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The Challenges of e-learning within the Saudi
Students at the University of Florida Abdelrazak

Mohamed Elsagheer

1. Introduction

In our new era of technology, e-learning has become a vital strategy for the vast
majority of educational institutions. Moreover, the emergence of information and
instructional technologies has brought about significant changes in the academic
environment all around the world in general and Saudi Arabia in particular.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed unprecedented growth in higher
education and E-learning in recent times. According to Khlood Alharbi (2011), in the last
five years, one university and five colleges have been commissioned every month; 800
scholarships have been awarded every month for overseas study; a national center for
e-learning has been established, and Eunits or departments have been setup.

Similarly, AlKhalaf (2012) points out that the e-learning system has a positive
impact particularly on higher education as it helped improve their job performance,
assisted them to think through problems, and allowed educational organizations to
provide better and newer products and services to users. Moreover, he adds, “with
using the e-learning system provided by the university, faculty members can do their
jobs well. Therefore, faculty members are strongly urged to improve their skills in
dealing with technologies such as e-learning in order to do their jobs better and then
enhance their performance”.

Also, AlAsmari and Khan (2014) see that the urgent need for e-learning in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has resulted from the massive population growth in regard to
the scarcity of teachers in both quantity and quality.

Besides, AlAsmari and Khan (2014) put it “since 2002, when e-learning started in
KSA, it has gained recognition and interest among academic institutions, academics,
and students, though at a relatively slow pace”.

However, though such a positive view there is another opposite one. Naveed
and his colleagues (2017) refer that though e-learning plays a vital role in the education
system, there are many barriers in e-learning methodology for successful
teachinglearning. A study on such barriers will help to overcome the difficulties to the
success of e-learning.

In a similar way, AlGamdi and Samarji (2016) assert that despite the attempts
and the claims that many higher education institutes make in regards to e-learning, a
number of barriers retard many faculty members to progress from the state of

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