Building
capacity in e-learning in the Palestinian Territories
Dr.
William L. Mitchell
Education
and Training Group,
British
Council
Bridgewater
House, 58 Whitworth Street,
Manchester,
M1 6BB, UK
email:
William.Mitchell@britishcouncil.org
Anthony
Basiel
National
Centre for Work Based Learning Partnership,
Middlesex
University,
64
Glyn Avenue, New Barnet, Herts., EN4 9PJ, UK
email:pros@mdx.ac.uk
Raphael Commins
National
Centre for Work Based Learning Partnership,
Middlesex
University,
Trent Park, Bramley Road,
London N14 4YZ
email:
r.commins@mdx.ac.uk
This
article describes the problems of capacity building in e-learning with
a focus on the Palestinian Territories. It uses as a case study a joint
project between British Council, Middlesex University and the Islamic
University in Gaza (IUG) to provide work-based professional development
in e-learning for university academics in the Palestinian Territories.
The
issue of capacity building is one faced by countries the world over
and one which is often raised with the British Council. British Council
is the main UK organisation for educational opportunities and cultural
relations and is represented in 109 countries with over 7,000 employees.
One way in which British Council provides help to countries in support
of an education reform agenda is by linking countries with relevant
expertise from the UK education sector.
Capacity
building needs to be addressed at the national, institutional and individual
levels. At each of these stages it is possible to identify drivers for
change, obstacles to adopting e-learning, and actions that can be taken.
At
a national level, the major driver for the Palestinian Territories is
the restriction on travel. Travel restrictions make it extremely difficult
to move between and within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The unpredictable
curfews, checkpoint closures, and incursions make travel within the
West Bank or within the Gaza Strip difficult. This has a significant
impact on both staff and student mobility and leads to the disruption
of courses. This results in the catchment areas of institutions shrinking.
Distance education is thus a vital alternative to campus-based study.
This
is also the driver for IUG at an institutional level. During closures,
the Gaza Strip can be divided in 3 with movement between them very difficult.
Islamic University of Gaza (based in Gaza City) has set up a branch
further South in Khan Younis. E-learning is seen as a must and not a
luxury.
Particular
obstacles to introducing e-learning include the lack of time available
to academics. There is a limit on extra time that academics can spend
on new innovations in contrast to other countries as travel restrictions
make working late and travelling after dark impossible. Other obstacles
include: availability of funding; access to e-learning design expertise;
and limited co-ordinated approaches between institutions.
In
some cases institutions have developed their own systems (e.g. Birzeit
University developed the Ritaj portal which allows on-line access to
course materials and some administrative services). Capacity building
is also taking place through projects that are part of the EUMEDIS (European-Mediterranean
Information Society) initiative, which was launched by the European
Community in mid-1999.
IUG
have set up an E-Learning Centre to promote e-learning and enhance the
computer skills of their teachers and students. It manages development
of e-content as an enhancement to classroom based teaching. The University
is using WebCT to support e-learning, e-testing and communication between
teachers and students. In order to develop a local team capable of training
other staff to develop and use e-content in WebCT, Dr. Mohammed Hussein
requested help from British Council in identifying a trainer from the
UK in September 2003.
However,
the travel restrictions also prove an obstacle to providing face-to-face
training for academics in the use of e-learning techniques.
British
Council worked with the National Centre for Work Based Learning Partnerships
(NCWBLP) at Middlesex University to provide work-based professional
development in e-learning for 35 academics at the Islamic University
of Gaza (IUG). As face-to-face training was not possible, a fully-on-line
course was delivered over 6 weeks during May and June 2004.
The
pedagogical approach was learner-managed rather than content-led, step-by-step
training. Learning was based around set readings, activities and discussion.
Material and activities were provided through the WebCT environment.
The Middlesex tutors held 2 hour weekly sessions using the Macromedia
Breeze web-conferencing system. These sessions were used to address
issues raised from the activities. Between sessions advice was provided
through a regularly moderated bulletin board system.
The
course covered topics such as: pedagogical models, definition of learning
objectives, student assessment and evaluation of e-learning materials.
Individual learner needs were catered for through negotiation of individual
learning agreements.
Participants
worked in cohorts of 16. Local facilitators were identified for each
of the cohorts. In addition participants were asked to work in smaller
groups of 4.

Figure
1. Induction session
Participants
were asked to develop an e-learning resource and present it in a final
review session. These sessions were conducted with ISDN videoconferencing
and interactive Smartboards. This was assessed by tutors, peer review
and self-assessment. Evaluation criteria used were developed by the
participants themselves during the course.

Figure
2. Review session
Delivery
in distance mode provided several benefits:
- A
solution to the travel restrictions faced by IUG staff and Middlesex
tutors;
- Provided
IUG staff with practical experience in e-learning;
- Allowed
participants to carry out tasks in their own time and gave them a
chance to reflect and incorporate examples from their own work.
In
the course stage of the project the emphasis has been mainly on the
individual and institutional levels. However, it should not be seen
as a one-off solution to a training need or a solution to the country’s
training needs. Firstly, it is not economically sustainable to continue
supporting such courses. Secondly, there is limited long-term impact
on needs of the country - serious capacity building needs to be achieved
through donor-funded projects.
To
address this, in the next stage of the project, a series of videoconference
dialogues will allow course participants and tutors to reflect on the
experience and share this with policy makers
and practitioners in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This will provide
a starting point for participants with the opportunity to explore the
national and strategic issues in e-learning.
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