Learn anytime, anywhere

More and more universities are opting to go online as teachers embrace distance learning methods and students use technology to advance their knowledge. Maysam Ali reports.

Have you ever logged on to YouTube to listen to a lecture on English literature or to explore the latest archaeological endeavours in countries you've never visited? Have you ever been assigned to watch online presentations or discussions as part of your course? According to educational experts, online learning is becoming increasingly common. In fact, it has become an academic requirement for teachers in many universities around the globe. And students, in most cases, are welcoming the new shift and choosing high-tech, portable knowledge.

Given the technological tools available today, students can study anywhere. The classroom is just the start. They can be at home, on vacation, at a local café, in a taxi, on a boat or just about anywhere — as long as they have internet access, students can connect to their classroom, chat with their colleagues and finish their assignments.

E-TQM conference

At an annual forum on e-learning excellence in the Middle East organised by e-TQM College in Dubai last week, Notes caught up with experts in the field to discuss e-learning options. Notes spoke to Fabrizio Cardinali, founder and CEO of Giunti Labs, Italy, and Dr Richard Straub, senior adviser to the chairman of IBM Europe, Middle East and Africa on the penetration and success of e-learning internationally and in the region.

Cardinali said that e-learning could best be used when trying to reduce costs and time, when students have difficult social conditions and prefer online learning and when trying to make education more personal.

"Nowadays, you have an e-portfolio that lists where you are, your competencies.... Online learning is lifelong: you may want to choose it to acquire better skills for your future employment. After the global financial crisis, it has become more popular because you need to innovate to succeed," he said.

Dr Straub said that students are using social networking and online collaboration tools more often. When the content is available online, it allows for the retrieval of information from the database. "Students have to have a degree of self-organisation and access to the resources so that they achieve results," he said.

Challenges

One major challenge is cultural misinterpretation of e-learning. In certain countries, the Arab world being one of them, e-learning is taken as a less serious alternative to classroom learning.

Dr Nariman Hadj Hamou, assistant vice-president for academic affairs at e-TQM College and chair of the forum, told Notes that the Arab world faces unique challenges in this field because online learning is a foreign concept.

"There is cultural resistance from families because of the lack of awareness. They see distance learning as replicating what happens in a classroom in an online environment when it is much more," she said.

Dr Straub said: "The one challenge that students will face is that classrooms have in-built discipline whereas in online learning, students have to discipline themselves."

Amani Al Hajri, 27, a business and quality management student at e-TQM College, said that if she had to choose any service at university, it would be virtual classes. Al Hajri was studying dentistry in Dublin and returned to the UAE before finishing it; she began working at the Ministry of Economy and eventually, decided to get a bachelor's degree in business and quality management.

She chose to take a course in organisational behaviour online. "I can consult professors anywhere in the world... I can be at home, wearing a headset and attending classes. In a virtual class, we can use the microphone and the webcam. Some women, who don't like to show their faces or to talk, can choose to chat instead," she said.

Shy students can send private messages to the professor and ask them to repeat or explain further. "We have a button that shows we are raising our hands; we can even vote online," Al Hajri said.

Some classes are synchronised; students have to log on at the same time to attend it. Others are recorded. "Students can go back and see all of it, instead of relying on colleagues or on any other teachers," she said. "Because classes are recorded, I listen to lectures in my car on my way to Abu Dhabi and back because I have a lot of driving to do," she said.

"In addition, sometimes we travel abroad for work but I can still attend my classes as long as I have access to the internet," she said. "Usually I rely on the virtual class and either talk to the teacher or 'push-to-talk' service on my mobile phone, free of charge, whereby I choose the professor whom I want to speak to and get to talk to them."

The world in our pocket

Dr Curtis Bonk, professor of instructional systems technology at the School of Education at Indiana University and founder and president of SurveryShare and CourseShare, was in town to deliver a lecture to teachers on blended learning and web technology. Notes managed to speak to Dr Bonk at the Higher Colleges of Technology where teachers had gathered for presentations.

Dr Bonk discussed the various tools that are used to open new learning pathways and advocated an 'open world' where everyone can learn from each other. In the future, students will literally have the world "in their pocket" he said, be it through their mobile phones, laptops, iPods or thumb drives.

"You can read in a taxi, on a plane or train; you can listen to books in your car," he said. "There is an explosion in online enrolment," with more universities offering the online equivalent of their courses and students opting for them. "We are sitting in the middle of a revolution in education and sometimes we forget that."

Open sources online, which people create to spread knowledge, should also be examined Bonk said. He cited Peer 2 Peer University, a new online university that relies on volunteer teachers who use free material available online.

Regarding access to the internet, he said there are many free books and articles online that people can use. He said the digital divide still exists, as the Middle East, Asia and Africa have less access to the internet compared to the rest of the world.

Students welcome e-learning

Students interviewed by Notes said they are familiar with online tools, have used them, or are using them from time to time depending on course requirements.

"I prefer to have a balance between online and face-to-face learning," said Mohsen Khan who studies business administration at the University of Wollongong in Dubai.

His friend, Rashed Lootah, a computer science student at UOWD, said that face-to-face learning provides a better learning environment because students are mentally in the mood to learn in a classroom.

Other students cited the convenience of online learning. Sameera Yousuf, a foundation student at Middlesex University Dubai, said: "Our English professor asks us to watch videos on YouTube to analyse cultural issues. It's pretty interesting."

Another foundation student at Middlesex University Dubai, Sara Hassan, said that she uses educational sites and online journals. "It's good but you get tired from staring at the screen after a certain point," she added.

Achieving a balance is the best solution.

The blended approach

When is blended learning beneficial?
Blended learning is combining face-to-face learning with computer-mediated learning. According to Dr Curtis Bonk, professor of instructional systems technology at the School of Education at Indiana University and founder and president of SurveryShare and CourseShare, it is beneficial for:
- Large classes;
- Classes with working students;
- Students spread over a distance;
- Classes with certification;
- New requirements for a profession;
- Writing intensive classes; and
- Theory classes.

INTERVIEW
With Shameema Parveen, knowledge officer, Edutech Middle East

What e-learning options do students in the UAE have?

Most universities in the UAE offer programmes in a blended model which includes delivering course materials online, providing opportunities for online interactions between students and faculty and testing; so most students in the country use e-learning as a method to learn.

What types of e-learning tools are available to them?

The kind of tools institutions would have to increase student engagement and quality of teaching and learning are: a portal to provide online information to students; a course delivery (learning management system) to deliver course materials online, to communicate with students; a content management system to manage and share digital content; an e-portfolio system to demonstrate student achievement; online assessment system; collaboration tools among others.

Is e-learning popular here?

It is not a matter of popularity but more an issue of necessity. The way we learn and teach has changed with time. Current teaching methods require use of technologies such as e-learning tools to improve student achievement and engagement. The Ministry of Higher Education also mandates that institutions use some technologies in the learning process

Why is e-learning important in A curriculum?

The most important thing a student learns from an institution nowadays is 'learning to learn'. Being independent learners is necessary to be successful in the knowledge age we live in. We also live in a world that uses technology in most aspects of our daily life, and it is no surprise that technology plays a major role in our learning life as well. Considering the move towards using more student-centred learning in institutions, integrating technology into the classroom and curriculum is key to providing the benefit to students where they learn to learn at their pace, at their time and using interactive and social learning methods that they are more attuned to today.

Howeasily do students Adapt to new technological tools?

Students use more technology nowadays as the Generation Y'ers were born in times of technology playing a role in all aspects of our lives. They instinctively know how to use technology and are more comfortable in a technology-driven environment.