REPORT RISKS AND REMEDIES IN ISRA UNIVERSITYE-LEARNING SYSTEM Risks and Remedies in ISRA University E-Learning System http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v8i3.2545 Khalil A.Barhoum, Zahraa F. Muhsen Isra University, Amman, Jordan Abstract—Information technology brought radical changes in various aspects of contemporary life and education sector in general and in higher education in particular. Our insti- tute (Isra University) decided to be more responsive to these dramatic changes and effectively employ information tech- nology to improve the quality of teaching and learning through a gradual shift from web-enhanced courses towards blended learning, distance learning, and open learning to achieve better learning outcomes excellence and competi- tion. We uses Moodle system to offer web-enhanced courses with timed on-line quizzes as well as a vehicle for students to submit homework assignments and gain access to different course related resources. This paper investigates the risks encountered at Isra university e-learning system (IUELS) in the offering of web-enhanced courses and how we solved the problems. Index Terms—Moodle, e-Learning, e-risks, e-remedies, e- learning security. INTRODUCTION I. E-learning provides various types of learner process. It performs learning process in more costly and effective ways than traditional learning because e-learning can be done in any geographic location. Online and distance edu- cation tend to adopt a more collaborative course team ap- proach. They also provide the flexibility and the custom- izer meet of the learners. On the other hand, e-learning requires time and management for student/teacher to at- tend/organize a class as any traditional learning process required [1, 2, 3]. Web based e-learning provides equal quality education to all enrolled student. It suppies many feature to the edu- cation process such as: allowing interaction with the vari- ous communication channels of education, learning pro- cess with various styles and variety of multimedia, down- loading and printing materials from web sources, and cre- ating a media of collaboration, conversation, discussion, and exchanging ideas[3,4]. Blended learning refers to integrated distance learning technologies. It includes the traditional face-to-face class- room activities, print resources, and variety of instruction- al strategies such as learning, participatory learning, inter- activity and case studies. Blended learning improves stu- dent interaction and satisfaction. [5] refers to blended learning as "umbrella term encompassing all learning that takes place at locations remote from the point of instruc- tion”. Moodle offers many features that support the education process. Many articles [1,2, 6,7,8] show the usability of using this stool in their university education system be- cause of its good basic features,. Both students and teach- ing staff are satisfied with its performance and usability, great extensibility potential and some potentially adaptive features. Moodle supports the flexible reuse of teaching material among local faculties and having the option of a centralized system. It has become increasing popularity at universities and new features are developed continuously. Moodle is an extensible platform that been used in our university since 2007. Most students feel very comfortable with Moodle. Barik and Karforma[9] mention interesting studies that show the risks and remedies in India e-learning system universities. They state the major threats of e-learning system and the risks which should be looked upare : stu- dent risks, author’s risks, teacher’s risks, manager’s risks and system developer’s risk in e-learning systems. They showed some tools/techniques to minimize those risks by using: firewall in access control, digital right management on e-learning assets, cryptography, secret-key algorithms, public-key algorithms, neural cryptography, elliptic curve cryptography, biometric authentication, digital watermark- ing. Hölbl[6], stated “there are still some technical problems when using Moodle mostly caused by hardware and soft- ware limitations of the employed servers”. But they did not provide technical solving methods. Instead they focus on Moodle analysis of students’ habits and usage of com- munication features and possible reasons. Additionally, they investigated the student overall opinion and com- ments on e-learning and their experiences of technical problems in Moodle. The survey shows the Moodle tech- nical issues both from students and administration, were mostly caused by hardware and software limitations of the employed servers. The problems identified included: : connection problems, slow response when many users were connected to Moodle, difficulties when opening or downloading specific types of files in certain browsers. Ray [3] , provide many enhancement idea to improve the instructional design models and online learning course development in India, he also shows and discusses differ- ent approaches of web based e-learning system and two different models (CSIES and MBES). However, through usage of Moodle platform in IUELS, many improvements have been done to it. IUELS has four participants that constructed their e-learn system (Stu- dents, Teachers, Managers and System Develop- er/Administrators). By identifying and solving the e-risk management has made IUELS reliable and efficient. The paper is organize as follow: the e-learn technical instruc- tional issue are discussed at section 2, the different risks faced IUELS and the risk analysis in Moodle are ex- iJET ‒ Volume 8, Issue 3, June 2013 39