Developing Distance Education for Higher Education Institutions in Oman through MOOCs: Design, Impact, and Culturally-Appropriate Modelling

The rapid development of MOOCs, Massive Online Open Courses, has generated a wide interest among higher education institutions around the globe. While these institutions envisage the promise of MOOCs in granting students open access, advanced online courses that could bring the cost of their university education down and disrupt the current models of learning, Omani higher education institutions are still being skeptical about thelegitimacy of online education. Apart from using some online course management systems such as Moodle and Blackboard, the current teaching and learning model in Omani Higher education institutions does not offer opportunities for expanding access to higher education or creates a space for experimentation with online teaching and learning. In order to assess the readiness of the targeted population of the project, a pilot study was conducted at Sultan Qaboos University. The results indicate that there is a good level of readiness in the Omani higher education system to expand into new forms of distance education like MOOCs. This level of readiness is based on the current experiences of students and academics in using some form of online education in their courses, the future expectations about their potential expansion, and the level of technology skills needed to take part in these courses. Therefore, Omani higher education institutions need to capitalize on the opportunities and benefits of MOOCs and respond to the various needs of students and teachers in this globalised era. Based on the previous results, this project aims to investigate MOOCs as a potential education delivery model for Omani higher education institutions. It specifically aims to achieve the following objectives: Identify the level of awareness, willingness, and readiness of Omani higher education institutions (HEIs) to offer MOOCs, and propose a model for establishing a Consortium for Distance Education of Omani HEIs. Identify the arising issues in designing, developing, implementing and evaluating an effective MOOC for university students. Chart a profile of learners attracted to a MOOC from the Omani HEIs in terms of their demographic characteristics, attributes, and self-regulation levels. Document the impact of using a MOOC on improving learner self-regulation, use of learning strategies, academic achievement, persistence and attitude towards sharing knowledge of Omani students. Propose a culturally appropriate model for technology integration and online facilitation of MOOCs for Arabic-speaking populations. The suggested duration of the project is three years. A mixed method research design is suggested through using quantitative research instruments like surveys, performance data, and attitude scales, and qualitative research instruments like interviews, text and image analysis. The project targets three population groups: a) Omani higher education institution administrators and academic staff, b) students registered in the Omani higher education institution, and c) potential MOOC course participants, who are expected to enroll in the course offered through this research project. The research samples from the three groups are expected to be up to 1,000 academic and administrators, 5,000 students and several thousand MOOC participants. In addition to the survey data generated by individual responses, the research will also include system data generated by the platform for the MOOC offered, and course design Scripts and dummy Models. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis will be employed. These include descriptive data analysis, grounded theory content analysis, profile analysis, regression, structural equation modeling, and advanced learning analytics. The importance of this study comes fromits potential to contribute to meeting the continuous demand for higher education in Oman. MOOCs offer the way to the future by promoting a culture of lifelong learning in the Omani society where any student at any age-level from anywhere could be offered the opportunity to learn. This research project aims to add to our understanding of technology integration through MOOCs. Such understanding might inform best practice in online education to design Omani MOOCs in topics of national interests and needs such as entrepreneurship. In addition, offering MOOCs for Omani higher education learners will promote the community service mission of higher education institutions, and extend their leadership role in learning and innovation at the local, regional and international levels.