In 2002, the Virtual University of Tunis was created as a higher education expansion and reform initiative. Unlike other newly developed virtual universities in the region, which according to the UNESCO are following a consumer dominated trend and contributing little to the production of genuine material and development of expertise in new technologies, the UVT was established with the aim of producing genuine material and pedagogical resources for Tunisia’s higher education. One of the concrete objectives of the UVT was to prepare 20% of higher education curricula for web-based teaching by 2010.
One of the primary areas of focus of the UGA Tunisia Educational Partnership since 2002 has been to develop the capacity of the Tunisian higher education community to plan, develop and produce new instructional material through human resource development and the training of trainers.
For higher education institutions around the world, building institutional capacity to cooperate internationally has become a priority as we face complex and global development, environmental, social, political, and security challenges. Developing countries in particular face significant challenges as they prepare their citizenry to compete in a new global economy centered on communication and information technology. In 2002, Engineering Professor Takoi Hamrita founded the UGA Tunisia Educational Partnership between her institution, the University of Georgia, and her country of origin, Tunisia. As a native of Tunisia, Prof. Hamrita had maintained close ties with her home country by participating in conferences, leadership of scientific organizations, and seeking networking opportunities in Tunisia. Therefore, the partnership emerged as an opportunity to synthesize these spheres of involvement and mobilize others for widespread and sustainable collaboration.
Engaging and integrating university, government, and community resources for substantial and sustainable international development and university globalization, the partnership aims to support reform efforts of the Tunisian ministry of higher education and Tunisian universities in increasing impact on social and economic development, tuning to international standards, and building a sustainable e-learning environment, among other things, while supporting UGA’s efforts in fulfilling its global mission of public service and outreach, furthering campus internationalization, and building its capacity to collaborate with an Arab Muslim country.
The importance of ICT in international development has often been stressed in recent years, but is especially relevant in Tunisia, where 99.1% enrollment in primary education has been achieved, and the resulting increase in the number of students seeking higher education and strain on the higher education system has made expanding access through the use of ICT and distance learning a top concern of the Tunisian government.
The partnership was organized as a university-wide international collaboration based on an innovative holistic approach. In order to initiate the partnership, the director spend several weeks in Tunisia over multiple visits, and conducted interviews with over 100 individuals in Tunisia to receive input about national initiatives and reforms. Simultaneously, Dr. Hamrita engaged in research and review of the literature in international development and an in-depth examination of available UGA resources in the areas of interest. The director initiated discussions with UGA leaders across levels and departments to assess the university’s capacity and interest in a large-scale partnership. The partnership emerged out of intense collaborations with several different levels of government and institutional administration simultaneously, as well as a strong commitment to and large investment in individual relationships.
Once interest in and commitment to the partnership was established on both sides, leadership exchanges were initiated to inform collaborative goals and plan for partnership activities. Workshops were held in both Tunisia and at the University of Georgia, with programs featuring presenters from a wide range of disciplines and levels. Cultural exchange was also incorporated into partnership activities, including language classes, cultural events and site visits, and visits with ambassadors in both Tunisia and the United States.
One of the primary areas of our work has been to build capacity of the Tunisian higher education community to plan, develop and produce new instructional material through human resource development and the training of trainers following a holistic approach. More specifically, we provided pedagogical, technological, and administrative training to Tunisian professors and administrators on web-based learning, engaged faculty throughout the country in the mission of the virtual university, provided a forum for Tunisian faculty and administrators to brainstorm and discuss strategies for reaching national goals, and created sustainable long-term networks of faculty who serve as leaders within their universities and as liaisons with the UVT. The partnership therefore supported UVT in its efforts to become an effective player in the Tunisian higher education system and continues to promote UVT as a national leader and international model in e-learning development and dissemination.
The program drew from UGA and State resources to build a large and diverse network of experts who can deliver a wide range of expertise both technologically and pedagogically. A total number of 44 UGA faculty and staff from 20 disciplines and 15 departments, 15 graduate students, 15 staff members and administrators, and 8 experts from the University System of Georgia had the opportunity to participate in the training efforts. Several of these faculty were invited to participate in planning meetings that shaped the content of the workshops. In order to maximize the impact of grant funding on the Tunisian program participants, all trainers were sought out on a voluntary basis.
Overall, the partnership has brought together a network of highly motivated change agents within Tunisian universities as well as UGA who have been passionately contributing to a number of important initiatives. The program was awarded the Institute of International Education’s Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education, as well as the Tunisian Medal of Merit in Science and Education.
The UGA Tunisia Educational Partnership aims at creating long-term, broad-based, and transformative institutional programs and relationships between the University of Georgia and the higher education system of Tunisia.
Partnership programs aim to assist the Tunisian higher education system in its efforts to tackle core issues and respond to Tunisia’s most urgent development needs, such as:
The establishment of a national capacity building program for e-learning to meet pressing demands of a burgeoning student population.
Promotion of civic engagement and strengthening the connection between higher education and the community.
Contributing to the creation of a new culture of self assessment, evaluation, and accreditation within Tunisian higher education institutions.
Support of UGA’s efforts in fulfilling its global mission of public service and outreach while furthering campus internationalization and building UGA’s capacity to collaborate with an Arab Muslim country
Creating a new innovative holistic model for international education and development through:
Integration of institutional and national resources;
Building of large networks of decision makers, administrators, faculty, and students that cut across disciplinary and institutional boundaries;
Engaging graduate and undergraduate students in the fabric of the partnership
Facilitating the emergence of indigenous expertise through various holistic training programs and pilot projects.
Since E-learning constitutes the biggest and most established capacity-building initiative so far, the discussion below is focused on the e-learning program. Similar efforts have been conducted in other areas of collaboration such as evaluation and assessment and university-community outreach.
The program was initiated in 2002 and consisted of multiple needs assessment and relationship building visits, development of training curricula, a 3-week training workshop held at UGA in 2004 for a group of 20 Tunisian professors, a national e-learning workshop held in Tunisia in 2005 facilitated by a UGA expert delegation, a 2-week training workshop held at UGA in 2006 for 20 Tunisian professors, pre- and post -workshop activities, assessment and evaluation of training programs and their outcomes, and follow up and coaching visits to ensure dissemination and sustainability. The workshops covered a wide and comprehensive range of pedagogical and technological topics in e-learning and emphasized the development of indigenous expertise. Throughout the workshops, ongoing feedback and program modification was used to adjust workshop and lab time content to be relevant to evolving participant needs. In all workshops, time was allocated to building interdisciplinary alumni networks within and between home institutions. Program alumni have produced a wide range of new web-based courses and formed an official organization known as the Association for the Development of Virtual Research and Education (APREV). Since 2002, an approximate number of 80 professors and e-learning professionals from around the country have been directly involved in our program.
Introductory Workshop, UGA 2004: In March 2004, the UGA Tunisia Educational Partnership organized a three week workshop at UGA for Tunisian professors. The request to nominate participants to the program was issued by the UVT to all university presidents around the country. Long-term commitment of program participants and the expectation to contribute to national goals were conveyed. The goal was to achieve a balance of disciplines, gender, geographic distribution, and career stages among the selected group. Initially, with the program not having precedence and reputation, and with e-learning being a new concept in Tunisia, there was some difficulty in mobilizing enough applicants. Only twice as many applications as there were openings were submitted. The candidate had to be a tenured professor with some English proficiency and some experience with Information Technology. In the final selection process which was conducted by the program director, professors with a demonstrated commitment to teaching and with an academic record that showed great promise for future impact and dissemination were selected.
Once the group was formed, participants filled out a questionnaire to determine their initial aptitudes and gauge their training needs. The program was then developed to meet these specific needs. To ensure commitment among the workshop participants and tangible impact of the training program, the participants were given the charge of producing a concrete deliverable by the end of the training period, of a course, or at least a module to be uploaded on the UVT’s platform for on-line education. The training program consisted of presentations and demonstrations on a wide range of technological and pedagogical topics as well as lab time to apply the acquired knowledge to the individual’s course development. Every effort was made to instill a group culture among the participants and create a community of learners with common goals. Leaders emerged in the group and group dynamics and work methodologies were established by group members to manage the work load and achieve concrete results. At the conclusion of the training period, a show and tell session was held to give participants the opportunity to share the product of their work with other group members as well as UGA colleagues.
The training period was infused with group discussions facilitated by the program director to understand the impediments to the development of e-learning in Tunisia and mobilize the group to adopt the national goals for e-learning as their own personal and institutional goals. National Workshop, Tunisia 2005: In April 2005, the UGA Tunisia Educational Partnership organized a week-long program in Tunisia designed to fulfill a number of goals aimed at advancing e-learning capacity building efforts in Tunisia. Among other things, we aimed to (1) promote the program as a national driving force for e-learning capacity building in Tunisia, (2) reinforce and build on the efforts of our program alumni, (3) further engage Tunisian higher education leadership in the program while expanding the network of faculty involved, (4) begin a gradual process of transfer of capacity building program ownership and leadership to program alumni, (5) catalyze a national debate to further conceptualize a national agenda for e-learning development in Tunisia.
The program consisted of two major components. A high level day-long workshop event at the nation’s capital targeting Tunisian higher education leaders and decision makers to encourage them to reflect on what is needed for large-scale distance learning programs to survive over time and develop the capacities (technically, pedagogically, and administratively) needed to serve large populations. The session was attended by the Minister of Higher Education, University Presidents, Deans, Departmental heads and directors of e-learning programs. Among the topics covered during this session are system-wide implementation of e-learning, pedagogy, assessment, and case studies of successful as well as failed e-learning models and programs, and an overview of issues of scalability and sustainability in large-scale distance learning programs.
The second component of the program consisted of a two day capacity building event at one of the program’s partner universities on the coast of Tunisia (the University of Sousse) involving program alumni as well as an additional new 40 professors from around the country. Two concurrent technical workshops took place during this event. The first one was focused on collaborative development of e-learning and design and implementation of courses for system wide dissemination. This workshop was attended by senior professors, decision makers, and course Designers, the majority of which were alumni of our program. In fact, during this workshop, these alumni began to take a bigger leadership role in the training and to hone their training and facilitation skills alongside the UGA trainers.
The second workshop was designed for beginners and focused on course design, evaluation and assessment, student preparation and tutoring, high-level technical aspects (Videoconferencing, Video streaming, Dream weaver, Photoshop, Merlot, e-Core), e-learning team design (different players and their roles), e-learning management, organization and coordination between all the players (teachers, tutors, administrators), and material ownership and copyright issues.
The Partnership entered a new phase with this workshop event as the Tunisian participants together with the Georgia delegates reflected on the experience gained in the previous two years, enunciating the stakes, challenges and solutions involved with e-learning in Tunisia, brainstormed strategies for the development of a national plan to reach Tunisia’s 20% on the web objective, and the establishment of a systematic train-the-trainer program in Tunisia as well as a national body to oversee and foster excellence in Teaching in Tunisian universities. These guided reflection sessions gave all involved the opportunity to share views and suggestions to further e-learning and good pedagogy in Tunisia and provided key insights giving us a road map for future work together towards making the Tunisian higher education e-learning model a self-sustainable one.
The event was given a high level of attention by national television and the written press contributing to the national promotion and visibility of e-learning and our capacity building program in Tunisia, providing tangible and intangible benefits for Tunisian higher education through public awareness.
Advanced Workshop, UGA March 2006: In March 2006, the UGA Tunisia Educational Partnership organized a two week workshop at UGA for Tunisian professors. A national search was conducted to recruit participants. This time, due in part to the growing popularity of e-learning in Tunisia, and in part to the growing popularity of the partnership program, 233 applications were received. Also, this time, the selection of participants was conducted by a committee consisting of program alumni. 20 participants were selected in three categories: course designers, e-learning coordinators, and coordinators and designers of UVT pilot projects. The coordinators and designers of pilot projects were selected based on their availability, strategic importance of project, and needs of project and state of progress. The course designers were selected based on English proficiency and basic background in e-learning, motivation and availability for dissemination, regional distribution, gender, discipline, and institutional support from home institution. Additionally, to ensure continuity and promote Tunisian leadership of the program, a senior program participant who took part in the first UGA workshop, and who has demonstrated leadership and commitment towards the program, was invited to head the delegation. The primary focus of the workshop was on assuring quality in e-learning. The intensive two week itinerary consisted of a broad range of topics covering advanced technological as well as pedagogical aspects relating to on-line teaching. The program included a plenary session with a renowned key note speaker on the scholarship of teaching, daily morning lectures and afternoon lab-time, demonstration sessions for workshop participants to showcase their work, and reflection and strategic planning sessions. For this workshop, the participants took an even bigger and more active role in the selection of program topics, as well as the training itself and its evaluation. The focus on building a community of Tunisian e-learning experts who are passionate about advancing e-learning in Tunisia continued through group activities and coaching.
In addition to advancing and refining their on-line courses, the participants walked away with a set of best practices in on-line education concerning teaching pedagogy, course content, and the building of effective learning environments and communities. Moreover, by the end of the group’s visit, and during the concluding reflection session, interest emerged among workshop participants to form an e-learning association consisting of program alumni and other Tunisian faculty to give them a formal mechanism to continue playing a key role in advancing e-learning in Tunisia and to ensure dissemination of the expertise they developed. A work plan was formulated by the participants before leaving UGA for establishing the association, which was named APREV (www.uvt.rnu.tn/aprev). L’APREV was officially established in January 2007. Since then, it has instituted three significant annual events: a national colloquium on best practices in e-learning, a national prize for innovative e-learning projects, and an international conference on e-learning research.
Merging Previous and New Program Alumni: Upon the group's return, and in May 2006, a round table was held at the UVT to fuse the three groups together: UGA I (2004), Sousse (2005) and UGA II (2006). The round table meeting aimed to create a framework of exchange and collaborative work between the participants to preserve the bond of the group around five action items: (1) To share the acquired knowledge and outreach activities; (2) to work so that any training activity results in a product (Course, teaching object, project); (3) to work towards concepts and tools for improving quality of the developed products and their use; (4) to support multidisciplinary exchange; and (5) to promote the scholarship and research of e-learning contributing to the advancement of e-learning in Tunisia and the world.
The partnership has helped build a sustainable e-learning environment in Tunisia through participation of 82 individuals from 13 Tunisian universities in a holistic e-learning capacity building program. Partnership alumni in Tunisia have held 75 training events for their peers, developed over 100 online courses, created 4 online degree programs, and enrolled thousands of Tunisian university students. Furthermore, Tunisian partnership alumni founded an e-learning NGO called the Tunisian Association for E-Learning Research and Dissemination, or l’APREV. L’APREV was officially established in January 2007 to capitalize on the expertise acquired through our capacity building program and create an official mechanism for our alumni to remain active as a group and to continue supporting the UVT and its mission. Since then, l’APREV has been providing training nationally, and has instituted three significant annual events: a national colloquium on best practices in e-learning, a national prize for innovative e-learning projects, and an international conference on e-learning research.
The Partnership Program has provided a unique multidisciplinary platform for graduate and undergraduate students from UGA to work with a diverse group of experts from both countries and to be immersed in an ongoing international experience. Whether through participation in the program as graduate research assistants, workshop trainers and presenters, service learning course participants or volunteers helping with partnership logistics and participating in social and cultural programs, students are having a unique international educational experience while contributing to very important national reform initiatives of the Tunisian higher education system.
UGA’s capacity for collaboration with an Arab Muslim country has clearly been developed through the balanced participation of UGA and Tunisian partners in 8 workshop hosted at UGA and 8 workshop hosted in Tunisia, as well as the participation of 132 total individuals from UGA and 213 individuals from Tunisia. Leaders from UGA and Tunisia in particular have been sensitized to collaboration between the two countries through two university management workshops and 4 leadership exchanges. The partnership has also created an innovative framework for engagement through a holistic approach that has involved from the US and UGA 32 administrators, faculty from 11 colleges and 16 departments, 13 public service faculty, 17 graduate students from 4 colleges and 9 departments, 20 staff, 75 community members, and 6 diplomats; and from Tunisia 20 administrators, faculty from 21 institutes and universities, 5 graduate students from 2 universities, 14 secondary school students, 2 staff, 50 community members, and 2 diplomats.
The partnership’s holistic approach has allowed for community building and the promotion of cultural understanding to be a deliberate and integral part of the program design and not just a casual byproduct. We have built collaborative ties with schools of music and fine arts and performing art centers to enrich our programs with cultural exchange. We have hosted multiple cultural events and receptions involving guests from UGA and Tunisia. We have made arrangements for intensive Arabic language training for UGA project participants, and English training for Tunisian Participants. We have provided several opportunities for the Tunisian Ambassador in the U.S. to visit our campus and give public lectures about U.S. Arab relations. Similarly, we have provided opportunities for the U.S. Ambassador in Tunisia to interact with program participants in Tunisia. We have engaged the Athens community in our programs including the Mayor of Athens. We have built collaborative ties with the Tunisian-American community; recently over 100 Tunisian-Americans from all over the U.S. gathered on the UGA campus to celebrate the UGA Tunisia Educational Partnership and awarded the program the Ibn Khaldoun Excellence in Community Service Award.
The UGA Tunisia Educational Partnership has been widely publicized and disseminated both nationally and internationally. So far, we have had 5 UGA and 10 Tunisian press releases, 17 feature articles, and 5 Tunisian National TV appearances. There have been 10 references to our program on other University websites. We have developed an educational website which in addition to publicizing our program and supporting and facilitating project management, collaboration, and network building is providing a venue for program dissemination. The website gets thousands of hits on a regular basis, and we are often contacted by other universities who are inspired by the program.
Additionally, Dr. Hamrita was invited to present about the program at multiple international conferences including the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the International Conference on the University & Civil Society, the IEEE International Conference on Web-Based Learning, and the Information and Communication Technology 4 ALL Global Forum. Dr. Hamrita has given over 20 presentations about the program to professional groups including politicians, university leadership, faculty and students.
The partnership’s innovative approach to international collaboration and development has been rewarded with the Tunisian Community Center’s Ibn Khaldoun Service Award and Tunisia’s Presidential Republic Medal of Merit for Science and Education in 2007, and the Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education in the category of international exchange partnerships in 2008.
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