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Saudi females moving from chalkboards to computers; (new age learning in the Arab world).

Rama A. Sadiq Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas

December 2013

Table of content:

Abstract. Introduction Literature Review.


Methodology & methods:

P.3 P.3 ,4 P.4, 5, 6,7,8


P. 8, 9, 10, 11,12

Conclusion Reference

P.12 P.13, 14

Abstract Technology today dominates almost every aspect of our life, you find it everywhere, in every filed and every system including the educational system, with the introduction of computers then progressing to online learning especially in the western civilization leads me to the reason behind this study, which is to find out the effect of online learning on Arab females who were especially educated in the United States. I needed to know if e- learning is a good way for Arab females to obtain their degree without it interfering with their religious beliefs and culture. At the same time they can work and fulfill their other responsibilities. In this study I asked if online learning was a good experience for these women. And wanted see if it would be an effective method to use in Saudi Arabia (taking into consideration that it is my country of origin and I do plan to implement this method when I go back home). In my study I interviewed three Arab females in Kansas state university and one online instructor. I needed their experience, feedback and inputs on e-learning. I also did surveys on technology and e-learning which I sent to females back in Saudi Arabia. Also, I completed the same questioner with some of the ladies here in Manhattan Kansas. Finally, I did two online class observations. All these methods combined were to get some answers on online learning and how is it a better way for Arabic women to obtain a degree. Introduction In light of the developments in todays world. Focusing on the educational system and electronic learning, we ask ourselves how much do we benefit from that? From a personal experience I say 'a lot'. I wanted to shed light on people from different educational systems which does not rely on online learning and how the application of such a method could open more doors for those who seek
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education. Arab student especially, females need to ask themselves where are they standing in this scientific and industrial revolutions , Arabic educational system still depends on traditional teaching methods which still needs to catch up with modern life and thinking in the age of technology and the era of women empowerment. Middle Eastern women nowadays want to obtain degrees more than ever they want to work, make money and be independent. In the same time they have families and responsibilities towards their family members, thats why I wanted my research to focus on online learning and its benefit for Arabic females in general. Traditional education at present time does not confer new educational content for this generation because it cannot cope with the thought of modernization. The Arab world needs a big shift to handle the twenty-first century students. Therefore, the purpose of my research is to understand the online learning experience for Arab female students in an American University and if positive, try to apply it in Saudi Arabia. I believe that encouragement of the application of modernized methods to the Arabic educational systems to support our traditional education, such as online classes which have the ability to improve and support the system and is a distinct example of the most important challenge that we must work in the gender mixing barrier, My focus is on women precisely as this research would benefit me in the future trying to understand how Arabic women can take advantage of such a method

Literature Review: Online environment is a common way in this century all over the world in particular in Saudi Arabia and its a successful strategy for improving educational opportunities and students success. Its a way that helps people achieve their desire while working and maintaining their family obligations as Dwaikat (2004) points out e-learning encourage women to pursue and succeed in academic and scientific achievement. Even though they were busy with life responsibilities. Bourlova (2005) study showed that adult students were seeking educational opportunities that were more appropriate for their circumstances so that they can reconcile their work life with family obligations. Despite the lack of desire to return to the traditional school, they found a solution in e-learning. I believe that my research is really important because education is the base of every nation and
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womens are a big part of the nation. Because they are the mother, sister, daughter, and wife. A report of UNESCO (1996) indicates that: womens education is one of the best investments for the future. Whether the goal is to improve the health status of the family; or increase the number of children enrolled in schools; or even improving social life, the efforts of communities will succeed only through maternal education and improve the conditions of woman in general. Thats why I am focusing in Arab females as I want to help Arabic women succeed in their life and obtaining a degree. The World Bank study (2007) shows that women in the continent of Asia use distance learning to improve their income and to create jobs to help their families and educate their children. Also to develop their skills, consolidate their self-confidence, and learn new things, this study support what I want to get out of my research, but my focus is precisely in Saudi Arabia and that study is about the content of Asia in general. Another study for the World Bank (2007) shows that, in North America, women enrolled in elearning are more that the men. The study mentioned that female students preferred to use the computer to communicate with teachers and other students. The study offers evidence that, in some cultures and contexts, some women prefer the privacy afforded by e-learning, this is exactly the case with Arabic women as their religion/ cultures really matters for them. The online environment will reduce the embarrassment resulting from enrolling side-by-side with males. This is one of the big issues that force Arabic women to not complete their education, as Joseph (1997) highlighted that e-learning can reduce the impediments of gender problems in higher education. E-learning has the potential to help enable women to access information outside the schoolroom, such as information about their health and social status, and how to manage and administer other information that would Improve their socio-economic conditions and their families (E-learning Africa, 2007). Technology extends from business to medicine, agriculture to industry and most importantly education, which is the foundation of every nation and of this research. It is human nature to improve and enhance. Improving on our education level is one of the most important advancements. With this increasing need and the fast paste of life, new methods were introduced to make access to learning easer, in this research my focus will be on e-learning. I am trying to understand the online learning experience for Arab female students in American Universities, so if proven effective, it can be implemented in the Arabic educational system. With all the reading, observation,
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interviews, and surveys that I did, I find online learning is becoming the obvious choice for any ambitious individual who is hoping for higher education and juggles responsibilities. E-learning gives students the opportunity to have access to material and lectures that a conventional student has without the need to attend classes on campus. It is also convenient and affordable. As this method have been around the American educational system for a while now, students grow into it which poses no challenge for them but what about students who were not used to this system, how do they view online learning, how did they cope with online classes, do they see it as a better way to learn? How does it help married women for instance as we Arabs are very family oriented, how does it help being a parent or even a single parent far away from their support group? Going through tough times which can make them drop out of school or take a part time job to cover for school tuition. All these finding can help me better knowing if e-learning is an improved way. Is it better than going to school and taking face to face classes especially at a university level where Arab women are busy with other things and responsibility in life? My question is does online learning really help these ladies obtain a higher education certificate or will it make it harder for them? I hope this research provides me with good answers. The idea of e-learning as a prerequisite for the development of the educational level in the Arab world and its Highness to the highest levels to keep pace with the technological development and the tremendous work to identify the point of the next female generation towards a successful community effectively. Before I start I want to let you all know a little about e-learning.

Introduction to e-learning First, what is the difference between teaching and learning? The difference between the two terms is huge, where learning is: to obtain information and teaching is to provide information. I think, I'm looking for and I collaborate with my colleagues in reaching a world that we are building together, rather than being alone in a world; hearing nothing except the sound of my teacher speaking and me listening.
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I believe that we can get out of the shell of traditional education by emphasizing the need to work on the application of e-learning as an integral part of the educational process.

So, what is e-learning? It is the use of technical and technological means in education and harness to student learning, collectively, and make it the focus of the lecture, starting from the techniques used for display inside the classroom of multi-media and electronic devices to go out for the physical components of education using smart school and virtual classes through which the interaction between members of the educational process via the Internet and interactive video technologies. ELearning encourage students construct their own knowledge using technology tools, and those same tools can also be used to present materials that lead students to predetermined conclusions. The use of technology in education has a significant history. Computers were applied in behaviourist modes in accordance with Skinners work (Ravenscroft 2001), which emphasized the teachers control over what is learned and how. Also it provides students with opportunities to build their own understandings. Skinners behaviourism, Piagets cognitive constructivism and Vygotskys social constructivism can all be facilitated through eLearning. Tam (2000) provides an excellent overview of how technology can be used for constructivist purposes. E learning help in the transfer of the education process of indoctrination just by the teacher and the storing process by the student to the process of interactive dialogue between the two parties is the goal that we aspire to reach to improve the level of education. E- Learning can give the student greater responsibility in the educational process through exploration and expression and experience roles where the student becomes educated instead of a receiver and the teacher directed rather than expert, there are two kind of online learning that I will mention in the class observation section. That been said this Will help my segments (Arab female) to be more independent without interfering with their religion and culture. Online courses goals for Arabic females in particular and Arabic educational system in general:

E-Learning aims to achieve many goals at the level of the individual and the community, it Improves the level of effectiveness of teachers and students by increasing their expertise in the preparation of educational materials, Access to sources of information and access to photos and videos and research papers via the Internet and use it to explain and clarify the educational process. You can also save time by being home and attending the class online. Online classes can help students to understand more deeply the lesson as they can refer to a lesson at any time, and help them do homework by reference to the various sources of information through the Internet or electronic material supplied by the professor that usually is supported by multiple examples. Thus the student maintains Informing longer because it has become supported by video and audio comprehension. The introduction of the Internet as an integral part of the educational process is very useful to raise the cultural level of education and increase awareness of the exploitation of time to develop as they have the ability to innovate, rather than wasted this method on sites which only leads to the degeneration of moral and cultural levels That being said this method will help the Arabic female to be independent without interfering with her other responsibilities nor her religion and culture. Online classes can also build a network so that each school/ university communicate with out attending seminars or lectures to know about school activities. It also helps to make communication orderly manner and easy. The goal of this research is to study online classes and its effect on Arabic female students and what are the challenges facing its implementation in the Arab world. The application of this educational method is the best solution to address the limits of development in the Arab countries on the sidelines and keep undercutting with the name of developing country; what the Arab societies elevate the level of education and culture. With the effort, work, cooperation, and perseverance we can achieve our goals no matter what difficulties we face and try to give back to our country because it gave us a lot. As it is time to change, succeed and evolve. Methodology & methods: I interviewed three Arab female students, who took online classes in the United States, I asked about their reaction toward online learning! Do they want to
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complete taking e-classes? Do they think its a better way to use back in Saudi Arabia for example? I audio and video recorded the interviews that I conducted, depending on my interviewee and what they prefer. I also did a video interview with an instructor that taught me an online class and I asked him about his Arab female students performance in his class and if they were any different in comparison to American students? Was it easy to communicate with Arab female in online? Other question accrued while doing the interview. My note filed on my classes observations: There are two types of online classes: First, Synchronous E- Learning: This takes place when two or more people are communicating in real time, so is sitting in an online classroom where the teacher is speaking via teleconferencing. Second, Asynchronous E-learning: It is more flexible. The teaching takes place at one time and is preserved for the learner to participate in whenever the time is most convenient for her. Technology such as email, online forums, audio and video recordings make this possible. Conclusion: I did my observation on both types in which I am currently enrolled. According to my interviews and observations I noticed that the second way (Asynchronous Elearning) is more convenient to Arab females. Because with the Synchronous method even though its an online class they still need to attend and communicate, basically its like a face to face class. On the other hand with the Asynchronous is more flexible. They can take it whenever its a good time for them in any place at the comfort of their home. Distance learning courses are likely to fail if they are delivered as if they were traditional courses (Smith, 1996) My Survey: I did a survey about e-learning and online classes, which includes two types of questions about how people use technology and the second is about their opinion
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on the effectiveness of e-learning and the possibility of applying it in schools. This questionnaire was distributed to university students. The importance of their opinion is that this group is able to understand the generation of change. I sent it to people back in Saudi Arabia via email and also asked some of the Arabic female students that are located here in Manhattan Kansas to take it as well. I want to know if Arab females are at ease when using the internet, if its a good way for them to use for education. For that I conducted the survey to know the average of their usage and what do they check online, also, is it an effective way to learn, the result came as: o Out of 30, a 100% own computers and use the internet and they all have a permanent connection to the Internet. o Out of 30 students 90% have good connection while 10% have problems with their connection. o 97 % use the Internet daily average of 6 hours while 3 % use it rarely. o 65 % level using advanced versus 33 % Average 0.2 % weak. o Participants arranged by the sites they visit the most important to least for them was social network sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and twitter in the first place , educational sites in the second place , the search engines in third place while recreational sites in the fourth , and finally the news sites . Questions revolve around their definition of e-learning and their opinion about the possibility of its application were as follows: o 69 % defined e-learning as the use of the Internet to get information 0.62 % online instruction 0.51 % distance learning, 45% of learning without a teacher 0.40 % View lessons visible (video) 0.31 % reading lessons on Web sites , 29% read e-books, 20% listen to the audio lessons 0.20 % Send lessons on e-mail . o 35 % registered for the e-learning program versus65% did not register during the university level. o 61 % want to register for the e-learning program compared to 39 % do not wish to do so. o 62 % believe that e-learning is more flexible than traditional education compared to 38 % who believe the opposite.
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o 67 % believe that e-learning is better than traditional versus 33 % who believe the opposite. o 88 % believe that e-learning at an early age and in the ranks of elementary school unable to access our children to a higher level of thinking and creativity compared to 22 % who believe the opposite. o 49 % believe that teachers are able to adapt to e-learning. o 50 % believe that students are able to move from regular education to elearning, in contrast 50 % think the opposite. o 82 % believe that e-learning at an early age and elementary classes capable of guiding our children toward the use of scientific computer permanently and reduce the use of continuous entertainment on the other hand, 18 % think the opposite. o 5 % believe that their current schools are able to move to e-learning contrast, 95 % believe they are not able to go. Conclusion: It is clear that most of the students use the computer as an important part in their daily lives, but within a variety of frames is not directed towards the administrative side of education. They use the Internet an average of 6 hours a day, but are not directly linked to course material. I believe that there is an optimistic outlook towards the use of e-learning and apply it to schools at an early age. But in the current situation of the schools cannot apply this education. My interviews: Conducting several interviews with Arab females students made me come to the conclusion that almost all of them agreed that this is a very convenient way for them. It does not conflict with neither their religion nor their cultures, but online classes is not easy for the ladies as they said.it need time management to be able to success and this is hard to do when you are surrounded with family. Some of the ladies suggested taking couple of courses but not obtaining a degree. I argued that time management is always hard even with the face to face classes we just need to force ourselves to find the right time and manage our responsibility to make e- learning a way to obtain a degree not just to take it as a class.

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Interviewing an online instructor kind of helped me gather some ideas as its not an easy mission to teach via internet especially, if it was Asynchronous way as there is no face reactions and everything is documented and whatever you say it cant be taken back. This made me worried because I am not really sure if our teachers back in Saudi Arabia are trained to teach in an online environment? And made me wonder about the time it would it take to train them? Research Conclusion: After spending couple of weeks working on this study, meeting with the ladies and learning about their experience and their journey with online learning as one of the them took her Master degree through an online course while two of them did a couple of courses via online. I learned that this method is really very helpful and practical for Arabic females. Also, Interviewing a male online instructor and knowing his feedback on online learning and although he said it need more time and effort because there is no face to face interaction and everything is written in advance, it still is an effective way to learn. I found out that even though its hard yet it is a better way for the Arabic women. Especially when they have to take courses with a male instructor as it will be much easier for them and less complicated. Regarding the online classes observation I believe that the Asynchronous E-learning is a better way for my segments (Arab female) as they dont need to communicate in real time with the instructor. Out of the survey I realized that almost everyone is familiar with using the internet and they all have access to it they just need to be more educated about e- learning to be ready to use it. Maybe it will be hard in the beginning to obtain a degree!! We need to start simply with online classes then expand it to a degree.

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Reference: 1. Bourlova, T. (2005). The Impact of e-learning on the University Campus, Centre for Managing and Planning Learning Environments (MAPLE).The University of British Columbia, 63-64, Retrieved: April 7, 2007 from www.maple.ubc.ca. 2. Dwaikat, K. (2004). Open learning encourage woman to learn. Research and studies. Retrieved Dec. 16,2007 from http://www.ehcconline.org. 3. E-leaning Africa (2007). Interview with Faith Macharia, National Director of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Kenya Chapter. Retrieved March 15, 2007 from www.elearning4. (2001). Index Volume 4, 2001. The Internet and Higher Education, 4(3-4), 353-356. 5. Jahng, N., Krug, D., & Zhang, Z. (2007). Student achievement in online distance education compared to face-to-face education. Unpublished raw data, Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Retrieved from http://www.eurodl.org/materials/contrib/2007/Jahng_Krug_Zhang.htm 6. Joseph, G. (1997). Reaching and Teaching Women on the Web: The Challenge of Barriers and Bottom Lines. Canadian Journal of Continuing Education, 25(1), 45-62. 7. Ravenscroft, A. (2001). Designing E-learning Interactions in the 21st Century: revisiting and rethinking the role of theory. European Journal of Education 36(2), pp.133-156.
8. Tam, M. (2000). Constructivism, instructional design, and technology: Implications for transforming distance learning. Educational Technology & Society 3(2), pp.50-60. 9. 10.UNESCO (1996). Learning as a hidden treasure. International Educational Committee for 21st century, Amman, Jordan.

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11.World Bank (2007). Technical Education, Training, and Women's Participation in the ICT Sector. Retrieved Feb. 3, 2007 from http://www.worldbank.org

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