Analysing the necessity of a Virtual Learning

Environment in Koya University

Azhi Abdalmohammed Faraj

azhi.faraj@koyauniversity.org
September 2013

Koya University

koya-Erbil-Kurdistan region of Ira

Abstract

Virtual Learning Environments are a growing need for educational institutions and has
helped many Universities in increasing the productivity of the students and tutors.
Leading Universities around the world have actively engaged with technology through
VLEs and several researches have demonstrated its success and necessity. However in
Middle east the application of VLEs are restricted by several factors including internet
unavailability, lack of basic computer skills. Koya University located in north of Iraq is yet
to apply such a system although separate systems based on Google Content
Management system have been in use recently. This paper examines the appropriateness
and suitability of such a system in Koya University where VLEs are a new experience and
whether the currently available VLEs can perform efficiently in such an educational
system or a new specialized VLE needs to be designed. In this paper the barriers have
been studied and an entire VLE system is developed for this purpose.

Keywords: VLE, Big Data, NewSQL Database, Big Data Analytics.

Introduction

Technology in Education
The universal education system has witnessed great changes in the recent few decades
and these fast transformations are resulted from technological revolutions like web-based
learning in place of classroom-based learning (Totkov, Virtual Learning Environments:
Towards New Generation, 2003).

The origin of online learning is Distance learning which took over a century to evolve
from correspondence courses. Technology was always the indispensable tool for
improving distant learning and education. In the 1930s telephone had been used (Olgren,
1997). Teleconferencing, Interactive Television (ITV) and Video Conferencing were used
one after another for distant education purposes. The emergence of WWW in the 1990s
was a turnover point in the history of distant learning which resulted in the emergence of
e-learning. For the first time CAL Campus implemented a fully online school which
supported real-time classes, course materials in addition to administration and
management. (Morabito, 2011).
The educational institution were focusing more and more on internet and its capabilities
as a communication tool, research tool and instructional tool (Fusayil, 2000), Virtual
Learning Environments(VLEs) were built to help educational institutions make most
benefit of internet and fulfil their needs.

A VLE is a software system built to support

teaching and learning in an educational institution which works over Internet. It provides
a number of tools to make the learning experience smoother and easier such as those for
assessment, material distribution, student groups, announcements etc
Koya University has been using paper based learning since its construction in 2003,
although minor automated systems have created in recent years yet a VLE can have
enormous positive impact on the whole education system
VLE types
The VLEs can be classified into the following three types
Open-source VLEs: this type is available with the source code for free which allows
users and programmers to use, change, improve and/or distribute the software.
Examples of open source VLEs are Moodle and SAKAI.

Open source VLEs saves the

always increasing fee of licensing of proprietary systems like Blackboard (Wheeler,

2004).
Commercial VLEs

Are developed by companies and are sold to organizations such as schools and
universities although the license is sold at a high rate price but their technical support
and service reliability makes them be regarded as safer option
University VLEs
A number of universities around the world have built their own e-learning environments
specific

to

their

needs

examples

of

VLEs

developed

by

UK

universities

Bodington, COSE and Merlin. This is similar to what this project aims to develop for Koya
University. The rationale for building specific VLEs is that Learning is a social process and
development is linked to the specific culture in which learning activities are shared
(Stiles, 2000). The culture and environment, in which the VLE is designed for, must be
carefully taken into consideration to produce desirable results.
The choice of a University VLE is suggested for Koya university based on the following
reasons
1. None of the currently available open-source VLEs support Kurdish language
2. The price of commercial VLEs is high and is not recommended when the outcome is not
clear.
3. The structure of the faculties is different from those of UK and Europe. In Koya University
a faculty consists of departments and each department consists of four stages except
for architectural engineering which has five stages. The modules for a department are
fixed and each student must participate in all the modules thus unlike currently
available open-source VLEs in the case of Koya University building a system with
existing modules greatly reduces the burden on tutors for creating modules and
assigning students for it. In this scenario the modules are created only once then the
module is added to a specific department and a specific stage and one or more tutors
are added to manage it.

Fig 4.3 module creation

4. The large amount of features and functionalities provided by the open-source VLEs make
them complicated (Moya 2011) and hence difficult for an environment such
as Koya University.
Impacts on Koya
VLEs through enhancing the communication between tutors and students, decreasing
cost, availability of extra research material make the whole education experience a
smother and a more productive one. studies suggest that VLEs are as beneficial for
secondary schools as they are for Universities thus applying VLE systems in most of the
educational institutions in Koya will guarantee a promising future in education sector
which is essential for any nation to succeed.

References
Fusayil, A. (2000). Internet adoption by Ohio University faculty. Ohio University.
Morabito, M. G. (2011). CALCampus origins. Retrieved 8 5, 2012, from
CALCampus: http://www.calcampus.com/calc.htm

Olgren, C. (1997). Teaching by telephone. New Directions for Teaching and , 5966.
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Development Centre, Staffordshire University, UK.
Suri, H., & Schuhmacher, M. (2008). Open-source vs proprietary VLE: An
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Totkov, G. (2003). Virtual Learning Environments: Towards New Generation ,.
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