E-Learning in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region (eBook)

In the last decade, due to factors of ICT infrastructural and broadband maturation, rising levels of educational attainment and computer literacy, and diversification strategies, e-learning has exploded in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. However, significant barriers remain in the region's e-learning development: lack of research on outcomes and effectiveness, paucity of Arabic language learning objects, monopolies and high cost of telecommunications, cultural taboos, accreditation, censorship, and teacher training.

This unique volume is the first comprehensive effort to describe the history, development, and current state of e-learning in each of the 20 MENA countries from Algeria to Yemen. Each entry is expertly written by a specialist who is acutely familiar with the state of e-learning in their respective country, and concludes with a bibliography of key reports, peer-reviewed books and articles, and web resources.

E-Learning in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) proves itself as a vital compendium for a wide readership that includes academics and students, transnational program directors, international education experts, MENA government departments, commercial vendors and investors, and ICT development and regulatory agencies involved in e-learning in the Middle East. 

Alan S. Weber, PhD, has taught humanities, philosophy, and medical ethics for the past 10 years at Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar, a satellite campus of Cornell University in Education City, Doha, Qatar. He has held appointments at The Pennsylvania State University, Elmira College, and Cornell University. His course 'Electronic Shakespeare' in 1996 was one of the first entirely online courses in New York State.

Sihem Hamlaoui is an Arabic, English and French speaking graduate student who completed her M.A. in Linguistics and Web Technologies from Philipps-Universität Marburg in Marburg, Germany in 2013. She is currently completing her PhD on e-learning in the MENA region. She additionally holds a B.A. in English Linguistics from the Institut Supérieur des Langues Vivantes Tunis, Tunisia. She also taught English at the Elmessadi Nabeul Secondary School in Tunisia.