An Elluminate
Success Story

Al-Quds Open University Provides Online Education and Collaboration with Elluminate Learning Suite™

Located in Palestine, Al-Quds Open University (QOU) is the first of its kind in the Arab world. It is the largest academic institution in the country, with 2,360 full and part-time instructors and over 60,000 students studying in 23 educational areas and study centers distributed over the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

According to Dr. Majid Hamayil, director of the Open and Distance Learning Center, the university had a goal of improving interaction between students, between teachers, and between faculty and students on a 24/7 basis. In addition, it was important to provide opportunities for learning and collaboration for those for whom mobility and security is an issue.

The solution for providing online and blended teaching and learning was Elluminate. The university started out with Elluminate vClass™, and after receiving funding from the World Bank, the European Community, and PALTEL Group, it upgraded to an open license of the Elluminate Learning Suite™, which includes Elluminate Live!®, Elluminate Plan!™, and Elluminate Publish!™

"From the many bids we received from different vendors, we selected Elluminate based on cost savings, project capacity, available training and support, Moodle integration, and quality of service", explained Dr. Hamayil. "After trying Elluminate, we decided it fit our needs. Because the university was already using Moodle and other web tools, adding Elluminate makes our environment more vital and effective."

"Our experience with Elluminate has been excellent, concluded Dr. Hamayil. "Today, Elluminate Live! is used by all academic and administrative departments. We hold online lectures, blended sessions, workshops, discussion circles, and conferences. Elluminate Plan! provides us with a very easy way to plan our sessions, which enables us to focus on delivery and interaction. We use Elluminate Publish! to publish all our recorded sessions to our LMS and academic portal, where they can be distributed with one click, and we are planning to use CDs as well. Everyone at the university who uses Elluminate is satisfied with the service, and it saves us time and money."