e-Creator and the Future

The e-Creator project has not only produced training materials and established a network of professionals in the field, it has also led to research into the changing nature of e-learning and into what the future holds for it. According to Martin Counihan, a director of the consultancy company Maine Learning Ltd, there is no doubt that a limited number of widely-used virtual learning environments (particularly Blackboard, Moodle and Sakai) will dominate the world of e-learning over the coming few years. However, internet resources of many other kinds have been appearing recently, including powerful but inexpensive communication tools (such as vyew.com) and educational content (such as Wikiversity). The selection of such resources is likely to become increasingly wide and bewildering. Looking further ahead, new developments such the Croquet project (opencroquet.org), facilitating the construction of vivid virtual worlds, will lead to a paradigm-shift in e-learning perhaps five or ten years from now. We can see the beginnings of it already with Second Life (secondlife.com).

For the immediate future, Maine Learning has plans to build on the foundations of the e-Creator project with new projects to promote Open Educational Resources (OER) and "distance teaching". The aim is to enhance what can be done by existing educational institutions, particularly universities and adult education organisations, by enabling them to provide their students with access to high-quality courses and expert tuition in subjects which cannot be covered by their own staff. As knowledge expands and universities become more specialised and more competitive in research, the tendency is for teaching to become narrower: but e-learning, if it is organised effectively and imaginatively, can provide students across Europe with educational opportunities having breadth as well as depth.

Online Education in the Arab World
Dubai, June 2006 (by UmmeSalma Mujtaba) Dr. Nidhal Guessoum is an astrophysicist; he graduated with a Ph.D. from UCSD in 1988, spent a total of 8 years in the US, then went back to his home country Algeria, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses and finally left for Kuwait where he has been teaching Physics and Astronomy at the College of Technological Studies. Nidhal has gotten involved in projects that deal with multimedia and online approaches to teaching. Today he teaches as Associate Professor of Physics at the American University of Sharjah, UAE.

How do you think the online education scenario differs in the Arab world from elsewhere?

Dr. Nidhal Guessoum: The situation is far different. For one thing, higher education in the Arab world is facing a crisis in the most general sense. Online education depends strongly on digital infrastructure, PC and Internet penetration, and connection costs, all of which vary hugely from one Arab country to another, the situation being most advantageous in the Arab Gulf and least favourable in countries like Sudan and Yemen.

What do you think the main reasons for these differences are?

Dr. Nidhal Guessoum: Some reasons for this state of affairs are readily apparent. First, the region’s population relies largely on Arabic as a learning language (especially at the primary and secondary levels), and Arabic has unfortunately made very slow indents in the digital information landscape. Secondly, the educational system has not provided the students with the active, independent, lifelong learning attitude that is a prime prerequisite for participating and succeeding in the online learning world. Thirdly, although it is true that the digital infrastructure is well developed, at least in the Gulf region, its actual penetration into homes, as well as the actual usage of it in workplaces and schools, is in reality still at an infancy stage.

How would you categorize the recent progress domains of online education in the Arab world?

Dr. Nidhal Guessoum: Recent efforts in the field of online education in the Arab world can be divided into three main areas. The first is governmental efforts to create structures for complete programs. Next are the online programs of professional development and training for employees. Finally, there have been higher education efforts, both individual projects and collective exchanges.

You are affiliated with the American University in Sharjah (AUS). How is online education incorporated at your institution?

Dr. Nidhal Guessoum: At the American University of Sharjah (AUS), eLearning efforts started in 2001 with forum discussions where “early adopters” presented the general features of online learning as well as their own individual efforts to the campus community. At about the same time, the WebCT course management system was purchased and installed by the University administration to support and unify the efforts of faculty interested in adding an online dimension to their courses. This was deemed a worthy project to pursue both because the University already enjoyed a sophisticated technical infrastructure (fast T1 Internet lines, wireless campus-wide Internet network, etc.) and because AUS students neither suffer from computer/Internet illiteracy nor English-language deficiency, factors that were previously noted as a major hindrance to the global success of online teaching schemes.

Since then dozens of instructors at AUS have added an online component to their courses, now making the hybrid (blended online and in-class) format of teaching the dominant paradigm across the University.

Can you make any general observations related to students’ approach to online courses?

Dr. Nidhal Guessoum: It is widely believed that online learning is an excellent approach for mature, independent, and disciplined students, and so one may be surprised to note (although the experiments that lead to these conclusions are few and limited) that AUS students who have undertaken fully online education by and large showed amazing readiness and quick adaptability to this format.

Of course students needed to be coached into the new learning approach and its requirements, but once they digested and got used to that, students found the flexibility of the format as well as the digital nature of the course (quick perusal of the material, hypertext jumping, multimedia approach to learning, etc.) - "clicking" perfectly well into their digital lifestyles.

More on the American University of Sharjah

Romsey (UK), July 2006 – Bourne Training has completed the development of a prestigious programme for EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, to help educate air traffic staff and the general public about the impact of aviation on the environment. [more...]

Washington, August 2006 – The case is delicate and uncertainty abounds. On July 26, US provider Blackboard announced that it has been granted a U.S. patent for technology used in internet-based education support systems and tools. Because the patent, Nr. 6,988,138, covers core technology used in most of the Learning Management Systems (LMS) and because Blackboard has filed a lawsuit against the Canadian company Desire2Learn for patent infringement, the whole eLearning industry is alarmed. While patent experts and lawyers are sounding all-clear signals, the open source community in particular is furious.

Brussels, September 2006 - The EU Commission adopted a proposal for a recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (EQF). The EQF will provide a common language to describe qualifications, which will help Member States, employers, and individuals compare qualifications across the EU’s diverse education and training systems.

Leicester, November 2006 - To enhance the institution-wide adoption of ICT in learning and teaching, the University of Leicester has opened an E-Zoo, a very colourful and likeable way to invite teachers to join the eLearning world. Gilly Salmon, Professor of E-learning & Learning Technologies at the University’s Beyond Distance Research Alliance, showed CHECKpoint eLearning around

The e-Creator project has not only produced training materials and established a network of professionals in the field, it has also led to research into the changing nature of e-learning and into what the future holds for it. According to Martin Counihan, a director of the consultancy company Maine Learning Ltd, there is no doubt that a limited number of widely-used virtual learning environments (particularly Blackboard, Moodle and Sakai) will dominate the world of e-learning over the coming few years. However, internet resources of many other kinds have been appearing recently, including powerful but inexpensive communication tools (such as vyew.com) and educational content (such as Wikiversity). The selection of such resources is likely to become increasingly wide and bewildering. Looking further ahead, new developments such the Croquet project (opencroquet.org), facilitating the construction of vivid virtual worlds, will lead to a paradigm-shift in e-learning perhaps five or ten years from now. We can see the beginnings of it already with Second Life (secondlife.com).

For the immediate future, Maine Learning has plans to build on the foundations of the e-Creator project with new projects to promote Open Educational Resources (OER) and "distance teaching". The aim is to enhance what can be done by existing educational institutions, particularly universities and adult education organisations, by enabling them to provide their students with access to high-quality courses and expert tuition in subjects which cannot be covered by their own staff. As knowledge expands and universities become more specialised and more competitive in research, the tendency is for teaching to become narrower: but e-learning, if it is organised effectively and imaginatively, can provide students across Europe with educational opportunities having breadth as well as depth.