MOOCs in Omani Higher Education Institutions: Use and Popularity

Abstract

Due to the rapid influence of technology on the teaching-learning process, both instructors and students alike are expected to keep abreast of the perpetual developments in the field of education. The introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (Henceforth MOOCs), as one form of e-learning, has made skyrocketing changes in the manner and availability of education provided to mass numbers of learners all the world, including Arab countries. The use of MOOCs in Oman is relatively new, and thus it appears to be unbeknown to a large segment of undergraduate students. The study beforehand, therefore, is meant to explore Omani undergraduate students’ awareness of MOOCs both locally and globally via the use a self-administered questionnaire targeting three main academic institutions in Oman with a total number of 306 participants. In-depth scrutiny of the obtained data evidently shows that unfamiliarity of MOOCs among Omani undergraduate students is significantly high, a fact reflected in the high percentage of those oblivious of its existence (88.89%) as opposed to those (11.11 %) who are familiar with MOOCs. Lack of publicity of these platforms in the Omani academic institutions and the academic community in general, among several other reasons, stand behind such unawareness of these platforms.