Creative Learning and MOOCs: Harnessing the Technology for a 21st Century Education

This volume brings together a collection of selected (and revised) articles that were presented at the 11th Learning and Technology Conference held by Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in February 2014. The conference is an annual event that explores the latest research and practice in innovative technologies and their impact on education. The contributions to this volume are all authored by practicing academics and research students, with the central theme the realisation that learning and teaching are strongly influenced by technology and innovation. Schools, colleges and academic institutes took the lead in harnessing this technology and created innovative opportunities for learning that did not exist before, one of which being the field of e-Learning. One of the latest innovations in education is the introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which represents an interesting development in the use of technology and innovation by providing opportunities for learning to massive numbers of students (regardless of their location) at almost no cost. This phenomenon is subject to a great deal of analysis in this book, and will provide an interesting read for students, teachers, decision makers and ordinary people. A particular strength of this book is that the contributors are drawn from, and represent, a number of cultural backgrounds, which provides a range of insights that is often missing from other publications on such important subjects.

Professor Nabil Sultan is Dean of the College of Business Administration at A’Sharqiyah University, Oman, having previously served as Head of the Division of Management, Business and Enterprise at Suffolk Business School, University Campus Suffolk (UCS), and as Award Director of the International MBA programme at the Business School of Liverpool Hope University. Nabil is an academic with a colourful professional career and an internationally recognised research background. He spent his early working years in the Arab Gulf region and later founded and headed a UK business, before moving to work for the UNDP in Aden and New York and then into academia in the late 1990s. His research is particularly focused on innovation management, information management, knowledge management, cloud computing, leadership, ethics, and the socio-economic developments of the Arabian Peninsula.

Dr Haifa Jamal Al-Lail has been President of Effat University (EU) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia since 1998. She is a native of Saudi Arabia, and received a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Southern California. A winner of the Distinguished Arabian Woman Award in 2005, she is renowned for her expertise in privatization and women empowerment, and has developed and taught undergraduate and graduate courses on topics such as public administration and public policy. Before joining Effat University, Haifa was the first Dean of the Girls’ Campus of King Abdulaziz University, a Visiting Scholar at John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2001, and a participant in the Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration in Bryn Mawr College in 2000.

“This book represents a significant contribution to the debate on how the learning habitat is changing and how innovation can be most effectively implemented in knowledge-based organisations. Digitizing existing learning practices is pointless unless universities and colleges reinvent their educational models for the digital economy, finding new ways to educate their students.”
Professor Sa’ad Medhat
CEO, NEF: The Innovation Institute, UK

“This book, by an impressive epistemic community of established and up-and-coming Arab scholars, competently and comprehensively addresses the emergence of MOOCs and their innovative applications in Higher Education in the Arab world. Its undeniably valuable contribution in the fields of innovation, e- and open-learning, social media and video gaming applications in Higher Education, and culture makes it a key reference for all those seeking insights into developments in the knowledge base of the modern economy.”
Dr Frank L. Bartels
Founder and Director, Innov8 Policy Advisory Service Ltd; Former Senior Advisor to the UN

“This book provides an interesting insight into the subject of MOOCs and its present and potential application. The book also explores the use of other technologies and different learning methodologies for enhancing learning and teaching. The application of such technologies and learning practices in different cultural contexts makes it particularly interesting to those who are keen to know more about their usefulness in regions such as the Middle East, where most of the contributions in this book come from.”
Dr P.A.E. van de Bunt
Emeritus Professor and Management Consultant, TSM Business School, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Amani Alsaqqaf

Yumna Ansari

Burçin Bozkaya

Tayeb Brahimi

Muhammad Shahid Farooq

Amani K. Hamdan Hamdan

Huda Hyjazie

Nahla Khalil

Virginia Caroline Large

Mubarak Mohammad

Safdar Muhammad

Ziad Shaker ElJishi