Students' Readiness Towards E-learning. A case study of Virtual Classrooms for secondary education in Palestine

Abstract

This paper explores students' readiness and attitudes towards E-learning paradigm through developing an interactive Web-based application prototype called Alaws Educational Network. The platform of the site provides a variety of methods for a student-centred learning process including Virtual Classrooms (VCR), discussion forum and e-training courses. High secondary students who regularly participate in VCR were asked to evaluate the different aspects of the VCR in terms of: usefulness, self-efficacy, willingness and challenges. The results have shown that students have positive attitude towards the usefulness of e-learning methods but they may not yet ready to adapt them. Therefore, it is imperative that VCR should be seen as supplement and not replacement to the traditional learning methods. This paper further highlights various challenges in implementing e-learning in public schools in developing countries.