Online education in Saudi Arabia

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Problem Statement

A good learning environment is necessary for good performance of learners. Recent related studies show that student academic improvements have been in most cases being influenced by the learning environment of the students (Fraser, 2001; Waxman, 1991). Most studies also indicate that the reactions of students and tutors to the learning environment majorly impacts on their performance (Alananzy, 2011).

In an effort to create a better learning environment, The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Higher Education established the National Center for E-learning and Distance Learning (NCEL) in 2006. Its main aim was to come up with an online course and adopt e-learning materials (Alsayyali, 2018). This has led to many students who lived in the remote areas of Saudi Arabia enrolling for online education due to its accessibility (Alrashidi, 2013). Online education enables the Saudi higher education system to keep up with implementing technologies in education. In addition, the segregation of males and females has put Saudi Arabia in need for more female lecturers, buildings, and facilities (Almasoud, 2017). Online education has thus been seen as a means to reduce the expenses that arise from gender segregation.

Most results of these new developments in the education sector are good apart from poor attitude that has arisen among the various stake holders in online education especially non students. This problem have arisen probably due the small number of tutors to serve the large number of online students. Most policies and developments also neglect problems facing non-students.as Alshahrni et al (2014)puts it, most researches tend to highlight impressions and attitude of students and not to focus on those of other population groups including instructors, faculty members, principals, supervisors, and parents that may either confirm or decline the actual use of the blended learning and distance education. Most Saudi universities are thus having hard time integrating, blending learning methods or implementing e-learning technology as a result of this problem (Al-Arfaj, 2007; Al-Youssef, 2015)

The problem has grievous consequences on the development of online education since it will lower the quality of the online education. It is thus the Saudi Electronic University (SEU) was established in 2011 as a developmental higher education institution that applies Internet-based Distance Education (IBDE) methods, which is a means of Information & Communication Technology (ICT), in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was established as a result of comprehensive feasibility study conducted on the first government sponsored online university. The SEU teaching and learning model is essentially a form of blended learning method. Its courses involve a combination of a face-to-face component (25%) and high-tech delivery methods of online learning (75%). The high-tech delivery methods uses video-conferencing, virtual classrooms, and Blackboard-facilitated instruction (Saudi Electronic University, 2011). This online university offers both undergraduate and post graduate programs.

This problem has also resulted in the delay of integration of online education which represents an educational challenge (Alharbi, 2011; Al-Youssef, 2015). In 2009, the National Center for E-learning and Distance Learning indicated that the number of online educational programs in Saudi Arabia could be limited to the introduction of Learning Management Systems (LMS) this could only suggest that online education in Saudi Arabia still required more research so as to achieve the results targeted( AlShahrani, 2014) .ignoring other stake holders in the online education system; including instructors, faculty members, principals, supervisors, and parents may also lead to the reduction of use of the blended distance and online education. Those perspectives can be created from different background and experiences and specialty areas. Their beliefs may help the researcher to find out the main factors that may have the most influence on IBDE diffusion. Identifying the factors and sub-factors that influence the adoption of IBDE is significant in ways that could improve and supplement, and not replace, the existing practices on teaching and learning in educational institutions in Saudi Arabia.

This research study will attempt adding to the research literature on online education in Saudi Arabia by identifying various perspectives of online teaching staff and administration and the influence they have in solving the problem facing online education. There is a gap in the related literature regarding the factors that are affected by a potential influence of the Saudi faculty members’ attitudes toward online education. These problems need further investigation. This study aims to unveil and analyze the existing attitudes of the Saudi faculty members toward online education and their effects on their willingness and performance to teach in online educational studies.

Purpose statement

The purpose of this study is to investigate effects of attitudes of Saudi faculty members on the online education program in Saudi Arabia and how the negative effects can be handled to create a better online learning system.

Research questions

What is the attitude of the students towards online learning?

What is the attitude of the other stakeholders other than non-students on the online learning system?

What can be done to regulate and minimize the negative effects brought about by poor attitude among the online education stake holders?

How can the teaching and learning model at Saudi electronic university be made better?

How can online education system be used to accelerate gender integration in Saudi Arabia?

Hypotheses.

To find the cause of poor attitude among the various stake holders of online education in Saudi Arabia.

To come up with more efficient methods of making the teaching and learning model at Saudi electronic university better.

To find out how various to regulate the effects of poor attitude on the education system in an effort to better the online education system in Saudi Arabia.

References

Alanazy, S. (2011). Saudi students’ attitudes, beliefs, and preferences toward coeducational online cooperative learning.

Al-Arfaj, A. H. (2007). Interaction in university education via the internet from the opinions of Arab Open University students in al-Hasa: the four dimensions. King Faisal University, 9(2), 177-227.

Almasoud, S. A. A. (2017). Female Saudi Arabian Students’ Attitudes, Willingness and Preferences of Communication in Online Educational Settings.

Alrashidi, A. (2013). An exploration of e-learning benefits for Saudi Arabia: Toward policy reform. University of La Verne.

Alsayyali, N. M. (2018). Saudi Arabian Students’ Attitudes Toward E-Learning in Select Pennsylvania Universities.

AlShahrani, F. (2014). Faculty online teaching self-efficacy: A cultural perspective.

Alshwaier, A., Youssef, A., & Emam, A. (2012). A new trend for e-learning in KSA using educational clouds. Advanced Computing, 3(1), 81.

Al-Youssef, I. Y. (2015). Student Acceptance and Use of Internet-Based Distance Education in Saudi Electronic University (SEU): A Mixed Method Study. Ohio University.

Fraser, B. J. (2001). Twenty thousand hours: Editor’introduction. Learning Environments Research, 4(1), 1-5.

Saudi Electronic University. (2011). Definition of the university and its foundation.

Retrieved from https://www.seu.edu.sa/sites/en/Pages/main.aspx

Waxman, H. C. (1991). Investigating classroom and school learning environments: A review of recent research and developments in the field. The Journal of Classroom Interaction, 26(2), 1-4.