You conducted a study to learn more about learners' characteristics. How did you proceed?


Prof. Dr. Sahar Abdel Bary: Our study group included about 800 people who were participating in essential life skills web-based training courses that were provided by e-training unit of Media International (MI). MI is a non-profit organization with a people-centered approach aimed especially at native speakers of Arabic all over the world. Ours is a renaissance mission striving towards reform and change. The organization's main and best-known project, but certainly not the only one, is IslamOnline.net, a bilingual website offering services to users worldwide regardless of their ethnic or religious background.

Determination of our learners' characteristics is done using both quantitative techniques (analysis of an acquaintance form filled in by our participants) and a qualitative analysis of our learners' levels of participation. This is based on their evaluation form and a forum, as well as a semi-structured interviews with the participants.

Determination of our learners' needs is done through scientific analysis of the inquiries we received to analyse our audience's needs, concerns, and issues of interest. The work began with the thematic categorization of all incoming inquiries. Each category was then further divided into sub-categories, and each of these was analyzed. This was done based on available data such as nationality, social status, educational level, age, and gender.

What was the objective of your study?

Prof. Dr. Sahar Abdel Bary: The objective was to define the characteristics of Arab adult learners and their needs. It is hoped to be an added value to those working with eLearning and e-training in the Arab world. It is seen as unique as it combined the instructional design perspective with pedagogical issues like cultural sensitivity and cross-cultural differences.


Could you give us a brief summary of your findings?


Prof. Dr. Sahar Abdel Bary: Our learners' characteristics can be grouped under the following headings:

1. Personal and social characteristics: Our learners are heterogeneous groups formed mainly of adults whose ages range between 20 and 45. They are distributed worldwide, with about 80% based in Arab countries. They are native Arabic speakers. Most of them are Muslims (more than 95%). Most are university graduates (more than 80%), and they practice various different professions.
   
   

   The uniqueness of the Internet, with its lack of physical appearance and sense of anonymity, made our participants - whether males or females - feel freer to express themselves.

2. Learning situation and learning styles: Our learners are very busy adults who have family and/or professional pressure. They have differing learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinethetic), and this needs to be addressed while designing our courses.
3. Prior knowledge and learning habits: Our courses are in the field of essential life skills. Most of our audience have a great experience in these fields, whether negative or positive. Building a highly interactive, constructive learning environment helps them to exchange their experiences. But this is hindered to some extent by the fact that in most Arab states the teacher is the only one who is responsible for initiation of all communication.
   
   This fact raises the importance of well-structured tutoring to facilitate and encourage productive communication and collaboration. This effective tutoring raises our learners' appreciation and awareness of online learning after experiencing it, and they became more willing to take more online courses.
4. Expectations and attitudes: We tried to categorize participants' expectations according to the ARCS Model for motivation.

Attention: Our participants expected rapid and timely feedback and frequent communication on the board with provocative postings. Having a highly active group of learners is a powerful motivation to other group members.


Relevance: They also expected the content to be very practical, dealing with everyday issues and dilemmas. They also liked skill-oriented content and instruction.


Confidence: A supportive and very encouraging tone is highly motivating, accompanied by the constant availability of supportive trainers to answer inquiries and to eliminate misunderstandings. The learners also expect a clear course synopsis and learning objectives. We also found that a preparatory phase that reduces anxieties and builds confidence is very important. During this preparatory phase, the trainers try to provide technical support, build trust, and encourage teamwork.


We also found that personal introductions and personal communication tone are highly motivational, even within heterogeneous groups that are culturally diverse but with a common goal. This was extremely evident on two occasions. The first was during a training course on "electronic volunteerism", which was delivered - by chance - during the most recent war in Lebanon and the Palestinian uprising.


The final project of the course was to prepare an "electronic guide for psychological support of war victims". The participants were divided into five working groups. They were very active and motivated, and they ended up with a very efficient guide. The second occasion occurred during a training course to raise the professional efficiency of primary school teachers. Their final collaborative project was to develop a "practical guide for primary school teachers". They were highly motivated and most of them participated in more than one group.


Satisfaction: They also expect frequent, timely, positive, supportive, and encouraging communication with warm welcoming messages on the personal introduction forum that aid in the creation of a 'family-like' environment. We found that our learners were more satisfied when they felt included, individual, interested, and inspired.


What can companies dealing with Arab online students learn from your study?

Prof. Dr. Sahar Abdel Bary: As I mentioned before, our study group is made up of heterogeneous, adult learners, distributed worldwide. They are very busy and have professional and family responsibilities, so we should depend mainly on asynchronous activities. They lack many essential life skills, making them suffer a lot in their daily life situations. Addressing their needs with very practical content, skill-oriented content and instruction, and dealing with everyday issues and dilemmas is very motivating.


Well-structured tutoring to facilitate and encourage productive communication and collaboration with rapid and timely feedback is very crucial. Our learners are more motivated when they find a social, highly interactive environment with encouraging with a supporting tone from their tutors and their colleagues. They also need to feel included, and this can be done through various collaborative work. Technical challenges may be very frustrating, so a preparatory phase is absolutely essential. Our learners expect very clear course synopses and learning objectives.