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The Implementation of E-Learningat Al-Quds Open University (QOU)

Case Study

Presented to

RUFO (tempus) WorkshopRamallah, 17 and 18, December 2005

Eng. Imad Hodali

President Assistant for ICT & Media Production Affairs.

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QOU in Brief

• Follows the open educational system (Started in Palestine 1991).

• Al-Quds Open University (QOU) is the largest academic institution in Palestine with 54000 students distributed over 6 faculties (Academic programs).

• QOU is Geographically distributed all over Palestine with at least one learning center in every district (20 study centers).

• International branches (Saudi Arabia, UAE ) for Palestinian expatriate community.

• Use of mixed–media courseware (text book, video, audio, TV,…etc)

QOU

OtherPalestinianuniversities

QOU Students constitute 40% of Palestinian university students

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QOU in Brief (Continued)

• Provides the best possible service to students and supervisors, through the following targeted objectives:

– Create opportunities for good quality higher education (i.e. particularly those whose economical, social and

geographical conditions prevent them from attending traditional universities).

– Partly solve the problem of the inability of conventional universities to cater for the massive increase in the number of students.

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E-Learning @ QOU

• QOU adopts a strategic mission to include new technologies in order to implement E-learning system.

• The university aspires to approach the virtual university status.

• Effortlessly, students and staff are being motivated to keep pace with the latest innovations in the technology fields.

• Moving into different tracks:

Avicenna Virtual Campus Project (EUMEDIS Project). Developing Academic Portal. Multimedia Production.

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Avicenna Virtual Campus Project

• Avicenna Virtual Campus (80 % EU funded) is an ambitious project that aims at creating new community of universities sharing best practices and pedagogical innovation through a network of E-learning centers across the Mediterranean

• 15 countries involved, including Palestine which is represented by AL-Quds Open University (QOU)

• Accelerate the adoption and best use of ICT-assisted Open Distance Learning (ODL)

• Additional Information :http://avicenna.qou.eduhttp://avicenna.unesco.org

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Avicenna Virtual Campus Project (Cont)Objectives and Strategies

• Produce Courseware that suits specific educational needs.

• Transfer advanced research results directly through high quality courseware.

• Access distributed material available on the web.

• Involve Mediterranean users in an international educational network.

• Create in a long run a self sustainable campus based in cooperation between institutions from the countries involved.

• Establish adequate local infrastructure and transfer the best practice of professional know-how introducing norms and quality evaluation procedures.

• Setting up of an open virtual library of multimedia E-Learning courses in English, Arabic, French and other languages.

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Avicenna Virtual Campus Project (Cont)

• 18 Authors have been contracted to produce the first module of the following on-line courses of the Information and Communication Technology Specialization:

Multimedia (Course #1265) Web Technology & Design (Course #1266) Simulation (Course #1378) Local Area Networks & Intranet (Course #1373) Visual Programming (Course #1377) Introduction to Electronics (Course #1163) Digital Logic Design (Course# 1290) Programming Language C++ (Course# 1293) Operating Systems (Course# 1385)

• The production follows a standard pedagogical Model for Avicenna courses.

• The first 6 modules have been completed, the remaining others are expected to be ready before the end of the year. An official inauguration was held 12/Nov/2005 with the participation of high-level government officials as well as UNESCO and EU dignitaries.

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Avicenna Platformhttp://pleiad.qou.edu

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Avicenna Platformhttp://pleiad.qou.edu

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Avicenna Platform http://pleiad.qou.edu

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Avicenna Sample Courses

• Multimedia

• Introduction to Electronics

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Academic Portal

• We started preparations for the in-house development of the QOU University Academic Portal back in Summer 2003 using open source technology (java).

• A survey of existing & commercial platforms was conducted but opted for the development of own portal.

• First phase funded by UNDP (Capacity building & transfer of know-how).

• First release (May 2004 for some study centers).

• Current release covers all university study centers (West Bank & Gaza).

• It doesn’t have a fully functional E-learning module as yet and development is underway.

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Academic Portal (Cont)

• Modules implemented: Student Information System, Tutor Information System, News & Bulletin Boards and an internal correspondence system that facilitates an easy communication between students & tutors and between tutors themselves.

• Student can now download his relevant study material, assignments from within his online workspace. Also it is possible to search the university library.

• Mobile SMS features are integrated with the portal to facilitate delivery of some information to students such as grades and important news.

• A fully functional E-Learning system to meet the needs of the university is being developed.

• Continuing growth of the university and the ever-increasing number of students (users) imposes extra burden on the portal. We have to cope with more than 40,000 users who often simultaneously use the system.

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Academic Portal (Cont) http://portal.qou.edu

Student Work Space

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Academic Portal (Cont) http://portal.qou.edu Tutor Work Space

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Multimedia Production

• Production of multimedia courseware that is available through multimedia labs in each study center.

• The content includes audio, video, animations and pre/post tests (personal evaluation). So far we have produced 8 CDs.

• GTZ & DED helped the university establish a Media Production Center equipped with a studio to facilitate the recording of video and audio. Some other tasks include producing documentary films. Planning is also underway to transmit MPC production on Palestine satellite educational channel beginning Jan 2006.

• A committee of educational experts oversee the work and help with enhancing the production standards.

• Some examples will be demonstrated1. Flow Charts2. Binary Systems3. English Graduation Project4. Arab Phonetics

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Conclusion

• QOU is fully embracing the E-learning as a key strategic option that will have significant positive impacts.

• Obstacles:

– Financial issues: • Need to use Open Source Systems as the university does not have

enough resources to pay for commercial ones.• We need highly skilled employees (high salaries) to modify or

customize these systems to accommodate our needs.• We still need to pay for some software licenses where an open

source alternative doesn’t exist or the development of in-house is expensive.

– Lack of expertise.

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Conclusion

– Palestinian communication infrastructure: • E-Learning requires high & reliable resources• Communication infrastructure needs further improvement

• Project such as EUMEDCONNECT that seeks to establish an academic network is a step forward (45MB upgradeable to 155 MB) . QOU is hosting the focus point in Palestine coming from UK . http://www.eumedconnect.net

• Efforts are been made to overcome other obstacles and provide resources and expertise. The University is also approaching international donors to help in this field.

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Contacts

• University Web Site & Portal http://www.qou.edu

• Email ihodali@qou.edu