E-Learning University Networks:

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1 IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING 12 Journal of Cases 701 E. on Chocolate Information Avenue, Technology, Suite 200, 9(2), Hershey 12-25, April-June PA , 2007 USA Tel: 717/ ; Fax 717/ ; URL- ITJ3598 This paper appears in the publication, Journal of Cases on Information Technology, Volume 9, Issue 2 edited by Mehdi Khosrow-Pour 2007, Idea Group Inc. E-Learning University Networks: An Approach to a Quality Open Education Elena Verdú Pérez, CEDETEL, Spain María Jesús Verdú Pérez, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain ExECUTIVE SUmmARY The achievement of coordination activities and the creation of university networks are considered to be fundamental mechanisms to bring together the different higher education systems as well as to promote synergies between less developed regions and more developed ones. ODISEAME (Open Distance Inter-University Synergies between Europe, Africa, and Middle East) is an interdisciplinary and intercultural e-learning project whose main goal is to create a Euro- Mediterranean network of universities for the cooperation in the design and development of tele-learning experiences. This four-year project ended in June of 2006 with its final phase when several multilingual and multicultural learning experiences were carried out in an efficient way. These experiences were developed in all the official languages of the participant countries, as well as in English, using a Web-based multilingual virtual space. This article describes the ODISEAME project and the e-learning experiences derived from it and presents some conclusions from their evaluation. It finally shows the importance of university networks in the process of establishing the European higher education area. Keywords: distance learning; electronic learning (e-learning); telelearning; technologyenhanced learning; university/community partnership; virtual university INTRODUCTION The phenomenon of globalization is generating important changes. On one hand, it creates new markets, it fosters progress and economic growth, it makes greater scientific development possible, and permits universal access to culture and science. However, it is also believed that this phenomenon can bring the disappearance of cultural diversity, as well as economic imbalances and an increase in the existing gap between different countries in terms of development. The European Commission maintains that, in order to build a common future, it is necessary to cooperate in the construction of a way toward change. However, the social and cultural identity of each agent should be kept. In fact, one of the main objectives established in the Barcelona declaration, which was adopted at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference in 1995, was to bring people of different cultures closer by means of partnerships in social, cultural, and human affairs with the aim of developing human resources, promoting understanding between cultures, and exchanges between civil societies. Copyright 2007, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

2 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June EUMEDIS (Euro MEDiterranean Information Society) is one of the initiatives of the European Commission for the development of the information society in the Euro-Mediterranean region. It was designed specifically to bridge the digital gap that exists between the European countries and our Mediterranean neighbours. The group of priority sectors tackled by this initiative includes education. Globalization has an influence, not only on the economic field, but also on the transfer of knowledge and higher education. The universal nature of higher education institutions will increase due to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and distance learning, as well as the increasing mobility of teachers, researchers, and students. In this respect, and taking the idea of the context of the European Higher Education Area, the collaboration networks among European Universities play a decisive role, just as the Spanish Ministry of Education states in the corresponding framework document (2003). Consequently, the achievement of coordination activities and the creation of networks are considered to be fundamental mechanisms to bring together different higher education systems as well as to promote synergies between less developed regions and more developed ones (Commission of the European Communities, 2001; Spain, Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, 2003). Furthermore, it is widely believed that all this process should be carried out with the maximum respect to cultural diversity. The ODISEAME project, which was coordinated by CEDETEL, was framed within the EUMEDIS initiative previously described and sought to contribute to the improvement of higher education in the participant countries, applying new technologies to the educational process. Thereby, the project offered Web-based courses corresponding to education programmes of 12 Universities from Europe and the Mediterranean border. Specifically, the countries that participated in the project are Germany, Cyprus, Spain, Jordan, Malta, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, and Turkey. The base of the ODISEAME project was an interdisciplinary research on the application of ICTs to different aspects of the learning process, including the design of educational contents, their delivery, and the interaction among students and teachers. Students, teachers, content providers, service providers, teaching experts, technicians, etc., participated in this research project, which also involved important aspects such as intercultural and multilingual ones, especially in the development of the virtual learning experiences that were carried out with the participation of students and teachers from the different participant countries (Verdú, Verdú, Regueras & De Castro, 2005). These experiences were developed in a virtual environment in the language of every partner as well as in English. The development of the ODISEAME project is described next and the results obtained during the e-learning experiences are analysed. DEVELOPmENT Of THE PROJECT The ODISEAME project underwent different phases from its onset in September 2002 until its end in June The final objective of the achieved tasks was the carrying out of intercultural tele-learning experiences through the Internet. The description of the preliminary tasks developed during the first phases can help us gain a better understanding of the complexity of the development of such types of experiences, which counted with the participation of teachers and students from countries with different languages, cultures, and technological levels. Analysis of the Existing Resources and Needs in the Partnership During the first year of the project, the current situation of the participants was analyzed taking into account the available network infrastructures as well as general aspects of the cur- Copyright 2007 Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

3 14 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June 2007 riculums and learning needs of the participating institutions. The objective was to have a clear picture of the actual framework in the different partner regions in order to define and design suitable contents and find possible areas for cooperation in the virtual learning experiences. After the analysis of the network infrastructure and equipment available in all participating institutions, these were classified according to three scenarios depending on criteria like multimedia capacities of the users equipment, the availability of a broadband Internet access from the institution, or the connection speed within its network. Table 1 summarises the characteristics and possibilities of the three scenarios. Each partner, according to its scenario, received a number of recommendations regarding the development of the distance learning experiences, the type of communication to be held among students and teachers (synchronous, such as videoconference, or only asynchronous, such as electronic mails), and the kind of contents to be offered during the virtual courses (text, voice, image, video, etc). Several case studies indicate the primary importance of organisational cultures or norms together with an administrative structure, when an organisation implements or plans to implement distance learning (Cho & Berge, 2002). Accordingly, during the first year of the ODISEAME project, a study of the educational programmes and general aspects such as organization, was also made for all partner universities. The aim was to find common needs and interests and analyze the possibilities with regard to student and teacher exchanges, collaboration in courses or other research areas, etc. Taking this study as a base, the didactic units to be designed and developed by each partner institution were selected. Finally, the overall result was that the majority of courses were technical or engineering courses, since these were the areas where more synergies among the participants were found. There were also courses about language learning and transversal subjects like scientific research methodology and project evaluation. Design and Development of the Courses During the second year of the project, the teachers of the partner institutions designed and implemented the selected courses. They were assisted by an interdisciplinary workgroup of different specialists belonging to the participant institutions and with expertise in tele-learning issues. The design involved giving a detailed description of the courses, not only in terms of Table 1. Characteristics and possibilities of the different scenarios Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3 Characteristics High Internet access speed. Multimedia equipment. Low Internet access speed. Multimedia equipment. Low Internet access speed No multimedia equipment. Possibilities Synchronous and asynchronous communications. Multimedia contents. Asynchronous communications. Text contents. Multimedia contents can be offered with some limitations. Asynchronous communications. Text contents. Copyright 2007, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

4 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June objectives, timing, assessment, contents, language, etc., but also in terms of educational design with the view of their implementation for virtual learning and taking into account the constraints imposed by the network infrastructure and the equipment available in the target institutions. It is interesting to analyze briefly some of the training modules designed such as the ones given by the University of Valladolid, which correspond to three technical courses related to computer networks. The development of these training modules can be summarized as follows (Verdú, Regueras, De Castro, & Verdú, 2004): The theoretical contents of each unit would be offered in hypermedia format with additional and complementary information in PDF format. Some lessons would be delivered as recorded video presentations by means of the Conference Room tool of the ODISEAME platform, which is described in the next section. Practical exercises would be proposed to the students in order to be discussed by means of a news group. Some interactive activities would be proposed too, as well as optional laboratory exercises; since several studies indicate that students comprehension of problems is considerably improved and some misconceptions are resolved when interactivity is applied (Bolliger & Martindale, 2004; Ioannidou, Paraskevopoulos & Tzionas, 2006; Khalifa & Lam, 2002). Students would be able to follow their own progress by means of the execution of feedback tests. Teachers would answer all students doubts through a mailbox. In addition, the most interesting questions would be presented by teachers in order to be discussed at discussion forums. The design of the training modules was followed by an evaluation process, which consisted of a study of the initial design as well as the implementation of the modules, and a beta-test training experience with a small group of teachers and students. Following the example of the courses of the University of Valladolid, some of the more noteworthy conclusions obtained from the beta-test process were the following: The courses were well structured and designed. So, we could conclude that the methodology used was suitable for this kind of learning. Users valued interactivity as one of the most positive points. Interactivity was not only an instrument to motivate students, but also a quality element. The high quality of the interactive activities designed by the teachers facilitated the learning process a lot. Figure 1 shows one of these interactive activities in which students had to complete some data about network diagrams or routing tables and were able to check immediately whether their results were correct. Owing to the complexity of some of these activities, two ways of solving them were offered: a guided mode (with information regarding how to solve the exercise step by step) and a non-guided-mode. This characteristic was very much valued by students as well. Design and Development of the multilingual Virtual Learning Space During the second year of the project, the multilingual virtual learning space was also designed, implemented, and evaluated. The training modules were then integrated into the virtual space to allow the performance of the online courses. Copyright 2007 Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

5 16 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June 2007 Figure 1. Interactive activity of the TCP/IP Course The ODISEAME virtual space integrates a series of communication services as well as content developing and management services in order to offer telematic support to the learning process. Therefore, the main different services of the e-learning platform are as follows: Content generator: It enables teachers to generate their own didactic units from a list of resources previously entered in their resource database. A resource can be an image, a document in a certain format, an audio file, a video file, a slide presentation including an explanatory video file, etc. Content area: This area includes the courses, interactive activities, laboratory exercises, live and recorded conferences, and self-assessments to be done by the enrolled students. All these contents are previously generated by the teacher with the aid of the content generator. Notebook: This is an agenda for students to plan their work. The teacher can use this application to give them advice regarding working timetables. Activities: This is a collaborative work area, which consists of a series of workspaces shared by teachers and students. In these spaces, a student is able to hand in the practices requested by the teacher or to work within a work-group. Communications: There are synchronous communication tools such as the videoconference and asynchronous communication tools such as the question box or discussion forums. Conference room: Teachers are able to deliver a live or recorded conference based on a PowerPoint file and a video through the Internet. The application synchronizes all the slide changes and transitions with the lecturer s video and audio. Tools designed for the assessment and monitoring of students enable teachers to create assessments and auto-assessments based on a database with previously created items, including multiple-choice questions, paired questions and even open text questions to be Copyright 2007, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

6 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June Figure 2. Main screen of the ODISEAME virtual learning space evaluated by the teacher. The teacher can check the evolution of each student (results and time employed by the student), as well as compare students within a same group. It is noteworthy that the ODISEAME platform is multilingual and multi-skin. This means that it has been designed to be used in different languages and with different appearances according to users preferences. Figure 2 shows the main screen of the virtual learning space. The platform was assessed taking into account both technical and pedagogical aspects, by means of stress tests and surveys filled in by target users and focus groups. The objective of this assessment was to detect any weak points in the platform in order to improve it prior to the learning experiences (De Castro & Verdú, 2006). Regarding the technical assessment, the trial phase consisted of stress tests performed against the server in which the platform is installed. With the stress tests, we aimed at measuring the performance of the platform when there are multiple users using the platform at the same time. We used the Web Application Stress (WAS) tool by Microsoft. Then, we were able to identify the pages with poor performance and found that the increase in the response time was related to the interaction with the database, not with the size of the pages. Therefore, the interaction with the database was analysed and the necessary improvements were undertaken to minimize the delay. We managed to reduce the response time of the pages with worst performance by 10%. The pedagogical aspects of the virtual learning space were checked by the partnership and a reduced group of students who joined some beta-test training experiences. Doing an overall assessment that involved the use of the mentioned tools, 75% of those surveyed described the tools as good and only 4% of those surveyed considered their use as inadequate, either because they found them difficult to use or because they were not adequate for a University course. The most valued tool with regard to achieving the objectives of the teaching/learning was the Contents tool, with 92 points out of 100, followed by the Discussion Forum with 80 out of 100. Finally, we collected contributions and comments from the partners through discussion forums, as well as the suggestions derived from the surveys, and we made some improvements to the platform in terms of its design, its user-friendliness, and its navigability. Copyright 2007 Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

7 18 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June 2007 Figure 3. Percentage of applications received per country Spain Palestine Turkey Colombia Argentina Mexico Morocco Jordan Other THE E-LEARNING PILOT ExPERIENCES The International Nature of the Experiences Distance educators view computer-mediated education as an excellent format to encourage a variety of adult learning styles while serving an ethnically diverse student population (Muirhead, 1999). In fact, one of the challenges facing instructional designers is in producing e-learning systems that take account of individual differences such as nationality, gender, and, more importantly, from an educational perspective, cognitive learning style (Graff, Davies & McNorton, 2004). In the ODISEAME project, the cultural, social, and educational diversity was clear and was thus taken into account from the outset. Before and during the pilot experiences, the offered courses were advertised in all participant countries placing posters in different university buildings as well as including advertisements in Web pages, mailings, and newsletters. Thanks to these electronic means, students from countries, which were not participating in the project, such as Latin American countries had the chance to join these e-learning experiences. It was pleasing to find that higher education students were very interested in e-learning. In fact, a large number of course applications were received by the ODISEAME staff within just a few days. We received applications for joining the ODISEAME courses by people from 51 different countries. As Figure 3 shows, 28.4% of the applicants were Spanish, 27.4% were Palestinian, and 14.7% were Turkish. These are data, which should be highlighted as the Internet penetration in Spain in March 2006 was 38.7%, according to data of Internet World Stats (www. internetworldstats.com), whereas few people have a PC and connection to the Internet in Palestine, with 4.9% of Internet penetration, or in Turkey, where the Internet penetration is 13.7%, much lower than the average in Europe. However, we only received 0.38% of applications from Germany where the Internet penetration is 59%. When the virtual learning experiences were just starting, the disparity in participation of students from different countries was discussed during a project meeting held in Granada in May Copyright 2007, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

8 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June Up to that moment, most students who had requested to join the ODISEAME courses were Spanish, so we discussed why students from other countries had not applied for the courses. The following possible reasons of this fact were discussed: Many courses are in English and the knowledge of the English language can be a restriction for students. Lack of infrastructure and equipment available for students at home. Lack of dissemination of the courses in other countries. It is true that one of the most obvious obstacles for universal access to the Internet in the Arab world is the fact that the Internet has always been an English-dominated medium which reinforces the opinion that it is not designed by or for Arabic-speaking cultures, whereas, from a technical standpoint, the use of Arabic presents no major impediment (Verdú et al., 2005). While many Arabs use English or French as their preferred language on the Internet, the majority of Arabs use Arabic, according to Jean Louis Cardahi, Minister of Telecommunication of Lebanon in 2003 (Cardahi, 2003). However, the first reason regarding the language of the courses seemed not to be applicable in our case as the attendants of that meeting expressed that they usually gave their courses in English at their Universities, especially when the courses are related to technical topics. Most courses in our project are related to technical topics so this reason had to be dismissed as the main reason. On the other hand, the second reason related to the lack of infrastructure and equipment available for students at home did not solve the question either since, as previously mentioned, few applications were received from countries with higher PC and Internet penetration such as Germany. In conclusion, although the lack of equipment limited the number of students from some countries who would have liked to join the courses, we finally agreed that in some cases the courses had not been disseminated sufficiently. In fact, after this meeting, there was a high response of Turkish students as the partners in Turkey strengthened their dissemination actions. Even though students and teachers from different partner countries were expected to participate in these experiences, finally, when the courses were delivered in the mother tongue of the partner countries, most of the students usually came from the partner country that delivered the course. This is the case of the courses given in Arabic and Greek, in which only Jordanian and Cypriot students participated respectively. However, we must highlight that there was an important participation of Latin American students (Argentinian, Colombian, Mexican...) in those courses delivered in Spanish. We can conclude that the courses developed in English attracted a larger variety in the nationalities of their participants due to the fact that knowledge of the English language is widespread. However, in the case of those courses developed in Spanish, there was also a great variety of nationalities because of the participation of many students from Latin America where the dissemination of the project was very successful. According to the results of the surveys described next, in general, those people who joined the ODISEAME courses had a good command of English, and only 10% of students showed a low written and reading level of English. When people specified knowledge of a second language, they usually indicated a low level in writing, reading, and speaking. This explains why the courses delivered in the mother language of the partners, instead of in English, did not have a great variety of nationalities participating except, as said before, for the case of the courses delivered in Spanish. Copyright 2007 Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

9 20 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June 2007 ANALYSIS AND STUDY Of THE RESULTS As well as the students nationality, other important aspects were analysed from the results of certain surveys. When the courses came to an end, students had to fill in a questionnaire that included the following question areas: Personal details: Nationality, age, sex, education level, computer skills, etc. Quality of the course: Scheduling, structure, methodology, contents, tutorship, etc. Tele-learning service: Assessment of the usefulness and easiness of each tool, availability, and speed of the platform, etc. Other observations regarding the most positive aspects of the online course, aspects that could be improved, tools missing in the platform, etc. Since one of the main advantages of e-learning is spatial flexibility, enabling participants to follow a course from home, we considered it interesting to ask students about the place from which they had accessed the online courses. As was to be expected, we found that most of the students (74%) accessed the online courses from home. However, 19% of students accessed them from a university and a small percentage did so from the office or from an Internet café, probably because they did not have a PC or an Internet connection at home. These data show that, although the number of students joining this kind of virtual international exchanges depends on the Internet penetration in the participant countries, it is not determinant as students who are interested in taking online courses offered by universities of other countries go to the computer rooms of their university in order to be able to participate in these kinds of courses. In Figure 4, we show the age groups of the participants. As it was expected, dealing with university courses the majority of students were between 18 and 25 years old, a typical age range for university students. Twenty percent of the students were between 26 and 30 years old and within this group, almost half of them were also university students. However, important percentages of students, more than 30%, were not university students and were working. Within this group of workers, all of them had a degree. This is natural since the courses require a high Figure 4. Age groups of the students years 16% > 40 years 11% years 20% years 53% Copyright 2007, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

10 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June Figure 5. Level of learning (on the left) and level of motivation throughout the course (on the right) level of knowledge. In the current knowledge society, lifelong education seems to be necessary to be competitive in the labour market and workers must constantly update their knowledge and skills. E-learning arises as a good solution to fulfil this educational need since it provides workers with the flexibility they need to be able to do their chosen courses. Most students were male (71%) while only 29% were female. One of the main reasons of this disparity in gender may be the technical component of most of the courses offered in the ODISEAME project. In general, technical degrees are studied by men, although recently, there are many women joining these university technical degrees. On the other hand, nursing schools for example, are full of women although this situation is starting to change. Habits and traditions are key factors when choosing university degrees (Verdú & De la Torre, 2006). In Figure 5 we show the answers to the questions has the level of learning been satisfactory? and has the level of motivation been kept high throughout the course? Most of the students polled answered that the level of learning had been high or very high. Also, a majority indicated that the level of motivation was kept high or very high. In the courses carried out through the Internet, it is known that the students familiarity with computers has a considerable impact on motivation. Thereby, the probability of a decrease in the motivation during the course can be much higher, even causing the student to give up the course, when low computer skills join the common risks of giving up online courses such as the feeling of isolation or the lack of student-teacher interaction. As many of the offered courses were related to engineering or technical subjects, only 7% of students had low computer skills while 69% and 24% had medium and high computer skills, respectively. In Figure 6 we show the answers to the questions: is the design of the contents attractive and does it motivate you to study? and have the proposed exercises and practices facilitated the learning process? Sixty-seven percent of students considered that the design of the contents had motivated them to study and had been attractive and 76% of the students considered that the proposed exercises and practices had made the learning process easier. The most noteworthy aspect in these results is that, in the courses with interactive activities or animations, practically all students had positively evaluated the previous issues. Therefore, the results validate and reinforce the hypothesis of the importance of interactivity in order to motivate students and improve comprehension. However, since the particular statistics of other courses without interactive activities also received positive assessment, it can be concluded that the teachers job, for example in dynamizing the course by means of discussion forums, is fundamental in order to keep the motivation level of students. Copyright 2007 Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

11 22 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June 2007 Figure 6. The design of the contents is attractive and motivates you to study (on the left) and the proposed exercises and practices have facilitated the learning process (on the right) In online learning, it is very important for the teacher to dynamize the virtual course to motivate students and avoid the isolation feeling that they suffer on many occasions during these types of experiences. According to the results of the survey, the teacher did a good job in that sense, as the majority of students considered that the tutor had promoted students participation very much (27%) or much (32%) by means of the different tools of the platform (forums, question box, etc.). Besides, most students (73%) thought that the tutor had promptly answered students questions. One of the difficulties of tele-learning is distance assessment. Nearly 70% of the students polled considered that the assessment was totally or mostly in line with the aims of the course. The achieved assessments were different for the different courses, although in general teachers assessed students taking into account their participation in discussion forums and the tasks done. The ODISEAME tele-learning platform allows the creation of assessments, which can be answered in a limited period of time. This characteristic makes doing distance assessments feasible, but always running the risk of not being able to identify the student who is really being assessed. Regarding the design of the virtual learning space, nearly 80% of the students polled thought that it was appropriate to offer higher education courses as well as to reach the learning objectives. Students appreciated the usefulness and easiness of the different tools and revealed a preference for content delivery and discussion forum tools. Besides, a lot of students mentioned that they missed a chat. The last section of the questionnaire allowed students to give their opinion about the advantages and disadvantages of tele-learning. A lot of those polled agreed that the great advantage of tele-learning is its flexibility with respect to the place from which the course is accessed and the time when it is followed. Other advantages that were mentioned by students are the following: Students learn at their own pace. Therefore, a lot of them study in a more relaxed way. Forums provide a great discussion area, allowing students to share their answers, ideas, and references. Tele-learning is very useful for those students who are physically unable to access the campus. The contents of the course are always accessible. Asking the teacher many questions is less embarrassing in distance education than in face-to-face lessons. Copyright 2007, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

12 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June It promotes the active role of the student in the learning process instead the traditional passive role. It allows users to meet people from other countries and cultures and, therefore, to know very different opinions, which enriches the learning process. However, students mentioned also some disadvantages of tele-learning against traditional learning: Difficulty when working in groups. Passiveness of some participants. Little interaction between the teacher and the student. The experiences are a little impersonal. It is easy to lose motivation. Students questions are not instantly answered. Need to have up-to-date equipment. In language courses, students missed conversation activities. Finally, in order to learn students opinion about this intercultural virtual learning experience in general, we included a question in the survey directly asking about the degree of satisfaction with the virtual learning experience and most students (71%) answered that they were very satisfied or satisfied with the experience. We consider that these are good results, taking into account that most participant teachers did not have previous experience in this type of teaching. Moreover, we indicate two very interesting details: the vast majority of students (95%) stated that they would recommend these online courses to other students and, also, the vast majority (94%) would enrol in online courses if they could get credits from their University. CONCLUSION The ODISEAME project shows that e-learning makes the removal of frontiers in education possible, allowing the exchange of students and promoting the equality of opportunities, as those who cannot travel for economic or other reasons can attend courses given by foreign institutions without moving from their countries. Besides, we have proved that higher education students are interested in this type of learning, which provides them with spatial and time flexibility. Internet penetration in a country is influential when it comes to attracting students to the online courses, but it is not determinant. If students are greatly motivated, they go to the computer rooms of their universities or to Internet cafés in order to be able to participate in the online courses. On the other hand, we have found one drawback. There are some differences regarding network infrastructures and users equipment. This fact generates inequality when accessing educational resources. In that sense, the EUMEDIS initiative is a good example of international transfer of technology from the European Union to the MEDA countries. The access infrastructure available determines whether the interactive activities, which are very effective in this type of learning, can be done in a suitable way. We have demonstrated that interactive activities are very recommendable, since they motivate students and improve their comprehension. However, a lot of the ODISEAME courses do not have this type of activities and the reasons are not only infrastructure constraints. The design and the implementation of interactive activities demand high technical knowledge. Unfortunately, many of the participant teachers lacked it. In spite of these differences, the project has contributed to bring different Copyright 2007 Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

13 24 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June 2007 disciplines closer, which is a need in this type of learning and the first step in order to enable teachers without technical knowledge to design quality interactive activities inside interdisciplinary workgroups. After analysing the results of this project, we can conclude that it is possible to build good international and intercultural e-learning projects through intensive collaboration and to transfer technology and knowledge. Although many teachers were used to traditional methods of teaching and had no experience in e-learning at the beginning of the project, ODISEAME has allowed them to participate in an e-learning programme by means of remote but close collaboration among partners. The ODISEAME consortium is proud to have created a network of teachers and researchers participating remotely in a collaborative e-learning project given the added difficulty of its multicultural and multilingual nature. Anyway, many teachers have stated that they did not notice any difference in behaviour and participation between European and MEDA students. Taking the nationality of the students into account, the results of our surveys did not show relevant differences. Thus, different cultures can collaborate in a university education process without significant difficulties. Therefore, countries as economically, culturally, and socially different as Palestine and Spain reacted in a similar way when faced with an e-learning proposal. Finally, with the creation of this cooperation network of universities in the Euro-Mediterranean area, the project has contributed to the process of European convergence and has given response to one of the objectives established in the Ministers Conference of the countries participating in this process celebrated in Bergen in 2005: to disseminate and make understand the Bologna process in other continents, interchanging and sharing experiences with neighbour regions, and reinforcing the importance of respect to interculturality (Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, 2005). REfERENCES Bolliger, D., & Martindale, T. (2004). Key factors for determining student satisfaction in online courses. International Journal on E-Learning, 3(1), Cardahi, J. L. (2003, December). Language in support of integration and regional information strategies The role of telecommunications. Speech of the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Geneva: ITU. Retrieved August 20, 2006, from Cho, S. K., & Berge, Z. (2002). Overcoming barriers to distance training and education. US- DLA Journal, 16(1). Retrieved August 31, 2005, from JAN02_Issue/article01.html Commission of the European Communities. (2001, October 10). La dimensión regional del Espacio Europeo de la Investigación (The regional dimension of the European Higher Education Area). Bruselas: Author. Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education. (2005). The European higher education area Achieving the goals. Bergen: Author. De Castro, J. P., & Verdú, E. (2006). The e-learning platform as a key to success: Evaluation of the ODISEAME e-learning platform. In E. En Verdú, M J. Verdú, J. Carrasco, & R. López (Eds.), Best practices in e-learning: Towards a technology-based and quality education (pp ). Valladolid, Spain: Boecillo Editorial Multimedia. Graff, M., Davies, J., & McNorton, M. (2004). Cognitive style and cross cultural differences in Internet use and computer attitudes. European Journal of Open, Distance, and E-Learning (EURODL), 2004/II. Retrieved January 23, 2005, from contrib/2004/graff_davies_mcnorton.html Copyright 2007, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.

14 Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 9(2), 12-25, April-June Ioannidou, I. A., Paraskevopoulos, S., & Tzionas, P. (2006). An interactive computer graphics interface for the introduction of fuzzy inference in environmental education. Interacting with Computers, 18(4), Khalifa, M., & Lam, R. (2002). Web-based learning: Effects on learning process and outcome. IEEE Transactions on Education, 45(4), Muirhead, B. (1999). Attitudes toward interactivity in a graduate distance education program: A qualitative analysis. Parkland, FL: Dissertation.com. Spain, Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport. (2003). La integración del sistema universitario español en el Espacio Europeo de Enseñanza Superior (documento marco) (The integration of the Spanish higher education system into the European Higher Education Area (framework document)). Madrid: Author. Verdú, E., & De la Torre, I. (2006). The social and cultural dimension of e-learning: Analysing the results of a multicultural and multilingual e-learning project. In E. En Verdú, M. J. Verdú, J. Carrasco, & R. López (Eds.), Best practices in e-learning: Towards a tecnology-based and quality education. (pp ). Valladolid, Spain: Boecillo Editorial Multimedia. Verdú, M. J., Regueras, L. M., de Castro, J. P., & Verdú, E. (2004). ODISEAME project: An approach to a Web-based multilingual and collaborative learning. In L. En Cantoni, & C. McLoughlin (Eds.), Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2004, World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications (pp ). Norfolk, VA: AACE. Verdú, E., Verdú, M. J., Regueras, L. M., & de Castro, J. P. (2005). Intercultural and multilingual e-learning to bridge the digital divide. Lecture Notes in Computer Sciences, 3597, Elena Verdú Pérez, telecommunication engineer, has been project manager at CEDETEL (Centre for the Development of Telecommunications of Castilla y León) since December 2000, coordinating research projects in the fields of new telematic applications for the Information Society, communication networks and software engineering, at different levels (regional, national, and international). She is also an associate lecturer at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación (the School of Telecommunication Engineering), at the University of Valladolid, Spain. Dr. María Jesús Verdú was awarded her master s degree in telecommunication engineering in 1996 and her PhD in She has been working as a lecturer at the University of Valladolid since November She has experience in coordinating projects in the fields of new telematic applications for the Information Society and telecommunication networks, especially related to e-learning. She has published papers in international journals and in relevant conference proceedings related to these fields. Copyright 2007 Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc.