E-learning Trends and Internet challenges in Iraq

Abstract

The Iraqi education sector has faced obstacles for decades due to the multiple past crises, and recently social tensions and political demonstrations that led to students' reluctance to join the university in late 2019. These problems are applying even more pressure on the fragile education system and affecting education access. Therefore, the urgent need for electronic learning (E-learning) has emerged, putting the situation of the current education system and telecommunication infrastructure in a real challenge. In this research, the internet signal of the University of Kufa (UoK) was monitored for five months during the quarantine to study the effect of the productivity and availability of the Internet on e-learning at the university. However, this paper focused on and studied three main dimensions: Students and Faculty, Educational Platforms, and Information Technology Services, to identify and evaluate the primary factors that directly affect e-learning. The study also presented the current status and penetration rate of the Internet in Iraq and presented an analysis of a questionnaire targeting the level of technology acceptance and lecture specifications for the e-learning experience at UoK.