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The Societal Acceptance of Online Degrees in the Arab World: Evidence from Two Countries

The Societal Acceptance of Online Degrees in the Arab World: Evidence from Two Countries. Dr. Alaa Sadik, Sultan Qaboos University Sultanate of Oman. alaasadik@gmail.com. Introduction.

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The Societal Acceptance of Online Degrees in the Arab World: Evidence from Two Countries

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  1. The Societal Acceptance of Online Degrees in the Arab World: Evidence from Two Countries Dr. Alaa Sadik, Sultan Qaboos UniversitySultanate of Oman alaasadik@gmail.com

  2. Introduction • There is a remarkable increase and interest in the distance education programs and degrees offered by traditional and distance education universities in the Arab countries. • In response to this development and interest, distance education has become one of the important alternatives for those who could not attend or enroll in conventional universities.

  3. Introduction • However, there is a common belief in the society that on-campus degrees are better than off-campus degrees, for many reasons. • Therefore, Arab employers, families and students may feel reluctant to accept distance education as a formal alternative to conventional face-to-face education.

  4. Problem • Few studies have been conducted to assess the acceptability of online distance education degrees by the Arab society. • Distance education institutions in the Arab world do not have adequate research-based information about the perceived value of online degrees in the Arab society.

  5. Purpose Investigate the societal acceptance of degrees earned wholly online and defining the factors that positively or negatively affect the perceived value of these degrees in two Arab countries; Egypt and Oman.

  6. Research Questions • How acceptable are online distance education degrees by the Arab society? • What are the factors affecting the acceptability of online distance education degrees that need to be considered by distance education institutions and developers?

  7. Significance of the Study Guide the future development of online distance education programs and help changing policies that lead to improvement of online teaching and learning conditions.

  8. METHOD: INSTRUMENT AND SAMPLING • Acceptability of Online Degrees Questionnaire • Part1: Acceptability of online degrees • Credibilitythe extent to which online degrees are credible or trustworthy. • Qualitythe characteristics and standards of the online program. • Part 2: Factors affecting the acceptability of online distance education degrees

  9. METHOD: INSTRUMENT AND SAMPLING • Responses were received from 479 participants from Egypt and Oman. • - “harvested e-mail lists” technique, non-probability samples, was employed. • These types of non-probability samples can be useful and appropriate for collecting data from the public.

  10. Results Question1: How acceptable are online distance education degrees by the society? Overall, degrees earned via online distance education programs are by no means as acceptable as traditional degrees, and that a degree earned online is in many ways not similar to those earned in traditional education settings (79.39%).

  11. Results: Credibility

  12. Results: Credibility

  13. Results

  14. Results

  15. Results

  16. Results Aspects that affect the credibility and quality online degrees

  17. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS This study confirms the public belief that traditional degrees are still more preferable than online degrees in the Arab world for many reasons. If online distance education universities can dispel these fears and concerns, it may raise the perceived quality of online degrees by the society.

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