E-learning issues and solutions for students with disabilities during COVID-19 pandemic: Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan case study

In this research, approaches to making e-learning accessible to students with impairments were studied based on the authors’ experience at Jordan’s Al-Zaytoonah University. The educational, organizational, and instructional concerns are underlined when analyzing the university’s experience in giving access to online content. Furthermore, these difficulties must be addressed in order to create the necessary organizational change to effectively solve accessibility concerns. This study looked into the e-learning issues that 56 university students with disabilities had reported. Students reported issues with: accessibility to websites and learning course management systems;accessibility to digital audio and video;time management in completing online tasks;trouble handling data during lectures;and a lack of appropriate adaptive strategies in online questionnaires. Students also noted technical issues with using e-learning, instructors’ communication with e-learning, and their treatment of all students equally, overlooking the necessity of considering the needs of students with impairments. In this study, we present the problems raised by students with disabilities and how the e-learning affects students’ outcomes in the e-learning experience. We also make recommendations based on the students’ realistic special-needs experience at Al-Zaytoonah University in Jordan during the COVID-19 pandemic to inspire decision-makers in educational institutions and those interested in this field. © 2022, Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved.

Employing of object tracking system in public surveillance cameras to enforce quarantine and social distancing using parallel machine learning techniques

Like many countries, Jordan has resorted to lockdown in an attempt to contain the outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19). A set of precautions such as quarantines, isolations, and social distancing were taken in order to tackle its rapid spread of Covid-19. However, the authorities were facing a serious issue with enforcing quarantine instructions and social distancing among its people. In this paper, a social distancing mentoring system has been designed to alert the authorities if any of the citizens violated the quarantine instructions and to detect the crowds and measure their social distancing using an object tracking technique that works in real-time base. This system utilises the widespread surveillance cameras that already exist in public places and outside many residential buildings. To ensure the effectiveness of this approach, the system uses cameras deployed on the campus of Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan. The results showed the efficiency of this system in tracking people and determining the distances between them in accordance with public safety instructions. This work is the first approach to handle the classification challenges for moving objects using a shared-memory model of multicore techniques. © Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan (ZUJ).

An E-learning Portal Quality Model: From Al-Zaytoonah University Students' Perspective

The standard of e-learning is a compound of different quality factors quality dimensions. The researchers looked at the efficiency of e-learning from various angles and viewpoints. However, few works of literature study, specifically, the quality of e-learning portals or software. Besides, the students' or learners' opinions about this issue. In this research, we only focused on the quality of e-learning portals and technology and what factors and impact they have on e-learning in general from the students' perspectives. The results show that the students are more concerned about the usability and related factors because their learning process become depends fully on the e-learning portal as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021 IEEE.