E-learning and its Impact to the Educational System in the Arab World

Abstract

E-Learning is relatively new emerging technology that spans the universities and other institutions. It concentrates on utilizing Knowledge of teachers in a way that academic courses can be delivered anywhere and anytime.  As time passes, the growth of knowledge imposed new requirements for a better use of this asset. Knowledge Management (KM) is the way to a better utilization of the knowledge. The emergence of Information Technology (IT) provides tools for such management, until the new era of learning, namely the E-Learning, poses its impacts on knowledge acquisition and utilization, and hence on KM. This new trend in both KM and E-Learning lets many educational institutional organizations in most parts of the world take the advantages of these technologies. But unfortunately, in the Arab world such move comes through the supporting of some international organizations. Some projects show the benefit of this approach. However the success of such projects may requires answering the following question:How does integration occur between Knowledge Management and e-Learning?This paper addresses e-learning at the university environment and focuses on the Jordanian universities experience in developing e-learning courses. We address the design issues of e-learning courses that can be used to capture the teachers' knowledge. The underlying objective is that e-learning is a key knowledge and major resources for many universities. Therefore, the design of e-learning should be an important part of the university knowledge management process. Teachers’ knowledge, in any important topic or field, should be managed in a way that the university can benefit from it in case of teacher leaving or retired. Hence, intellectual personal knowledge management will be explored through the development of e-learning systems.The potential for utilizing human knowledge in the university environment will optimize the resources and can be of cost effective and quality assurance factors and provide the university with a sustainable competitive advantage.