THE DIGITAL MOVE TOWARDS ONLINE LEARNING IN LEBANON

Face-to-face learning has always been the primary way of education in Middle East. However, some countries such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE and others decided to adopt some learning management platforms to provide dual programs online. On the other hand, Lebanon is still in its early stages as it was adopted by Ministry of Education in mid-2020 due to the spread Covid-19. In addition, utilizing online learning platforms suffer from many challenges such as accreditation, culture, cost, etc. To study students' satisfaction regarding technology use, level of interaction, types of questions, training, and online sessions and recorded voice-over slides, a survey was distributed to 609 Lebanese students attending different universities. It showed that institutions mainly used Moodle, Google Classroom, and Zoom. There was a comparable rate of satisfaction between Google and Moodle platforms; however, a lower rate with Zoom.


INTRODUCTION TO E-LEARNING
Education strategies have been changing for decades. Profits, market development, reputation and image, and lately Covid-19 pandemic all have moved education towards using online platforms for education. In definition, any education that takes place using the Web is called e-learning or online learning. Online learning is considered one of the types of something called distance learning that gathers all the learning activities that occurs through distance and not using the traditional study hall (Stern, n.d.). It includes securing of information and abilities utilizing electronic innovations, for example, PC and web. One advantage of online learning is that it empowers learners and teachers to adapt to it anytime and regardless of the geographic place (Mohammed et al., 2017). According to Stern (n.d.), and Mohammed et al. (2017), benefits of online learning include: a. Ability to be conducted anytime and anywhere with no need to come and go and search for parking lots. d. Sections can fit in a larger number of students from different places decreasing the need of a physical infrastructure.
e. Ability to expand globally and target new markets thus growing registrations.
E-learning can be categorized into two groups: synchronous and asynchronous. a. Synchronous: It is a teacher-driven way of learning that takes place through an ongoing, instant learning process using the internet with both learners and teachers necessity presence (Mohammed et al, 2017). Techniques usually adopted include but not limited to video/audio conferencing, texting or chat, instant messaging (IM), live webcasting, application sharing, whiteboard, virtual classrooms, etc. (Soni, 2015). This makes it workable for instructors and understudies to convey and impart information or thoughts to quick reaction. Advantages of this type include the ability to get direct responses through online engagement and enhancement of student social skills due to their interactions with their teachers. However, one disadvantage includes less time flexibility (Mohammed et al., 2017). b. Asynchronous: It is a self-study system that can take place offline, thus with or without the attendance of instructors or students where material is delivered through the internet or by email. Advantages of this type include the flexibility in time, ability to fit in busy schedules, and enhancement in students' cognitive processing (Mohammed, 2017). This type can be delivered through Self-paced (SCORM), Audio/Video, E-mail, Discussion forum, Wiki/Blog, Webcasting/Conferencing, Computer-based training (CBT) and Webbased training (WBT), Simulations, Game-based learning (Soni, 2015). The main disadvantage is the low level of interaction and communication where learners sense that they are learning by themselves (Mohammed et al., 2017).

LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Learning management system (LMS) is defined as an interactive internet-based software platform that enhances the provision of course materials and activities to learners without the need for their physical presence in the classroom (Learning Management System, 2014).

LMS Features
According to TrustRadius (2020), learning management system features can be divided into main features used in education sector and other features that can be used beyond education to cover business/corporate organizations.

Blackboard (www.blackboard.com)
It is one of the most utilized frameworks adopted by educational institutions internationally. It is an online learning system created by Blackboard Inc. It is a kind of internet-based software that enables institutions to manage courses, to tailor-make computer architecture which is designed to make adding, upgrading, and swapping components easy and to adapt designs that permits coordination with learners' data frameworks and validation agreements. It might be introduced on the capacity to configure learning exercises which can subjectively draw in the student, and lead them to consider the course content that are posted, as far as explanation, significance, application and settings (Alokluk, 2018). Using Blackboard Learn, students can accept or refuse posts sent to their emails and through drop boxes, they can send their assignments; however, they will not get any email notification regarding their courses. In addition, students can share their personal files' information with their colleagues where the administration has the authority to limit each user's disk space. Another tool in Blackboard Learn is the students' ability to search through discussion threads (Subramanian et al., 2014 it. (Alokluk, 2018;Bradford et al., 2007).

Google sites (sites.google.com)
Google Classroom is a web-based platform used for online learning. It is utilized by schools or universities that have Google Apps for Education and it can be opened through PCs and cell phones, visiting the website at https://classroom.google.com or download the app via Play Store on android or iOS app store. In addition to being free of charge, Google Classroom has fast, and easy-to-use settings and it features high interaction and communication between students and instructors, for example, sending notifications to students about classes and activities and students posting feedbacks on chat stream. Moreover, Google classroom has centralized data storage where instructors' work is saved on cloud, students' material in specific folders, and grades in the application itself (Alim et al., 2019).
On the other hand, Google Classroom has some disadvantages. To assist video-sharing, Google Classroom and YouTube are integrated; however, this integration is missing with Slideshare and Facebook. In addition, activity feeds are not automatically updated causing users to omit some announcements. Another disadvantage is the inability of users to log in to Google Classroom through their personal Gmail where they have to log out from their Gmail and log in to Google Classroom in order to share files (Rahman, 2020).

Moodle (moodle.org)
It is an Open Source Software ( Tables 1, 2, and 3 compare different LMS platforms according to three main features: learner tool, support tool, and technical specifications. Source: Created by author, based on literature review  In Jordan, the Jordan education initiative project (JEI), developed in 2003, concentrated on building a partnership with Cisco systems to develop an online learning system. However, the main shortcoming was the limitations in infrastructure that didn't support interaction between students or between students and their teachers (Ahmad et al., 2018). Nevertheless, today Moodle is utilized in the University of Jordan to structure a well-designed e-learning system and LMS. LMS clients at the University of Jordan are arranged into five classifications as indicated by their specialists: administrator members, makers, redrafting instructors, non-redrafting educator, learners and visitors where everyone has various jobs.

METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLING
One of the main issues to consider in online learning is students' satisfaction. In order to adhere to such information, it was essential to take the opinion of university students on the use of different learning platforms in Lebanon.
Data was collected by adopting a quantitative method through distributing a survey using email and Online sessions were conducted for students where 72% were attending, 19% were not attending and 9% stated not applicable and when asked about their rate of satisfaction with online sessions, 42% were neutral, 19% were very satisfied, 23% were slightly satisfied, 12% were not at all satisfied, and 4% stated not applicable. As a new concept applied in Lebanon, online session satisfaction by students is shown to be acceptable. Thus, students are able to understand their instructors' course explanation.
Investigating the reason for not fully attending the online sessions, out of 607 students 37% had internet connection problems, 12% had electricity problems, 11% had a problem waking up early, 8% were distracted by their families, 7% had a job and 25% had no problem attending their online sessions. In addition, 88% were depending Wi-Fi to login to their accounts while only 12% used their 3G connection.
The lack of electricity can be translated into internet connection problems as most of the students depend on Wi-Fi connection and lack the financial ability to keep using their 3G connection.
When asking students about their situation while being online, 55% stated that they sat alone and listened actively, 31% were not fully attentive due to environmental distraction, 7% logged-in just for their instructor to see them online but don't listen at all, and 7% didn't attend to their sessions. This reflects students' interest in listening and being actively present during online session.
Most universities uploaded previously recorded voice-over slides for students who have problem attending online sessions; however, it was shown that 21% were not satisfied at all while 30% were neutral, 27% very satisfied, 5% extremely satisfied, 14% slightly satisfied, and 3% not applicable. The main problems with recorded voice-over slides are the lack of interaction, problems in download speed, in addition to the inability to provide enough explanation and examples which can also affect the size of the file uploaded. Moreover, while 32% preferred to listen to the voice-overs after 6:00 PM, 33% preferred the AM timing and 25% between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM, and 10% had no preference. This shows that the majority of students prefer to study before 6:00 PM.
When assessing the level of interaction with instructors, 18% considered that there was high interaction and 4% extremely high interaction, 33% were neutral, and 30% said that there was slight interaction while 15% had no interaction with their instructors at all. Because interaction is an important element in learning and the basic key to student understanding, 48% preferred to have a hybrid learning system (online + on-campus) and 38% on-campus learning while only 14% preferred only online learning.
As a new experience, only 24% found using technology as difficult while the rest 76% found it easy which means students didn't have technological problems practicing new learning tools and this reflects the trainings that was given by the institutions where 74% of the students found it effective enough to surf through the platform, 11% stated to be ineffective, and 15% stated that no training was given to them.
Furthermore, when students had to rate their satisfaction level regarding their experience in online learning, the results came as shown in the charts below (Figures 7, 8  Limitation of this study lies in the % of students participating from different universities and their learning behavior. In addition, not all universities and majors participated in filling the survey. Besides, university management differs from one another which make the satisfaction level affected by what the particular university provided its students and how it dealt with the specific online platform they used. In addition, LMS platforms were adopted for first time by all university students due to Covid-19 quarantine.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Online learning platforms are new tools not only adopted by young people whether in schools or universities; however, it is used by organizations of different sizes as a mean of communication whenever a distance is a problem and time efficiency is required.
Even though online learning is not accredited in Lebanon, the covid-19 pandemic obliged institutions to go through this new experience to satisfy the market, not to mention, e-learning is considered highly profitable to universities. That's a reason why educational institutions should work with governmental sector to provide accreditation for degrees acquired online. Additionally, governments are required to maintain an acceptable infrastructure from electricity and Wi-Fi connection and managing special prices for students and institutions on 3G-4G bundles used for LMS platforms, not to forget the importance of uploading digitalized books for students.
One of the main challenges of e-learning is distraction. To improve interaction and engagement, in-class and out-of-class analytical assignments should be posted for students to solve and submit, some daily and some others weekly, where the material should reflect book readings and concepts taken during online sessions. Analytical assignment will encourage students' discussion and group work. In addition,

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Issue 1 / October 2020 nt 230 while home assignments can be sent for learners as bonus to encourage to study, solve and submit, inclass assignments can be also be provided as bonus for students to motivate them to attend classes and when discussed during online sessions will enhance students' engagement and understanding.
Assignments can give an insight into the students' studying behavior and habit and whether they are gaining understanding from online sessions or not. On daily basis communication with students is another way to keep them engaged through posting announcements, sending emails, using the LMS white board, using chat and instant message tools.
Staffs' mentality should be shifted from online learning is ineffective to digital technology enhances the learning process. Video-sharing, recorded videos and presentations, real-time chat and discussion forums, whiteboards and many others can all be used to enhance learning experience whether learning is online or blended.
Another challenge to online learning is the cost of purchasing, installing and maintaining the software and hardware required to implement online learning. One of the ways to decrease in the cost is through training faculty members to improve their skills in using technologies. The faultier members are ready to use platforms, the more effective the strategy will be and the more students will be satisfied with less errors. Moreover, students should be provided with proper training through online seminars or videos on how-to-use the platform. Successful students' training will decrease the time load required to answer students' questions and responding to emails, in addition to minimizing the errors students can perform especially when it comes to submitting assignments and quizzes. Furthermore, free of charge platforms can be used with minimal technical specifications for an easy administration by staff and students.
In order to modify the way people in general think regarding digital technology in education, governments and different industry sectors should all work together to properly implement online learning system and show its effectiveness and benefits to society, economics, one's welfare.