E-Learning in Quran and Etrat Internet University

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is becoming increasingly important in today’s world which is named as information age. Furthermore, great efforts have been carried by many Muslim scholars, scientists and intellectuals in evaluating the impacts of ICT towards Islam, and at the same time initiating ways to promote Islamic knowledge and information through ICT enabling tools. It has become a new engine for Muslims all over the world to collect, exchange, share and spread information about Islam. However, we believe that sharing this information is not enough for people to understand Islam. Understanding deep Islamic thoughts and teachings needs an established academic method. On the other hand, e-learning systems have shown great impact on new learning methods of learner based systems and have been proved to be effective in the best way for expanding the knowledge. Also, limitations such as the location and the time of instruction have been removed in such systems. Therefore, Quran and Etrat organization has established Quran and Etrat Internet University (QEIU). In this paper, we present the methodology of designing the university and show the challenges in this process. The objectives and goals of the university have been defined. The audience is then analyzed. The first curriculum called “Basic Program” is designed. The courses have been selected and learning objects along the instructional designs are then created. Since the start of the university in 2002, we show that the proposed system has been successful in achieving its main goals of “Strengthening (improving) the Islamic knowledge of students” and “Spiritual and Ethical progress of students”.