Owing to particular historical reasons, the Sultanate of Oman emerged into the modern world only in 1970 and launched its state education system in 1972. Less than thirty years later, the Sultanate recognized that a major overhaul of state education was needed to face the challenges that globalization posed to its population and to its economy. The policies for the transition to the Basic Education (BE) system stipulated that students should receive training in information technology (IT) and English from Year One. These provisions were implemented from academic year 1998/1999, so that by the commencement of academic year 2010/2011 three cohorts of students had received a full ten years of schooling in IT. This research investigated the effects of integrating IT into the geography curriculum in Cycle Two of the BE system. Despite an extensive and painstaking search, no previous published study was found that dealt with the pedagogic use of IT in the Omani BE system. One study (Osman 2010) surveyed users of the Oman Educational IT Portal, but it was a general attitudinal survey of all users and did not progress beyond use of a questionnaire. Therefore, this study is the first to conduct fieldwork research in Oman to develop indicators to measure Omani students' performance in and reactions to eLearning. The study also includes two dedicated surveys covering Omani students' and teachers' opinions of and attitudes to eLearning. This is therefore the first study of this type that has been conducted in or for Oman. The findings support the importance of integrating eLearning into the curriculum in Oman, to enhance the delivery of a range of curriculum subjects through the pedagogical use of IT. Through a comparison of responses from teachers and students in Oman and two other countries, this study also explores issues emerging from a comparison between cultures (Gulf Arab and Western) in terms of the varying effects that cultural and other factors can exert on teachers' and learners' acceptance of educational technology in different countries. Again, it is a feature of this research that it is the first to conduct such a comparative study on such a scale involving Gulf Arab students and teachers. This study raises issues surrounding the optimization of acceptance include (1) the necessity of increasing the internet speed in Oman; (2) the current inadequacy of e-Iearning resources; (3) the proper management of eLearning integration; (4) the need for enhancement of eLearning training and skills issues for both teachers and learners: (5) the further relationships inherent in the interaction of culture and the acceptance of technology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:571879 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Al-Lawati, Batoul |
| Publisher | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/6164/ |
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