Preparedness for the Introduction of E-learning in Higher Education-The Case of Oman

Abstract

The use of Web-based instruction (WBI) and with the availability of well-structured Course Management Tools there seems to be a prospectus of improving both the classroom and distance educations using e-Learning principle^[1,2]. As the instructor community plays a central role in all education processes we are motivated to study the level of their cooperation with respect to applying WBI through Course Management Systems (WBI-CMS) to current education. Particularly, instructor awareness of the use of the Internet in the current education and secondly their vision towards augmenting current education using WBI-CMS are vital factors in the augment process. This study presents the results of a survey conducted across the academic community of the Science Faculty in Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Sultanate of Oman. Survey outcome positively indicates that the overall instructor community with the science background is aware of the importance of computers in both their personal and professional use. Majority of science instructors have positively shown their mandate for the use of computers in facilitating the educational process, a proof for the basic hypothesis in this research.