Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

2010 Category 2: Saudi Arabia
Western Asia
Saudi Arabia
2010 Category 2 — 1st Place Winner
Development of e-Education
King Saud University
Description
An online administrative and pedagogical tool designed to improve delivery of university
services in response to increased demand.
Summary
This initiative focused on developing an e-learning environment at King Saud University
for the benefit of the students, staff, and faculty. Phase one involved building
the skills and awareness among faculty to help them understand e-learning processes
and enable them to teach courses online. The second phase provided technical support
for students to allow them to use the e-learning programmes and gradually transition
away from traditional course delivery formats. The third phase of the project
encouraged research and scientific publishing in the field of e-learning.
The Problem
The university has a responsibility to effectively manage student enrolment and
course delivery procedures. This entails providing various services: processing applications
for admission, registration, transferral and withdrawal; documenting and
maintaining records related to academic standing, campus residence, personal profiles
and student demographics; disseminating information and course materials to
prospective and enrolled students; and delivering course content. Traditionally, students
could obtain these services only by coming in person to the Office of the Dean
of Admission and Registration or to campus classrooms and lecture auditoriums,
which created challenges for all concerned. Because of the great demand for the administrative
services, large crowds of students and others would assemble at the
dean’s office daily. This would create an enormous mental and physical burden for
the staff and challenge supervisors in ensuring the safety of procedures and reliability
of services provided. Students often had to make repeated visits, which meant
inconvenience and the risk that they would be shut out of courses because they failed
to enroll within official time frames. For many students, course participation was also
impeded by gender restrictions, limited opportunity for course placement due to
growing numbers of registrants, and conflicts between course schedules and employment
obligations. Individuals living at a remote distance from the university and
those with physical impairs also had trouble gaining access to courses.
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