Research examining perceptions and trends

In the field of on line learning, many studies on online learning have examined learners‟ perceptions to evaluate different applications and practices, both of which occasionally are referred as attitude. Both applications and practices determine the assessment of online learning from the learners' view. Many studies have reported a positive attitude to online learning in which learners expressed satisfaction about the ease of communication in online learning and the usefulness of the Internet services. Conversely, one study, for instance, has determined that this satisfaction level was no more than that in traditional settings. An overview of a prior research involving perceptions similar to this study, in the Arabian sociocultural context, is provided for the sake of comparison with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Iran, UAE, Egypt and Oman.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has been a pioneer in the region regarding web-based instruction. Three major studies have been conducted in this area beginning with Alarfaj (2001). This study looked at college students' perceptions towards distance online instruction and the pros and cons of online learning. Although students generally showed positive perceptions especially towards possession of the internet at home, some negative factors such as technical problems, applicability to all subjects, and waste of time and cost were indicated. The second study by Alferaihi (2003) explored the perceptions of 326 undergraduate students' toward utilizing online courses at King Saud University. Perceptions of students showed slightly positive views towards some variables like geographical location and economic situation. However, weak social relations were rated the most negative aspect in online learning. The third study was conducted by Alaugab (2007). This study looked at Saudi Arab female faculty and students on benefits, barriers, and attitudes towards online learning in higher

Page 62 education. The results showed that students were more positive than faculty members towards the benefits and barriers of online instruction when correlated with ICT and internet services.

Iran's research in online learning began with Yaghoubi et al. (2008). This study investigated virtual learners' perceptions of online learning throughout the country. Generally, students had a positive attitude; however, their views were negative towards efficiency, the use of technology and the access to the Internet. In the UAE a joint study with Oman was conducted by Elango, R. Gudep, V. K. and Selvam, M (2008) investigating issues related to the quality dimensions of e- learning. The results revealed diverse opinions of e-learners with regard to administrative issues, instruction materials and instructors‟ support in e-learning. It stressed the relevance of communicating qualitative education through e- learning.

Several studies have been conducted in Egypt on e-learning. First, Dajani (2009) conducted an exploratory case study to characterize Arab perceptions towards e- learning. Participants included 30 Arab students, faculty members, and administrators at the American University in Cairo (AUC). The study described participants‟ general perceptions of e-learning and indicated that the majority of the participants who had no e-learning experience viewed it negatively, while four participants with e-learning experience had a positive perception of e-learning. The second study was done by Hegazy (2010) investigating learner perceptions, preferences and adaptation of e-learning services in Egypt. Students' perceptions were determined through four variables: access to internet; competency of e- learning, computer and internet usage and higher education system's shortcomings. Results showed that students had positive perceptions towards e- learning in general.

In Oman, several earlier studies were conducted. The first study by Al-Ani (2008) investigated students‟ perceptions of the use of Moodle as a course management

Page 63 system in a Foundations of Education (FOE) course at the College of Education, SQU. The results showed that with the use of Moodle students‟ participation and knowledge exchange had increased. Interestingly, when participants were given a choice, more than half of them preferred to use chat rooms and forums in computer labs to discussions in formal lecture rooms. The findings showed that most of the problems that bothered students while using Moodle revolved around technical issues and frequent computer errors. A second study was conducted by Al-Khanjari (2011) exploring learners' perceptions of Moodle at Sultan Qaboos University, in the Sultanate of Oman. The results revealed that those students who were introduced to an online learning environment through Moodle had encouraging, optimistic and positive attitudes towards Moodle and subsequently had enhanced learning and understanding of the course material.

2.7 Conclusion

In conclusion, this chapter has provided a literature review of previous research on definitions, trends and perceptions of e-learning. It has discussed three main conceptual aspects of technology: mode of study, pedagogy, and andragogy. The literature review of the present study on e-learning in higher education is supplemented by and integrated with a background of research conducted within regional Middle Eastern countries implementing e-learning courses within their educational institutions. Each of these studies has used perceptions, attitudes or achievement to establish the learners' opinions about e-learning within their particular educational contexts. The current study builds upon all this previous research and provides insights in the design of a survey instrument to measure the effectiveness of a model online learning course at SQU. The following chapter provides a basis of empirical research on instructional design from which to engineer an effective course prototype.

Page 64 CHAPTER THREE: EMPIRICAL STUDY – INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN OF ONLINE COURSE (BASIC COMPUTING SKILLS)

3. Introduction

3.1 Overview of the course „Basic Computing Skills‟ 3.2 Course Design using ADDIE Model

3.2.1. Analysis Phase 3.2.2. Design Phase 3.2.3. Development Phase 3.2.4. Implementation Phase 3.2.5. Evaluation Phase 3.3 Conclusion

Page 65 3. Introduction

In this study, learners' and teachers‟ perceptions are used as a source of data to evaluate online learning in Sultan Qaboos University. In order to achieve the goals of this study, it was necessary to design an online course based on the suggested learning principles in order to simulate the particular learning environment under investigation. A particular focus was upon evaluation of the attributes: autonomy, interactivity, flexibility, feedback and multimedia. To facilitate this evaluation the current chapter bridges the previous theoretical foundation in chapter two to the empirical part, which follows. Specifically, this chapter examines the online course uniquely designed for this study with details and discussion on the process of its instructional engineering and development based on e-learning aspects and the instructional design attributes discussed in chapter two.

The main goal of the study is to elicit learners‟ and teachers‟ perceptions of online learning currently applied at SQU. This method is different from the traditional face-to-face learning. Until the time of conducting this study, there was no fully online course offered at the university; therefore, I had to design and offer an online course to meet the purpose of this study. There were two possible options, either to design a totally new course of a generic subject that would interest a large number of students or to design an online equivalent course to an existing face-to-face one which would cater to a large number of students. The second option was found more feasible. Since the study was trying to investigate a large number of students and teachers, the General Foundation Programme (GFP) was targeted as it catered to a population of around 1000 students per year and the course „Basic Computing Skills‟ was chosen to be designed and offered online.

Page 66 3.1 Overview of the course ‘Basic Computing Skills’

This Basic Computer Skills course is a component of the General Foundation Program (GFP), which was adopted by all higher education institutions in Oman including SQU in the academic year 2009-2010 to help students achieve the prescribed student learning outcomes in at least four areas: English, mathematics, computing and general study skills. The learning outcomes of the GFP were based on Oman‟s Academic Standards (OAS), which set the minimum structural, and resourcing requirements that programs of study were expected to attain. These standards provided flexibility for the institutions to develop their own curriculum and implement teaching and assessing methods in line with the requirements of these standards. The entry and exit assessments were essentially the same as they were designed to determine whether the student met the learning outcome standards and the final assessment result were either a pass or a fail and there was no final grading shown on the official transcript. The main aim of the Basic Computing Skills Course was to ensure that students were equipped with the computing and information technology (IT) skills that were necessary to communicate and process information related to their post- secondary or higher education studies in a variety of disciplines. The learning outcome standards were as follow:

1. Computer Fundamentals

Students were required to understand the make-up of personal computer system in terms of hardware and software, data storage and memory. Students also had to understand how information networks were used within computing and be aware of the uses of computer based software applications in everyday life.

Page 67 2. Basic Computer Operation and File Management

Students were required to understand and be familiar with the basic principles of operation of a personal computer system and with basic principles of file management using a computer.

3. Word Processing

The general objective of this component was to equip students with the essential skills that they needed to create good quality documentation during their studies. 4. Spreadsheets

The general objectives of this component were to equip students with the essential skills that they needed to create good quality spreadsheets during their studies, and to understand the spreadsheet packages so that they could utilize them for data processing tasks during their studies and in the future.

5. Presentation

The general objectives of this component have to equip students with the essential skills that they needed to create professional presentations during their studies and an understanding of presentation packages so that they can utilize them for presenting information in an effective manner during their studies and in the future.

6. Internet, WWW and Email

The general objective of this component was to introduce students to the fundamentals of computer networks and communication systems, which assisted in providing the students with the tools for searching and accessing information remotely and using electronic mails for communicating with other people. (Basic Computing Skills, 2010)

Based on this national learning outcome, an in-house textbook for the computing course was written by instructors and curriculum developers from the relevant department at SQU. The course was written and offered in both Arabic and

Page 68 English languages. The textbook consisted of six chapters: Computer Fundamentals, Basic Computing Skills, Word processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations and Computer Networks and Internet. A test, for this course, was also prepared by the Foundation Programme.

This Basic Computer Skills course was chosen to be designed and offered fully online for it had the main characteristics, which were suitably converted to an online course. The characteristics of the course were the following.

 catered to a large number of students, around 1000 students per semester

 was a part of the newly established Foundation Program in SQU which was an accreditation requirement for all higher education institutions in Oman

 had an in-house written syllabus based on the ICDL content

 had clearly defined learning outcomes

 was a continuation of a subject that was taken during secondary school years (Grade 11).

 was offered during the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters to maximize its accessibility.

 was not a prerequisite to the other two components of the foundation program, so it was flexible to be taken at either semester.

 was easy in nature and could be learned independently

 could gain accreditation as it was aligned with ICDL international material and tests.

By the time I decided to generate an online version of the course, it had been taught face-to-face for three semesters. Therefore, I met a total of four teachers, including the course coordinator, in order to investigate the teaching and learning hitches that could be eluded and solved using e-learning. Although listening to learners at this stage was valuable, time limitations and some logistics hindered me from interviewing them; therefore, their voice was represented through the teachers. The following issues were found to be of a concern:

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 The student/teacher ratio was very big due to shortage in the teaching staff per semester.

 The time allocated for hands on practice with students was inadequate due to the limited number of computer labs on campus

 The practical part of the assessment was time and effort consuming as students were given written instructions on the practical part, which they did in class. This work was saved in flash memories/ CDs and handed over to the teacher. Teachers spent hours marking this work and wrote feedback.

 There were lots of student withdrawals due to clashes in the master timetable.

After the related material was collected and the feedback from course coordinator was acknowledged, I sat with a member of my team at work, an instructional developer who is a staff member at the Centre for Educational Technology at SQU. Together we reviewed the textbook “Basic Computing Skills” from instructional design perspective keeping in mind the coordinators‟ feedback. Then we designed of the online version of the course using multimedia and self- learning activities which learners can work independent of the teacher. Due to time constraint we decided to develop four out of six chapters to include in the online version of the course.

The following five components were included for developing effective simulations based on a (Bell, Kanar, & Kozlowski, 2008)

 An introductory session that set the environment for training.

 A sample of a successful interaction was provided for the participants to watch.

 A simulation process in which participants perform by applying the knowledge they gained in the earlier sections.

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 Post simulation where participants received feedback and coaching on their behavior in the simulation. If they did not take the best possible course of action through the simulation, they were given an opportunity to repeat it.

 Follow up which provided continuous learning of the program by enabling the participants to revisit the simulation if needed and they could also include new modules to complete the original simulation. It also introduced new challenges to the participants.