Attitudes towards ELearning By Fairouz Farah Sarkis Director

Attitudes towards E-Learning By Fairouz Farah Sarkis Director Arab Open University - Lebanon

Introduction: The inequalities between North and South in the diffusion and use of New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) are still there. Although third world countries users of NICT had increased rapidly in recent years, yet Data shows that qualitative differences in NICT use & diffusion between "The Information Rich" and "The Information Poor" have been growing stronger. Even though it has been built on its western counter part, the NICT of developing countries seems to be lacking in planning and vision about the place, function and cost effectiveness of NICT within their economy.

Bridging the gap requires more Education and Training in terms of both quantity and quality. E-Learning probably is one of the means by which education and training can reach greater number of people especially that development of E-Learning platforms and open source systems contributed to the ease of accessing knowledge at the higher education level and training both pre and in service. Among the Open Source Systems that have been used largely by higher educational and training institutes is "Moodle".

The Moodle platform includes several features such as: Ø Ø Ø Class schedule Assignments Participant profiles Chat Interactive glossary E-mail Lessons that the teacher can create, Quizzes Surveys Forum Workshops which enable students to work collaboratively. Teachers can also post resources, including text or links to web pages.

Arab Open University - AOU: Among the higher education institutes that use Elearning as part of its instructional tools is the Arab Open University. The aim of the Arab Open University which is funded by the AGFUND is to give quality education for the least cost to the largest number of Arab youth. The mode of teaching at the AOU is a hybrid model, it uses face to face tutorials and e-learning through Moodle where students can access their lectures and post their assignments. There is also a discussion forum for each course where students can discuss the course with their peers and with the lecturer.

To be able to enhance the diffusion of NICT, traditional Face to Face instruction is one of the means which no longer can help mass diffusion. However, if E-learning is to play the required role, attitudes of learners should be taken into consideration in order to develop convenient tools. Objectives of this study: The main objective of this study is to learn about students’ attitudes towards E-learning having this method as a part of instructional method.

The following factors were considered in studying students’ attitudes: Gender (Male ; Female) Marital Status (Married; Single). Age (< 22 ; 22 <…< 28 ; > 28) Geographical distribution (Inside and Outside Greater Beirut). Ø Field of Study (ITC; Business Systems; Business Economics; English Language and Literature; Bachelor in Education; Teaching Diploma). Ø Access to PC & Internet. Ø Ø

A - Sample: The sample of the study is comprised of 1476 students of different marital status, age groups and of different geographical areas as shown: Table 1 – Gender and Marital status: Gender Total Single Married Female 39. 7% 86. 2% 13. 8% Male 60. 3% 92. 8% 7. 8% 1476 1331 145 Total Table 2 – Geographical distribution and Age Category: Geographical distribution Total < 22 22<…<28 > 28 Inside Greater Beirut 50. 4% 53. 5% 36. 7% 9. 8% Outside Greater Beirut 49. 6% 55. 2% 37. 8% 7%

Table 3 – Field of study and Age Category: Field of Study Total < 22 22<…<28 > 28 ITC 39. 2% 51. 7% 41. 5% 6. 8 Bus / Systems 44. 7% 61. 7% 34. 2% 4. 1 Bus / Economics 5. 7% 59. 5% 34. 5% 6% English Literature 6. 4% 31. 9% 38. 3% 29. 8% 4% 39. 17% 71. 25% 89. 58% Education / bachelor & Diploma

B - Access to PCs and Internet: 87. 3% have PC at home 47. 2% have Internet connection at home Table 4 – Field of study and Access to PC & Internet at home: Field of Study PC at home Internet at home 92% 52. 7% Bus / Systems 84. 6% 41. 9% Bus / Economics 84. 5% 42. 8% English Literature 80. 8% 46. 8% Education / bachelor & diploma 86. 2% 68% ITC

Table 5 – Age category and Access to PC & Internet at home: Age Category PC at home Internet at home < 22 85. 6% 49. 9% 22<…<28 89. 2% 56. 6% > 28 90. 3% 67. 8%

C - Attitude: Preference of instructional method v Face to Face v Self Study v Both • Most students prefer the hybrid method.

Table 6 – Age Category and Preference of instructional method Age Category Face to Face Self study Both < 22 34. 3% 22. 1% 43. 6% 22<…<28 32. 7% 21. 2% 46. 1% > 28 27. 7% 18. 8% 53. 5% • Age has no significant difference on students attitudes except for a slight difference between the young and the older students Table 7 – Preference of instructional method and Gender: Instructional method Male Female Face to Face Self Study Both 33. 8% 24. 1% 42. 1% 32% 17. 5% 50. 5% • Females have more preference for hybrid method.

Table 8 – Preference of instructional method and geographical Distribution: Instructional method Inside Greater Beirut Outside Greater Beirut Face to Face 50. 4% 49. 6% Self Study 49. 6% 50. 4% Both 50. 3% 49. 7% • Geographical area has no significant difference on students attitudes towards instructional methods.

Preference of Communication method v Moodle v E-mail v Telephone v Face to Face • Most students prefer the face to face method for communication.

Table 10 – Preference of communication Methods and Gender: Communication Method Moodle E-mail Telephone Face to Face Male 24. 4% 8. 6% 4. 5% 62. 5% Female 17. 2% 4. 8% 6% 72% • Both Females and Males prefer Face to Face and it is more with Females. Table 11 – Age category and Preference of communication Methods: Age category Moodle E-mail < 22 24. 5% 7% 5. 2% 63. 3% 22<…<28 18. 5% 6. 7% 4. 4% 70. 4 16% 9% 8% 67% > 28 Telephone Face to Face • Age has no significant difference on students attitudes towards means of communication

Table 12 – Geographical distribution and Preference of Communication Methods: Geographical distribution Moodle E-mail Telephone Face to Face Inside Greater Beirut 20. 5% 6. 8% 4. 7% 67. 8% Outside Greater Beirut 22. 7% 7. 2% 5. 5% 64. 5% • Geographical location has no significant difference on students’ attitudes towards means of communication