learning from Sustained Online Communication

This case study discusses a model of evaluating a group of adult students learning resulting from using an online social constructivist tool. The study is based on using a discussion board for sharing and co-constructing knowledge. Learning through social interactions and critical thinking is increasingly considered an essential teaching approach and especially for adult students. This approach promotes active learning and leads to better understanding of the subject matter. Online interaction evidently promotes critical thinking, problem solving, and knowledge construction. The literature provides a large set of approaches for evaluating discussion boards. However, their uses are not easily adoptable by faculty who are primarily interested in measuring the quality of online discussion. The authors contend that faculty should not adhere to a single measure but rather to be experiential and to develop their own models of evaluation of the students’ online learning experience. This case study discusses our own model for understanding the students’ learning experience and the authors’ approach to assess an individual’s level of engagement in critical thinking. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on adopting e-learning technologies at institutions in the Arab World for teaching adult students.

ICT Integration in Post-Secondary English Teaching and Learning

The positive effects of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) have been widely acknowledged in the body of literature. While the majority of studies concern the use of CALL in the West, there is a dearth of research on the use of CALL in the Middle East and in particular in the Arabian Gulf where the English language plays a prominent role and being able to speak English is the passport to attending higher education and gaining employment. This chapter documents two case studies in higher education institutions in the Gulf, one in Saudi Arabia and one in the United Arab Emirates. The studies show how the use of CALL positively affected Arab students’ language skills and their attitudes towards learning English with technology, paving the way for further research in the Arabian higher education context, where the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for teaching and learning is gaining ground at a fast pace.

ICT Applications in Arab Education Sector

Although technology adoption in education is generally viewed positively by educators, the shift in technology adoption by educational organizations, from simple class-resources and learning aids to a much more complex and sophisticated information systems, represent a major challenge to cope with, especially to many educational organizations in the Arab region, while the role and impact of culture on the outcomes is yet to be verified. Thus, this chapter examines the role and impact of local culture on the adoption and utilization of new information systems and technologies to enhance core educational functions and enterprise support functions within Arab educational organizations.

Automated Enrollment in Higher Education in the UAE Universities

This chapter highlights the importance of admission and registration functions in higher education and discusses the main objectives and sought benefits from utilizing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications to support the automation of admission and registration processes and functions in UAE higher education’s institutes. The chapter also suggests an effective approach to design and adopt such applications to ensure the realization of benefits to both students and universities. Of particular interest to this investigation is how can universities successfully and effectively apply the e-admission and e-registration system. The chapter concludes with a positive outlook of future Internet and e-applications to improve admission and registration in terms process streamlining, ease of use, easy access, and connectivity. It also points out some challenges that normally occur when some ICT solution is applied at a number of higher educational institutes.

Wiki-Based Training for the Development EFL Prospective Teachers in Egypt

This chapter provides a description of how wikis can be used to develop the writing performance of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) prospective teachers. Wiki has gained popularity as a frequent topic of discussion at the field of education. It has been used to provide a collaborative environment which encourages its users to engage effectively in the writing process and to develop their writing performance. This chapter involves an introduction to the importance of developing writing performance among prospective EFL teachers and a description of how new technologies based on the Internet have given new approaches for designing courses in writing. This chapter also provides background information including: the definition of wiki, characteristics of wiki, educational uses of wikis, historical development of wikis and previous studies related to the application of wikis in classrooms. Moreover, this chapter provides an illustration of the author’s experience with using wikis to develop prospective EFL teachers’ writing performance. It concludes with recommendations on effective use of wikis for educational purposes.