Copmleat my resarch - Essay Example

The participation was anonymous. The questions used in the interviews were semi-structured. The first part of the interview consisting of six questions involved gathering some demographic data of the subjects. Some of this data is summarised in the table below. Personal names and the departments they work in are not included. This was followed by the further questions directly related to the purpose. Gender Age Home town University Interviewee 1 Male 39 Jeddah King Abdul Aziz University Interviewee 2 Male - Jeddah King Abdul Aziz University Interviewee 3 Interviewee 4 Findings from interviewee 1 The actual responses from the first interview are contained in Appendix B1.

A summary follows. The department at King Abdul Aziz University began offering rich educational resources in multiple media for both real-time and asynchronous communication between instructors and learners nearly five years ago. Their distance education students receive the same, and their academic programmes are full of activities, animations and simulations. Student participation takes place through online discussions and group assignments and the material is available all the time from anywhere at their own convenience.

The deanship is actively involved in research projects to ascertain student levels and satisfaction, and feedback ensures continuous improvement. Experiences are also shared with other institutions to develop collaboration and learn new things. The department’s objectives and goal is to “effectively contribute and support scientific development witnessed by the kingdom in general and King Abdulaziz University in particular”. Thirteen services are listed under the departmental contributions, which include (but are not limited to) the following: Provision of technical services Supervision of software programs and database Maintenance and monitoring of distance learning systems Updating software programs for raising the efficiency of educational processes The web applications in use by the department are an e-learning management electronic system (EMES), a virtual classroom system called CENTRA, the KAU electronic exam system and mobile learning.

EMES is an integrated computer system for managing the educational process and facilitate interaction between students and faculty members. The CENTRA allows for instructors and students to participate in real time lessons and discussions with the aim to improve students’ learning experience. It is accessible via the Internet 24/7, and during the sessions, all tools are accessible at the discretion of the instructors such as questioning, drawing and participation. The KAU electronic exam is designed to provide an interactive experience for periodic tests and end of semester exams.

The material is motivating and provides accurate data. It assesses achievement and provides reliable data. KAU also has plans to introduce mobile learning for mobile phones to enable to students to learn at their convenience. The method used for managing web projects is PMP. The website is updated whenever the need arises or new events occur and a link is available on the site to measure user satisfaction. The interviewee among a web development group used these methods. Its advantages are that everything is clear and there is a big documentation.

As far as using agile methods is concerned, the interviewee had used it over a year ago but did not have much information about it and was not sure which kind