There are many challenges and difficulties faced by the Iraqi learners in their studies inside th... more There are many challenges and difficulties faced by the Iraqi learners in their studies inside the traditional classroom. These are attributed to a number of reasons such as the limitation of time, the difficulty of understanding the course material, the limited interaction among the learners and between them and the lecturers, and the delay in providing feedback, and so on. The emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) had an impact on the learning process for the past few years. Yet, there are still a number of questions about how to meet the learners' needs of through distance learning via MOOC particularly for the Iraqi learners, as evidenced by the very high drop-out rates in the current MOOC courses. The researchers also do not understand deeply the learners' needs, the different learners' cultures and experiences in MOOCs. To help build such a concept, the researchers of this study conducted an in-depth investigation on the motivated learners and their perceptions and experiences of learning by a qualitative survey (interviews) at Baghdad & Tikrit Universities. The aim of this study is to examine whether Iraqi Higher Education Institutions need blended MOOC to support the traditional learning in Iraq. The results display that the majority of the participants need the blended learning to reduce the obstacles and challenges in the traditional learning and current MOOCs models. The findings also disclose that the students prefer learning through blended learning based on their environment (language and culture) rather than the current MOOCs courses.
The model of a Blended Massive Open Online Course (bMOOC) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)... more The model of a Blended Massive Open Online Course (bMOOC) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) aims to improve the education of the Iraqi students and develop the HEIs in Iraq. It changes the trend of the traditional MOOC environments from only watching the video lectures passively by learners to a more flexible interaction in the learning process. The learners are no longer limited to view the videos passively, but rather are encouraged to share, interact, and increase the interactive knowledge among each other. In return, it solves the problems faced by Iraqi students in the traditional learning. Therefore, this study describes the design, implementation, and testing and evaluation process of the Iraqi-bMOOC platform. The learner-centered evaluation approach is selected, which puts the learner in the center of the evaluation phase, to build a deeper and better understanding of MOOC stakeholders' behaviors (Iraqi Students). Thus, this study has applied a survey to the Iraqi students to show their experiences in using the proposed model (Iraq-bMOOC) in two of the Iraqi universities (University of Tikrit in cooperation with University of Baghdad). Therefore, the results reveal that the majority of users are satisfied with the six criteria in the Iraqi-bMOOC platform, such as blended learning, flexibility, high quality content, instructional design and learning methodologies, network learning, and openness, that include learning activities (such as video lectures, assignments, assessments, discussion forums, lectures comments, E-mail, social media). Therefore, three major theoretical, practical, and educational contributions are obtained in this study and reflect the open and massive nature of blended MOOC in the higher education context.
There are many challenges and difficulties faced by the Iraqi learners in their studies inside th... more There are many challenges and difficulties faced by the Iraqi learners in their studies inside the traditional classroom. These are attributed to a number of reasons such as the limitation of time, the difficulty of understanding the course material, the limited interaction among the learners and between them and the lecturers, and the delay in providing feedback, and so on. The emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) had an impact on the learning process for the past few years. Yet, there are still a number of questions about how to meet the learners' needs of through distance learning via MOOC particularly for the Iraqi learners, as evidenced by the very high drop-out rates in the current MOOC courses. The researchers also do not understand deeply the learners' needs, the different learners' cultures and experiences in MOOCs. To help build such a concept, the researchers of this study conducted an in-depth investigation on the motivated learners and their perceptions and experiences of learning by a qualitative survey (interviews) at Baghdad & Tikrit Universities. The aim of this study is to examine whether Iraqi Higher Education Institutions need blended MOOC to support the traditional learning in Iraq. The results display that the majority of the participants need the blended learning to reduce the obstacles and challenges in the traditional learning and current MOOCs models. The findings also disclose that the students prefer learning through blended learning based on their environment (language and culture) rather than the current MOOCs courses.
The model of a Blended Massive Open Online Course (bMOOC) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)... more The model of a Blended Massive Open Online Course (bMOOC) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) aims to improve the education of the Iraqi students and develop the HEIs in Iraq. It changes the trend of the traditional MOOC environments from only watching the video lectures passively by learners to a more flexible interaction in the learning process. The learners are no longer limited to view the videos passively, but rather are encouraged to share, interact, and increase the interactive knowledge among each other. In return, it solves the problems faced by Iraqi students in the traditional learning. Therefore, this study describes the design, implementation, and testing and evaluation process of the Iraqi-bMOOC platform. The learner-centered evaluation approach is selected, which puts the learner in the center of the evaluation phase, to build a deeper and better understanding of MOOC stakeholders' behaviors (Iraqi Students). Thus, this study has applied a survey to the Iraqi students to show their experiences in using the proposed model (Iraq-bMOOC) in two of the Iraqi universities (University of Tikrit in cooperation with University of Baghdad). Therefore, the results reveal that the majority of users are satisfied with the six criteria in the Iraqi-bMOOC platform, such as blended learning, flexibility, high quality content, instructional design and learning methodologies, network learning, and openness, that include learning activities (such as video lectures, assignments, assessments, discussion forums, lectures comments, E-mail, social media). Therefore, three major theoretical, practical, and educational contributions are obtained in this study and reflect the open and massive nature of blended MOOC in the higher education context.
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Papers by Qusay Ali