Al-Quds Open University (QOU)

Transcription

Al-Quds Open University
(QOU)
Information and Communication Technology Center
(ICTC)
Al-Quds Open University
Website /Portal: http://www.qou.edu
Information and Communication Technology Center (ICTC)
Tel: 00972 (02) 2964571,2,3
Fax: 00 972 (02) 2964995
Email: ictc@qou.edu
-November 2008-
Table of Contents
Information & Communication Technology Center (ICTC).....................................................3
MISSION ............................................................................................................................................................. 3
OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................................................ 3
ACHIEVEMENTS .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Networking and Technical Support Department (NTSD) .......................................................6
MISSION ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
ACHIEVEMENTS .................................................................................................................................................. 7
INTRANET TOPOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................... 14
Training and Development Department (TDD).....................................................................18
MISSION ........................................................................................................................................................... 18
ACHIEVEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 18
TRAINING METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................... 23
TRAINERS ......................................................................................................................................................... 23
TRAINING LABORATORIES ................................................................................................................................ 24
IT ACADEMIES ACCREDITATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 25
EFFECTIVE TRAINING COURSES AND CERTIFICATIONS ..................................................................................... 26
CUSTOMERS...................................................................................................................................................... 29
Software Engineering Department (SWENG) .......................................................................30
MISSION ........................................................................................................................................................... 30
OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................................................................... 30
ACHIEVEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 30
Multimedia Department (MD) ...............................................................................................48
MISSION ........................................................................................................................................................... 48
OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................................................................... 48
SCOPE ............................................................................................................................................................... 48
ACHIEVEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 50
E-Learning Unit ......................................................................................................................52
MISSION ........................................................................................................................................................... 52
OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................................................................... 52
E-LEARNING UNIT ACHIEVEMENTS .................................................................................................................. 52
AVICENNA VIRTUAL CAMPUS .......................................................................................................................... 54
RUFO – INTER-UNIVERSITY NETWORK FOR OPEN LEARNING ................................................ 56
Appendix A: ICTC- CVs .........................................................................................................57
Appendix B: Laboratories and Facilities..................................................................................58
Appendix C: Accessibility Support .........................................................................................59
Appendix C: Network of Regional Training LABs .................................................................60
Appendix D: Additional Training Courses.............................................................................62
2
Information & Communication Technology Center (ICTC)
ICTC was established in 1998 following a decision from the university council. It is
considered as one of the most important centers that serve the university in all technological
and communication aspects. It has the responsibility of technical development of programs
regarding administration, financial, academic, and community service. It links the university
to the most up-to-date technological resources.
University
President
President's Assistant for Technology and Multimedia Affairs
ICTC
Director
Director Assistant
E-learning Unit
Accounting and Supplies
Secretary
Services
Multimedia
Department
Training
Department
Software Engineering
Department
Network and Technical
Support Department
Figure 1: ICTC Structure
The University has the most extensive and elaborate technology network in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip. However, what is currently considered to be a big burden is
the large costly intranet that has been implemented by the only telecommunication
company in Palestine (PALTEL).
ICTC consists of four departments: Networking and Technical Support, Training and
Development, Software Engineering, and Multimedia and Graphic Design. See Fig. 1.
Mission
To effectively conceive, develop, implement, utilize, and manage appropriate
information systems in order to provide integrated and coordinated quality ICT
services to Al-Quds Open University in line with its vision, mission and objectives.
Objectives
The objectives of the ICTC can be summarized as follows:
1. Developing the infrastructure of the University's intranet to fully satisfy the
needs of the running computerized systems.
2. Preparation of ICT labs and computer labs to serve the education and
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
research purposes
Software development of computerized systems to the various Universities'
administrative and academic tasks.
Smooth and timely migration to the e-learning era. The ICTC has completed
the first phase of developing an academic portal for the university.
Developing
and
maintaining
the
website
of
the
university
http://www.qou.edu.
Closer interaction with the community including other universities and
educational institutions.
Improve communications media between university branches and its regional
educational centers via solving problems related to network overload.
Ensure secure flow of data and information.
Provide e-mail service to QOU's staff.
Provide internet service to QOU's staff and students.
Produce multimedia packages for students to use in order to enrich the
educational process.
Establish a central database for all the regional study centers.
Help the research units via providing necessary computing tools.
Achievements
ICTC has achieved many projects that serve its objectives. Some of these projects are
summarised as follows:
1. Establishing the widest computer network (Intranet) in Palestine as a higher
education institution. See figure 6.
2. Hosting the Eumed-Connect line; a direct link between UK and Palestine with
45Mbps shared between the Palestinian Universities.
3. Installation of Video Conference (VC) system: some VC rooms are prepared
for administrational and academic purposes, since we are all aware of the
difficulties facing our University Council these days in their meetings, and
facing our students to attend the academic meetings.
4. Development of Educational e-Portal: QOU Academic Portal is in-house open
source developed with the highest available technologies. See appendix E-2.
5. Development of the e-courses hosted on Avicenna Portal Project funded by
Eumedis and European Union. See the link: http://pleiad.qou.edu.
6. In-house development of all QOU’s systems, including accounting,
registration, human resources, honours, student affairs, and many other
systems, such as:
a. Course Management Unit in academic portal that enables academic
supervisors to open discussions with students, and to upload tutorials
and other helpful material for their students.
b. Managerial Portal, which provides employees with many e-services
such as, messaging, vacations, leaves, annual evaluation, and
submitting for jobs online.
c. Alumni Portal: this portal provides QOU alumni with good services
like Employment Services, discussion forums, opportunities and
guidance for higher education, and reports related to labor market.
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7. Providing QOU with new training services through the new IT academies.
We have a procedure of offering training courses for the University's
employees and local community in order to improve their computer and IT
skills.
8. Visually impaired computer labs: two computer labs for visually impaired
students were established in two educational regions (Jenin and Hebron).
These labs are used also for all visually impaired students in the local society
who wish to get any kind of computer skills.
9. Installing video streaming and web TV system, which is employed to stream
QOU's events and educational multimedia online through internet.
10. Signing an agreement with Toulouse University to cooperate in educational
multimedia development.
11. Conducting 2 ICT days aimed to launch new ICT projects. The 1st ICT day
was conducted in November 2005 and sponsored by Jawwal. The 2nd ICT day
was conducted in March 2008 and sponsored by Wataniya Mobile.
12. PEDEX 2007 and 2008: ICTC was responsible for the organization of QOU
participation in Palestine 3rd Educational Exhibition 2007. ICTC was also
involved in the organization of QOU participation in cooperation with PR
department in Palestine 4th Educational Exhibition 2008. QOU was the Silver
Sponsor for PEDEX 2008.
5
Networking and Technical Support Department (NTSD)
The Networking department is responsible for establishing and developing the network
infrastructure for all QOU sites, to ensure a continuous, reliable and efficient performance of
the running services with minimum cost, depending on its highly qualified engineers and
technicians (some of their CV's are attached in appendix A). Also, the department is
responsible for setting the specifications of the University's hardware needs.
The department is considered as the nerve system of the university and the safety valve for
using computers in all sectors in the university. It follows up the upgrade and development
of the network technology and systems.
Mission
To deploy electronic services through a robust network to all QOU sites.
Objectives
Our objectives focus on efficient participation in developing ICT sector at QOU to satisfy its
policy in distance education and e-learning.
1. Constructing a Local Area Network (LAN) in each educational region and study
center all over Palestine and joining them to the University's intranet.
2. Establishing and supervising many computer networks in every educational region
and study center. Moreover, NTSD must connect these networks together to have
one complete network at the university level.
3. Supervising the establishment of a high level maintenance team who maintain the
university centers and its educational areas instead of using other companies.
4. Providing the academic instructors and students with a good environment to benefit
from e-learning facilities.
5. Providing technical support to QOU's employees and technicians, and recovering the
emergency problems and disasters.
6. Connecting all the computers in the laboratories and administrative units to the main
network domain in order to be able to use internet service and other services.
7. Providing e-mail service to all employees at the University.
8. Using internet to connect to other local community and international networks that
serve researchers in research and development (R & D).
9. Gaining a solid foundation in network technology and network administration to
expose to the more recent trends in network technology.
10. Installation and troubleshooting the network's operating systems and performing
basic system administration on platforms such as :
•
Active Directory Servers.
•
Mail Server.
•
Domain Name Server (DNS).
•
Applications and FTP servers.
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•
Web Server.
•
Antivirus Server.
•
Portal Server.
•
Avicenna Pleiad Server.
•
VPN Server.
•
Avicenna Lab Server.
•
Video Streaming Server
Achievements
1. Intranet
Fiber optics line is connected to the main backbone, while the educational regions and
study centers connect with the backbone as star topology using Time Division
Multiplexing (TDM) technology.
2. Internet service
There are two separate main internet sources:
•
•
Leased line from local ISP with 1Mbps as a backup link.
EUMED-Connect line with 6Mbps internet and 6Mbps for research purpose.
3. E-mail service
We provide e-mail service to all QOU's employees and staff. This service is based on
open source technology. The mail system is customized to satisfy the University's needs.
It is based on the following technologies:
•
RedHat Linux operating system.
•
Horde mail system application.
•
Firewall and antivirus software for system protection.
4. Computer labs
The department is responsible for providing and preparing well equipped computer labs
at QOU. The labs are classified as follows:
•
Computer labs: they are used for education purposes, student practice training
and doing assignments, besides some practical lectures in IT subjects.
•
Internet labs: Students use these labs for internet usage and to login to QOU
portal system, email, etc.
•
Multimedia labs: these labs are established to enable students to use multimedia
that contain the educational material prepared on CD's, Tapes, etc. Beside
instructors can use these labs for training on multimedia courses.
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•
Continuing Education labs: these labs are used for some IT training courses as a
support for other labs mentioned above, especially in educational regions where
there are many training courses organized for the local society.
•
Computer Labs for visually impaired students: two computer labs for visually
impaired students are established in two educational regions (Jenin and Hebron).
QOU is planning to establish more labs in other educational regions for its
students and local society. See appendix C.
•
ICT Labs: 7 labs contain electronic and communications training kits,
components, and measuring equipments. These labs are used by students in
practical courses in the Information and Communication Technology
specialization- Technology and Applied Science Program.
5. Virtual Private Network (VPN)
According to the concept of the E-communication between the sites of the university
inside and outside Palestine; Virtual Private Network (VPN) was established to connect
the QOU site in Jordan with the intranet in Palestine. The department is working on
connecting both Riyadh and Jeddah sites in Saudi Arabia with Palestine.
6. EUMED-Connect Project
The EUMED-Connect is a pioneering initiative project to establish and operate an IPbased network in the Mediterranean region. The EUMED-Connect network serves the
educational and research communities of the Mediterranean region, and is linked to the
pan-European GÉANT network.
For the first time, national research centres and institutions in the Mediterranean region
have dedicated connectivity to more than 3,500 educational and research establishments
in Europe, and other research communities worldwide.
Al-Quds Open University hosts the main link which is connected directly to UK with
45Mbps shared among Palestinian universities. Figure 3 below illustrates the map of the
EUMED-Connect project links, which shows the direct link between UK and Al-Quds
Open University- Palestine.
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Figure 2: EUMED-Connect map
7. Video Conference System
The project aims at interconnecting all QOU's sites with video conferencing classrooms.
As a rule of thump, open learning are key elements of QOU philosophy,
while the implementation of this philosophy on a wide range costs a lot. Some VideoConference (VC) rooms are prepared for administrational and academic purposes, since
we are all aware of the difficulties facing our University Council these days in their
meetings on one side, and facing our students to attend the academic meetings on the
other. Moreover, due to the shortage of academic supervisors in many educational fields,
we found that the strategic decision is VC. Video-Conference system objectives can be
summarized as follows:
•
•
•
•
Interconnecting the main educational regions with video conferencing
connectivity.
Increasing the efficiency of lectures in some subjects through enabling students
and instructors to interact through video conferencing
Facilitate the administrational workflow.
Enable the university technically to interact with its partners all over the world in
different aspects, and exchange with other universities and most of all, for
cultural exchange.
Because of the high number of nodes, the VC system project was divided into different
phases. Phase one and two interconnected 4 sites; Ramallah, Gaza, Jerusalem and
Hebron, where Ramallah is the central node. See figure 3.
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Figure 3: Phase two, Video-Conference system at QOU
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Figure 4: Devices and components of QOU's VC system
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Each site consists of two parts; the POLYCOM system which forms the conferencing
infrastructure, and other devices and utilities like TV, projectors, smart board, etc.
The central node meets all the main system shell, so the system backbone will be located
there and the main control operations are carried out from this node. It is equipped with
POLYCOM VS 4000 multi-point, multi-mode system, which connects the other three sites
and uses both ISDN and PRI line with 2 Mbps bandwidth. EUMED Connect line is used
with IP. The system includes 42 PLAZMA TV, smart board, LCD Projector and a mixer as
shown in figure 4.
8. FTP Server
The department has published an FTP server that contains a lot of helpful material and text
books. The published material includes more than 140 multimedia videos of different fields
of study in our university. Also, a lot of official textbooks taught in the university as
electronic version are published on the FTP site. Students can access the following site
ftp://ftp.qou.edu anywhere in the world and download whatever they want. While they
can do so internally from our computer labs in the educational areas and study centres at
this link ftp://ftp or ftp://192.0.0.5.
9. Video Streaming System
As part of the Avicenna Virtual campus project, AL-Quds Open University received some
useful equipment from the UNESCO; streaming encoder is the most important tool that can
be used to serve E-learning. Also we receive 2 video cameras with a very high performance
to be used in shooting video.
Streaming media has been offered up as a solution to a wide variety of problems: how to
connect students and faculty at a distance and to deliver core course content. Without
proper consideration of the audience receiving streaming media, however, the promise of
this technology might quickly turn into frustration for all involved. A streaming media or
streaming video server is a specialized application which runs on an Internet server. Flash
uses two formats: .SWF for standard Flash files which are used in web pages, and .FLV
which is a special Flash video format. FLV files can be called from within SWF files. Flash
also has the huge advantage of having the most widely-supported cross-platform player. It
is such a common plug-in that almost everyone has it. Therefore this is now the format we
recommend most strongly.
This is often referred to as "true streaming", since other methods only simulate streaming.
The following tools were used in implementing video streaming system:
Hardware:
• 2 Osprey Capture Cards.
• Rack Breakout Panel
• 2 Sony HDV Cameras
Software:
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•
•
•
•
•
Wowza Media Server.
Helix Server
Flash Media Encoder
Universal Real Producer
Windows Media Encoder
Figure 5: QOU Video streaming system
The video streaming system has the following features:
•
The ability to handle much larger traffic loads.
•
The ability to detect users' connection speeds and supply appropriate files
•
•
•
•
•
•
automatically.
The ability to broadcast live events.
Can be used for on demand broadcasting
Interactive media player server (Text and Video chat)
Includes both bandwidth checker and Secure token.
Multicasting : can be deployed very fast over the network
Very high compatibility with the Adobe Flash Encoder.
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Intranet Topology
Figure 6 illustrates QOU network diagram that explains the technology used to connect all
QOU sites together, and the speed of the links between ICTC and other branches. Besides,
Figure 7 represents QOU-ICTC backbone network and technologies with all available
systems and servers.
A sample of the network and technologies infrastructure is illustrated in figure 8. It
represents one of the educational regions "Al-Quds Educational Region" which is one of
QOU's 25 sites; of course the other sites have approximately the same architecture. Also,
figure 9 represents a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that connects QOU Office in JordanAmman with our main ICTC site in Ramallah.
Figure 6: QOU Intranet Network Topology
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Figure 7: QOU-ICTC backbone
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Figure 8: Sample LAN infrastructure for one of QOU branches
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Figure 9: ICTC- Amman office VPN connection
Network operating systems in QOU are heterogeneous. It is powered by Digital Unix,
RedHat Linux, and Microsoft operating systems with Distributed Active Directory.
Machines hosting these systems are highly customized and dedicated for their applications.
Security and high availability are taken into consideration in the network, relying on highspecification machines, hosting QOU applications. The network serves 50 computer labs, 21
internet labs, 13 multimedia labs, 7 ICT labs, and 3 training labs for continuing education
courses. Besides, more than 2500 PCs are distributed in QOU branches for educational and
administrative purposes.
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Training and Development Department (TDD)
The Information and Communication Technology Center established the Training and
Development Department (TDD) in the year 2000, as a step to improve the performance of
ICTC's staff.
Mission
Bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Achievements
The Training and Development Department provides a broad range of courses on a variety
of subjects in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The department strives to
meet the needs of the individual as well as those of the organizations.
1. International Accreditations :
The Training and Development Department awarded several Accreditations to QOU from
various IT industry leaders such as:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Microsoft IT Academy: the first Palestinian University signed an agreement with
Microsoft under the name of Palestine, to become authorized to offer Microsoft
training and certification for its staff, students and local community.
Oracle Academy : QOU is the first Palestinian University that signed an agreement
with Oracle under the name of Palestine, to incorporate the Oracle Academy’s
Advanced Computer Science & Business program
Sun Academic Initiative: QOU is the first Palestinian member in Sun Academic
Initiative to offer the Sun training and certifications for QOU staff, Students and local
community.
Exclusive Certiport Testing and Training Center: The training and development
department got this accreditation for the University to become the first and exclusive
training and testing center in Palestine. It provides certification programs for the
Microsoft Office` products, Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³), and
Adobe Certified Associate.
Authorized Prometric Testing Center: the training department got an accreditation as
Authorized Prometric Testing Centre. Prometric is the leading worldwide provider of
comprehensive technology-based testing and assessment services.
ETS Authorized TOEFL IBT Testing Center: Training and Development department
got accreditation for the University to become registered and approved as an official
ETS TOEFL internet Based Testing (iBT).
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2. Training Courses :
The training and development department organized and conducted several training
courses locally and internationally, which can be summarized as follows:
•
Local courses: these courses were conducted in Palestine.
a) Local community: the department offered several training courses for local
community such as:
Table 1: List of offered Training courses
No
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
Training courses
Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE)
SUN Certified Java Programmer
SUN Certified Java Programmer
Oracle Certified Professional (OCP)
3D Movie Production Diploma
TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language
TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language
Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC3)
for Cairo Amman Bank
Microsoft Office and Internet for Medecins Du
Monde – France
Computer and Internet for Faruq kindergarten
Locations
Ramallh
Ramallah
Gaza
Ramallah
Ramallah
Qalqilya
Bethlehem
Salfeet
Bedya
Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah
Nablus
Qalqilya
Ramallah
Salfeet
Jerusalem
Bedya
Jericho
Ramallah
Jerusalem
b) QOU's HR development: Training and Development Department has a
procedure of offering training courses for the University's employees in order to
improve their computer and IT skills. Some of the conducted courses are listed
below:
o Microsoft Project Course: This course was given to ICTC employees.
o Multimedia Design Course: This was given to ICTC and Multimedia
Production Center employees.
o RedHat Linux Workshop: This workshop was given for QOU Lab
Technicians in all branches.
o RedHat Certified Engineer: this course was given to ICTC staff.
o ICDL Certificates: the department nominated one technician from each
branch to take ICDL exams; all passed the exams and got ICDL
certificates.
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o
o
•
Oracle 10g Database Administration: this course was given to ICTC staff.
250 employees from the a university earned the internet and computing
core certification ( IC3) through the IC3 World Cup competition held by
the university, as part of its efforts to improve the university staff in the
field of information and communication technology.
International courses: As one of the training and development department
responsibility to provide the necessary and high quality training for the ICTC Staff,
and benefit from global experience in the field of ICT, the training department
worked on the participation of the Centre's staff in International training courses
such as :
1. RedHat Certified Engineer (RHCE) Course: the department nominated one
of the Networking and Support Department's engineers to participate in
RHCE course in Dubai.
2. E-learning Courses Development: Two employees form ICTC and the other
from Ramallah Educational Region, participated in an E-learning course in
Jordan.
3. The arts of electronic Human Resource Management: One Employee from
ICTC participated in this course , Which was held in Damascus, Syria on
August 21, 2008.
4. Instructional Design & Content Writing (IDCWC) Online course : one
employee form the E-learning Unit at ICTC participated to take this course
online with Wavelength eLearning Consulting & Training in India.
3. International Exams and Certifications : since 2007 the training and development
department has conducted several numbers of international exams as follows :
Table 2: Conducted International Exams
Exam’s
Oracle
Microsoft
Microsoft Office Specialist
Internet and Computing
Core Certifications (IC3)
TOEFL
TOTEL
Quantity
12
20
75
1200
150
1457
4. Exhibitions and Conferences:
•
•
1st Information and Communication Technology Day (1st ICT Day): the department
organized the ICT Day to demonstrate the latest ICT development in Palestine. The
main objective of this event is to bring out ICTC's latest achievements during the
recent years, especially the official launching of ICT projects.
2nd Information and Communication Technology Day (2nd ICT Day): The department
played an important role in the organization and success of the event, which was
held on Tuesday March 4, 2008.
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•
•
•
•
Participation in Arab Conference of Information Technology Conference (ACIT2006)
in Jordan: two papers were nominated in this conference, one in E-learning and the
other in E-commerce, and they won.
Online Educa- Berlin 2007 (www.online-educa.com), the participation of QOU was
distinguished in this conference, where Mahmoud Hawamdeh from the training
department participated and presented a paper titled (the future of e-training
technologies in Al-Quds Open University).
PEDEX 2007: the training and development department was responsible for the
organization of QOU participation on Palestine 3rd Educational Exhibition
PEDEX 2008: the training and development department took part in the organization
of QOU participation in the Palestine 4th Educational Exhibition.
5. International Competition in Microsoft Office and IC3
Thousands from countries spanning the globe are set to participate each year in two competitions
for desktop productivity and digital literacy.
•
Certiport 2007 Worldwide Competition in Microsoft Office and the IC³ World Cup:
Through the training and Development department, Al-Quds Open University
participated in those two competitions in cooperation with the European information
Technology Center in Jordan, in the fact Palestine was not listed among the
participating countries in these competitions. The Palestinian candidates won the
second and third rank in Microsoft office competition, where of ICTC employees
won the second rank in Microsoft Excel 2003.
•
Certiport 2008 Worldwide Competition in Microsoft Office and the IC³ World Cup:
After the training and development department added Palestine in the list of the
participating countries this year, this enabled QOU to participate under Palestine.
QOU hosted local competitions to determine Country Champions who will advance
to compete with the winners in other participating countries in a championship
round to be staged this summer in the United States.
To make local competitions more successful, QOU received a grand-prize package
from local IT companies such as laptops, desktops, printers, and other valuable
prizes for the winning candidates and team in Palestine.
The ICTC announced the final results of IC3 World Cup, and Microsoft Word and
Excel World Competitions 2008 on Monday, June 30th.
The university had achieved advanced results in the IC3 World Cup, where Palestine
got the 4th place in the IC3 World Cup. Table3 illustrates QOU rank among the 10
first winners in IC3 Cup.
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Table 3: QOU rank among the 10 first winners in IC3 Cup
Position
Team
Country
1
Colegio Universitario Boston
Costa Rica
2
Technokids – Technoplus Ag. Paraskevi
Greece
3
Arado
Egypt
4
CCC ( Al-Quds Open University )
Palestine
5
AVIVA
Japan
6
Grupo CEDVA
Mexico
7
Digital Roadrunners
USA
8
Formosa
Taiwan
9
NJTC
Taiwan
10
Al-Khaleej
Saudi Arabia
The Microsoft Office World Champion winners in Microsoft World and Microsoft
Excel on the national level are shown in Tables 4 and 5 respectively:
Table 4: The World Champion winners in Microsoft Word- national level
Rank
Name
Score Address
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
Thabet Sabbah
Yousef Sabbah
Husaid Rumi
971
912
853
ICTC- Ramallah
ICTC- Ramallah
Yatta Study Center- Yatta- Hebron
Table 5: The World Champion winners in Microsoft Excel- national level
Rank
Name
Score Address
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
Amjad Abu Aysheh
Iyad Mheisen
Maryam Mu'ammar
964
857
714
ICTC- Ramallah
Gaza Educational Region
Bethlehem Educational Region
Thabit Sabbah and Amjad Abu Aysheh from ICTC- Ramallah are the 2008
Palestinian Champions for Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word, respectively. Both
were awarded an all-expense-paid trip to vie for the title “World Champ” of
Microsoft Word and Excel during Certiport PATHWAYS™ HAWAII international
conference July 31 – August 2, 2008.
Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHK2D2aY984 to view competition video footage
and interviews with the Palestinian Country Champions. Print-quality photos of
Thabit Sabbah and Amjad Abu Aysheh along with images from Gala award
ceremony can be previewed and downloaded at the link:
www.flickr.com/photos/certiport/collections/72157606106336544
6. Microsoft Office Training material : the department assigned authors from ICTC to
develop the following Microsoft Office books (Continuing Education Series):
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Microsoft PowerPoint2003
Microsoft Access2003
Windows XP.
Microsoft Word2003
Microsoft Outlook2003
Internet explorer6.0
Microsoft Project2003.
Microsoft Excel
Training Methodology
TDD implements lecturer-based training methodology; concentrating on monitoring the
participants' progress throughout the training courses. This methodology chases and
facilitates the knowledge transfer from the classroom to the workplace.
All professional IT training courses are designed to be active and participative to ensure
participants' understanding of all required concepts. All courses are carried out in a handson, one-man-one-machine environment, in order to ensure optimal individual attention.
Evaluation of Skills
To ensure that training objectives have been met, it is very important to evaluate the
participants' newly acquired skills. QOU Training carries this out using a variety of
methods:
•
•
Regular Recapping during Each Course: This is done by a method of questions and
exercises. Our trainers always check the level of understanding of individuals before
moving on to new material.
Evaluation Forms: We ask all QOU Training course attendees to fill in an evaluation
form at the end of the training session. This allows us to assess their immediate
impression of the training and related services.
Providing Experience
Our trainers bring more than theory to the classroom. They have an excellent practical
experience in the technologies they deliver. This provides the trainees with the additional
benefits of hearing about innovative solutions to problems faced by real businesses. Our
trainers have already extensive experience in e-learning, Portal and e-contents development,
where they have been working in the university Academic portal and Avicenna Virtual
Campus and its platform.
Trainers
Our full time trainers are the most distinguished feature that we are very proud of. The staff
was selected from the top list of the graduates in computer science and engineering
23
departments. They are experts in their area of interest, where they gain the professional
experience in addition to the educational background. Besides, they are trained on State of
the Art in programming tools and techniques. Table 1 below illustrates a summary of
trainers' qualifications.
Name
Daoud I’bayyat
Alaa Mahmoud
Yaseen Jaber
Nasim Kamal
Hamaydeh
Mamoun Abdullah
Matar
Table 6: Summary of trainers' qualifications
IT
Area of experience
Years of
Certification
Experience
MCSE
11
• Technical support
• Network Administration
OCP - DBA
• Systems Analysis and 6
OCP – DBA
MCSD
RHCT
RHCE
TOT- Train of
the Trainer
•
•
•
Oracle Forms& Report
Oracle RDBMS
•
Systems Analysis and
Design
6
Exchange server
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Imad Assaf
Mustafa Tamim
Mohammad
Hamarsheh
OCP
Java
MCSD
MCT
Design
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
7
ISA Server
Redhat Linux
Fedora core
Cisco routers
telecommunication
engineering
18
Wireless installation and
configuration
6
Systems Analysis and
Design
Java Technology
8
dynamic website “Portal
E- Learning
12
Java Technology
Microsoft
Application
Development
E- Learning
Training Laboratories
Our training Labs are powered with the most advanced technological infrastructure
distributed around the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem in order to accommodate all trainees
in every district in Palestine. Our laboratories and lectures rooms equipped with Pentium 4
PC's, LCD's, Air Conditioning, Central Heating, which provides the students with the
needed conditions in order to ensure comfortable learning environment.
24
IT Academies Accreditations
Sun Microsystems Academy
Al-Quds Open University is a full member of the Sun Academic Initiative (SAI) program.
This collaboration further strengthens QOU already strong alliance with Sun Microsystems.
As part of the SAI, Al-Quds Open University students, faculty and staff have access to
education material, Java and Solaris courses and certifications for a variety of commonly
used software tools and products in today's IT world.
Microsoft IT Academy
Whether you are looking to add new skills or enhance your current ones, QOU Microsoft
Academy provides you with the knowledge and training you need to meet and exceed your
career goals.
Employers, clients, peers, and the entire IT industry recognise the Microsoft Academy as a
symbol of quality training where skills and knowledge of Microsoft products and
technologies are delivered effectively and efficiently.
Al-Quds Open University has embraced the Microsoft Academy and can offer Professional
and Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) courses in a professional supportive environment.
Oracle Academy:
AL- Al-Quds Open University was the first Palestinian University Launched the Oracle
Academy after added Palestine in the list of countries, where Palestinian universities are
deprived of the benefits provided by Oracle to the colleges and universities.
One of the key benefits for students, fresh graduates, and the community is to get prepared
for industry-leading certification from Oracle in a professional diploma program.
Certifications include Oracle database, DB administration, and Oracle financials. That
certification can go a long way in helping them stand above the crowd when marketing
themselves to potential employers and future professional advancement
Authorized Prometric Testing Centre
AL-Quds Open University is an authorized Prometric Testing Center, and offers computerbased certification exams in a wide variety of fields; we believe that training is not complete
without certification. Certification provides an industry standard, a commitment to a level of
knowledge and learning that can be relied upon.
Whether you are new to the IT industry or an experienced professional, IT certification
makes you more marketable and gives you the credentials to land your dream job.
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ETS Authorized TOEFL iBT Center:
AL-Quds open University is approved as an official ETS Authorized TOEFL iBT Center, The
TOEFL® test is the most widely accepted English-language test in the world. No matter
where you want to study, the TOEFL test can help get you there.
Certiport Exclusive Training and Testing Center
Certiport is a pioneer in validating fundamental computer skills and knowledge through
performance-based testing leading to certification. Certiport is responsible for the
development, marketing, and administration of certification programs for the Microsoft
Office suite of products. Certiport also offers the Internet and Computing Core Certification
(IC³) and and Adobe Certified Associate Certiport certifications are valuable, professional
credentials - no matter where you are in your career or education. IC3 and Microsoft Office
Specialist certifications are globally recognized standards for digital literacy and desktop
computing proficiency.
Effective Training Courses and Certifications
Training department offers many effective and efficient training courses with certificates.
These courses include but not limited to the following:
Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)
Microsoft Office Specialist (Office Specialist) certification, the premier
Microsoft desktop certification, is a globally recognized standard for
demonstrating desktop skills. The Office Specialist program is
helping meet the demand for qualified and knowledgeable people in
the modern workplace.
IC3 (Internet and Computing Core Certification)
IC3 (Internet and Computing Core Certification) is the ideal starting
point for anyone interested in learning computer and Internet basics.
The program gives individuals sufficient Internet and computing
literacy skills to enter current job markets or begin higher education
programs. Prime candidates for IC3 are junior high school students,
high school students, GED students, continuing education students, Job Corps participants,
employees who use technology on the job, and anyone - young or old - who wants to gain a
working knowledge of computers and the Internet.
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Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD)
The Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) credential
provides industry recognition for professional developers who build
powerful applications using Microsoft .NET.
Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD)
The Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) credential
provides industry recognition for developers who build powerful
Windows applications using Microsoft .NET
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) designs and
implements an infrastructure solution based on the Windows
platform and Microsoft Servers software.
Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA)
The Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA)
successfully manages and troubleshoots system environments
running on the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Oracle Database 10g Administrator Certified Professional (OCP- DBA)
Oracle DBA manages the industry's most advanced information systems
and commands some of the highest salaries. This credential is your first
step towards success as an Oracle professional, and demonstrates your
firm foundation in the basic administration of Oracle Database 10g.
Oracle Forms Developer Certified Professional (OCP- Developer)
The Oracle Forms Developer Certified Professional credential is an
industry-recognized credential that will provide skilled application
developers greater credibility and professional opportunity. Candidates
must show proficiency and competency in Oracle development tools and
the skills required in building Internet applications.
27
RedHat Certified Technician (RHCT)
Now in its fourth year, Red Hat Certified Technician is the fastest-growing
credential in all of Linux. RHCT is the best first step in establishing Linux
credentials and is an ideal initial certification for those transitioning from nonUNIX®/ Linux environments.
RedHat Certified Engineer (RHCE)
RHCE, called the "crown jewel of Linux certifications," proves an individual's
ability to configure networking services and security on servers running a Red
Hat OS. RHCE was recently named the hottest certification in all of IT by
CertCities.com.
Sun Certified Developer (SCD)
This certification is for programmers who are already familiar with the
basic structure and syntax of the Java programming language, and
who have a need to further apply this knowledge to developing
complex, production-level applications. Certification is available for
the Java 2 platform.
Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD)
This certification is for Sun Certified Programmers who are using the
Java technology servlet and Java Server Pages (JSP) application
program interface (APIs) to develop Web applications. Prior to
beginning the Sun Certified Web Component Developer program, you
must be a Sun Certified Programmer for the Java platform (any
edition).
Sun Certified Business Component Developer
This Certification is for programmers and developers who are
responsible for designing, developing, testing, deploying, and
integrating Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) applications. It is also for those
specializing in leveraging the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE
platform) technologies used to develop server-side components that
encapsulate the business logic of an application. Prior to beginning the
Sun Certified Business Component Developer program, you must be a
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java platform.
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3D Movie Production Diploma (3D Max)
The field of animation has dramatically grown and diversified over
the last decade. Animation is one of the chief tools of communication
and entertainment in the new century. With digital animation now
being used by the defence force for advanced training, simulation and
security planning, the advancement of science in the area of medical
diagnosis, education through interactive learning objects and
architectural rendering, it is evident that animation is not just
restricted to the film, television, games and entertainment industries.
TOFEL Training Course
This course designed to prepare students for TOEFL exam, the training courses includes;
familiarization with the form of the test, techniques for multiple choice questions,
vocabulary extension, including American English, grammar analysis and practice in
reading and listening skills.
Figure 10: Certificates Distribution for RHCE Training Course
Customers
The training and development department at ICTC has signed many training contracts and
delivered training courses to many institutes and NGOs. They can be summarized as
follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Palestine Institute for Financial and Banking Studies
Cairo Amman Bank
Arab Islamic Bank
Egyptian Arab Land Bank
Hanan Project
6. Medecins Du Monde – France
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Software Engineering Department (SWENG)
The Software Engineering Department (SWENG) is responsible for developing and
programming all computerized systems related to administrative, financial and academic
functions of the university. In addition, SWENG is responsible for Execution and
maintenance of all those systems. The department also cooperates with Training and
Development Department (TDD) to provide training services for QOU employees, students
and local community.
Mission
Develop User-Friendly Software Systems to make our employee's job easier.
Objectives
The main objective of the Software Engineering Department is developing in-house
Software Systems, and computerizing all administrative, financial, and academic operations
of the university. Other objectives of SWENG are summarized as follows:
1. Software Development to computerize the various administrative and academic
tasks.
2. Smooth & timely migration to the E-Learning era.
3. Research and development of advanced software systems based on latest
technologies.
4. Maintenance & support for developed systems within the department.
Achievements
Software Engineering Department started its function with significant achievements in the
areas of software development since 1998. These achievements include but not limited to
the following:
1. Admission & Registration, Accounting, and Students affairs Systems:
Owner of these systems are
• Admission and Registration department/ QOU
• Financial Department/ QOU
• Student Affairs Department/ QOU
Description
• The systems process and maintain student personal and identification data, degrees,
college/major changes, student registration history.
• The system contains more than one part, such as:
• Room Reservation (reserve the classroom), Final Grade, processing the student record
each term, class Scheduling, course approval.
• Process all financial aid and Registration Fees integrating with Admission and
Registration System.
• Process all students' scholarships.
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• Produce all kind of admission and registration reports, such as student marks, student's
transcripts, and certifications. In addition to financial reports, and other student
information reports.
Features
• Integration among three systems (REG and SAS and SAF).
• The systems have multi security level.
• Process all admission and registration track.
• View and mention tutor information.
• Students can pay the fees at banks.
• Integrated with Web Portal.
Technology
• The system using Oracle 9i as database.
• The database can work under Windows Server 2003 or Linux operating system.
• Desktop application.
• Forms: Developer/2000 form for windows.
• Reporting: Developer/2000 report for windows
Primary users
• Registrar at the Admission and Registration department and all its offices.
• Accountant at the Financial Department and all its offices.
• Student Affairs Department and all its offices.
• Other secondary users (Data entry, etc).
Primary Interfaces
• Students Admission, Student Information, Student Course Registration, Course
Information, Marks, Tutor Information, Grades, and Certifications.
• Student fees and financial, Payment vouchers, Receipt vouchers, statement of accounting
reports.
Figure 11: Admission &
registration System
Figure 12: Accounting System
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Figure 13: Students Affairs System
2. QOU Academic Portal:
Owner
ICTC/ Al-Quds Open University
Description
QOU Academic Portal is a system that has been lunched to serve the student, tutors, elearning purposes, and other sectors in the university by offering the user required
information via internet. This system is developed to meet the RSHQOHDUQLQJ philosophy
adopted by the university. In addition, it supports the educational process in against all the
difficulties that faces students living in the West Bank or Gaza strip, which prevent them
from reaching their educational centers. The number of portal users exceeds 60,000 users.
The system provides students with their all needed academic information (student grades,
term summary, major sheet, courses' schedule, exams' schedules…etc.). For tutors, it
provides them with many services like (tutor courses schedule, classes, students, and grades
reviews…etc).
This is in addition to the internal communication system and course management services
presented for tutors and students and other services provided for student affairs, public
relation and registration department at QOU.
Features
This system offers the following services:
• Student information system: contains student grades, term summary, major sheet,
financial summary, courses schedule, exams schedules.
• Tutor information system: contains tutor courses schedule, classes, students, and grades
insertion and reviews.
• Internal messaging system: used by tutors and students so that they can communicate
with each other and send attachments too. This system does not use any SMTP or mail
servers and no need for users to have an email; it depends on their portal accounts.
• Course management system: contains related course and e-learning materials like
assignments, course materials, course supporting documents, discussions forums…etc.
• News and Bulletin Boards: for the university and each study center.
• Information system: for those in academic managerial positions to follow up, control, and
monitor the educational process (Will be launched soon).
• Administration system: contains all needed administration function needed by the system
administrator to manage portal users, permissions, actions… etc.
• Calendar Management and Reporting: Services for main registration department to
control calendar of marks insertion, online registration and other academic processes and
to generate reports according to their needs.
• Student Affairs: Provides students affairs department with ability to insert admission
application online for special cases (students with special academic cases), search for
admission application, and generate report for the university president
• Online registration service:
• This service enables all the students to register for courses through the internet.
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Future plan for the portal focuses on the following:
• Registration and admission system: offers the students the ability to register term courses
through the web and apply admission form remotely.
• Provide LMS system.
Technology
This system is built on top of the following technologies:
• J2EE: Java 2 enterprise edition is the used programming language for the project.
• Struts: an open source MVC (Model View Controller) frame work built on java used in the
presentation layer.
• Tiles: a framework used to build the templates and layout of the project to make it easy to
change the design and layout.
• JSP: Java server pages.
• W3C standard: all JSP and html pages designed using W3C standard to achieve the
highest compatibility with most of web browsers.
• CSS: all fonts, table, and colors in the portal pages are using CSS (cascade style sheet).
• Hibernate: an ORM (Object Relation Mapping) open source framework used to build the
tier between the business logic and database, this framework helps in switching the
project among many DBMS without a lot of changes.
• JAAS: (Java Authentication and Authorization Service).
• JASPER: reporting framework.
• JUnit: A Unit Testing framework used to test some parts of the business logic and ORM
during development phase.
• Java script: used in JSP pages to perform some basic validation and control of work flow.
• AJAX: Web 2 technology for more efficiency and interactivity with less server requests.
• JBoss: an Open source Application Server used to deploy project on it.
• Tomcat: Web server and Servlet/JSP container used to serve JSP and HTML pages.
• Oracle9i: The Database Management System.
• Linux Enterprise: The servers' operating system.
• Servers: 2 Dell Power Edge 6650 Servers.
The portal architecture is divided into 3 major layers:
• Presentation Layer: This layer is used to present and view data to users using Struts and
JSP.
• Business logic layer: This layer contains the business logic and data processing packages
with taking into consideration building the business logic layer as services so they can be
accessed from many other applications when possible and needed.
• ORM and Database layer: This layer is used for data storage and retrieval.
Primary Users
• Student: for student academic and CMS.
• Tutor: for tutor academic and CMS services.
• Main Registration department: for reporting, calendar management and other services.
• Student affairs department: for reporting, special admission application insertion.
• Public relations department: For university news and announcement management.
• Portal coordinators in all academic centers / ICTC: manage their own users (students and
tutors) accounts, add centers news and announcements.
• Assignments coordinator: upload assignments to the portal.
33
• University management, Academic centers managers, academic assistant.
• Administrator: Manage all portal services, accounts, roles, permissions, polls, news and
announcements.
Primary Interfaces
• Student: Messages, Term Summary, Grades, Courses, Forums.
• Tutor: Messages, Classes, students list, Grades Insertion, CMS.
• Administration: News and announcement, Manage users' accounts and permissions.
• Registration: Calendar settings, reports.
Figure 14: Student portal
Figure 15: Tutor portal
3. Financial System:
Owner
Financial Department/ Al-Quds Open University.
Description
• The Financial System is responsible for creating general ledger transactions, which is
posted automatically to the general ledger chart of accounts.
• Financial System manipulates items depreciation.
• Financial System allows you to centralize data for all regions.
• You may display or print a detailed report showing these transactions at any time you
wish.
Features
• Accounts payable: Accounts payable are debts resulting from purchasing assets or
receiving services.
• Accounts receivable: Money which is owed to QOU by a customer for products and
services provided on credit.
• General Ledger: A book of final entry summarizing all of QOU financial transactions.
• Items depreciation: a process to calculate the life time of an item and its value at the end of
each year.
34
• Multi currency.
Technology
• Oracle Developer 2000.
• Oracle Report Builder 3.0.5.8.0.
• Oracle9i database.
• Linux O.S.
Primary Users
Accountant Departments in all of the university sites (more than 20 sites)
Primary Interfaces
Al-Quds Open University chart of accounts, Entity Voucher, Payment Voucher, Receipts
Voucher, Items depreciation, statement of account report, trial balance report, revenue and
expenses report, deficits and surplus reports.
Figure 16: Financial System
4. Human Resources System:
Owner
Human Resources Department/ Al-Quds Open University
Description
• Al-Quds Open University employs more than 2500 employees. As a result, a computerized
system that can manage this huge amount of employees' data and their profiles is needed.
• Employee affairs System consolidates and provides centralize access to human resources
and enterprise information, tools, and resources in simple and easy way.
• Employee affairs system provides the Human Resources Dept. with many serious services
besides improving the efficiency and the quality of work by standardizing information.
35
Features
Employee Affairs system provides the HR dept. with many services such as:
• The ability to manage (save, view, update) the employees profile.
• The ability to manage all types of employees' vacations, private leaves, vacation balance,
attendance, overtime working...Etc.
• The ability to interact and manipulate employment applications.
• The system has the ability to give the employees their steps and grades automatically
according to the grading scale.
• Employee affairs system contains a set of reports that satisfies administrative and
statistical needs, with the flexibility to build any report in the future.
Technology
• Oracle 9i database
• Developer 6i interface for clients under windows environment
• Web enable(internet/intranet)
• Linux operating system for DB server
Primary Users
• Human Resources department employees in all of the university sites (more than 25 sites)
in addition to Amman office.
• Administrator assistants and department managers
• All employees on web. (Future vision).
Primary Interfaces
• HR dept. (employee profile, vacations, private leaves, allowances, attendance,
transactions, employment, security, reports)
• Administration assistants(attendance)
• Department manager(attendance, employee profile)
• All employees(employee profile, vacation balance)
36
Figure 17: Human Resources System
5. Payroll System
Owner
Human Resources Department / Al Quds Open University
Description
• Payroll System consolidates and provides centralize access to human resources and
enterprise information, tools, and resources in a simple and easy way.
• Payroll system provides the Human Resources Dept. with many serious services that
easily calculates the monthly salaries for its entire staff in reliability and high stage of
accuracy.
Features
The system provides the HR dept. with many services such as:
• The ability to manage and calculate the employees' monthly salary.
• The ability to manage all types of employees' work contracts.
• The ability to interact and manipulating with employee insurance contract and income
taxes according to (Income tax General Directorate).
• The ability to interact with employees' loans and sub salaries.
• The system has the ability to refresh the employees' salary automatically according to the
grading scale.
• The ability to interact with several kinds of allowances and deposits.
• Payroll system is wholly integrated with HR system.
• Payroll system contains a set of reports that satisfies administrative and financial needs
such as: salary sheet, salary details, insurance, etc., with the flexibility to build any report
in the future.
37
Technology
• Developer 6i interface for clients under windows environment
• Web enabled (internet/intranet)
Primary Users
Human Resources departments in all sites of QOU, (more than 25 sites and Amman office).
In addition to the financial dept.
Primary Interfaces
• HR dept. (allowances & deposits, insurance contracts, transactions, employment, security,
reports)
• Financial department (salary details sheet, income tax sheet)
Figure 18: Payroll System
6. Stock & Purchases Control System:
Owner
Al-Quds Open University/ Equipments and Purchasing Department
Description
• SPCS is a system for serving equipments and fixed Assets data. The system manages the
fixed assets and equipments transactions in the University.
• Also the system serving 2000 employees custodies and equipments at the university which
is distributed in 25 educational regions.
38
• SPCS also includes SPCS Desktop Reports (SDR), which provides a variety of reports for
helping the storekeepers and equipments employees to manage their work.
Features
• Items and groups for requirements and fixed assets data and common code tables (for
suppliers, educational regions, employees, etc.)
• Orders processing and tracking
• Tenders processing and tracking
• Employee custodies processing and tracking
• Item records: balance and detail data, Entering
• Transactions auditing and tracking
• Inter university transaction processing like In, Out
• Statistical and aggregation reports.
Technology
• Oracle 9i Database (Linux)
• PL/SQL programming language
• Developer 2000 Prog. tools (Form50 Builder and Report30 Builder)
• Client Server Architecture
Primary Users
• All 53 storekeepers and requirements employees use the system in educational regions
and centers.
• Stock and purchasing department users.
• System coordinator in stock and purchasing department.
Primary Interfaces
• Employees custodies or consume requirements management.
• Tender distribution from central store to regions stores.
• Purchasing management.
• Books management like selling and distributions.
• Personal computers maintenance management inside the university.
• Stock taking for stores in the university.
39
Figure 19: Stock & Purchases Control System
7. Exam Evaluation Control System (EECS):
Owner
Al-Quds Open University/ Quality Control Department
Description
• EECS is a system for evaluating and controlling the university mid term and final exams.
The evaluation is for the questions and typical answers papers of the exam and it is also
for the corrected student answer paper. The evaluation base on the specific standards.
• EECS also includes EECS Desktop Reports (EDR), which provides a variety of reports,
which helps the quality control department employees to manage their work.
Features
• Standards types and items question, and answer technique items data and common code
tables (for academic programs, educational regions, academic supervisors… etc.)
• Evaluation for question and typical answer for midterm and final exams and tracking
• Evaluation for student corrected book
• Statistical and aggregation reports.
Technology
• Oracle 9i Database (Linux)
• PL/SQL programming language
• Developer 2000 Programming tool(Windows)
o Form50 Builder
o Report30 Builder
• Client Server Architecture
Primary Users
• Quality Control Department.
40
• Academic supervisors.
• The precedence of the university.
Primary Interfaces
• Evaluation of the academic supervisors through the evaluation of exams and key answers.
• Evaluation of the academic supervisors through the evaluation of corrected students'
answering sheets.
Figure 20: Exam Evaluation Control System
8. Website of Al-Quds Open University:
Owner
Al-Quds Open University/ ICTC
Description
On the World Wide Web, Al-Quds Open University website is considered as "the world
window to the university", which reflects a bright image of the university to the outside world.
QOU website contains a lot of the university definitive and academic information, in
addition to the university news and activities.
Furthermore, QOU website provides academic information and services for around 60,000
students, as well as web mail service for approximately 1500 university staff members.
Features
The university website is characterized by its harmony in terms of programming with the
websites development international standards (W3C). This leads to the speed in accessing
the site and navigate it in a clearer and easier way.
All these features have approved the university website to be ranked as one of the most
interesting sites on Palestine, according to the classification of the international "Alexa"
website responsible for observing the number of websites' visitors in each country in the
world.
Technology
• Code writing: JSP, HTML, Java Script.
41
• CSS: all fonts, colors, and tables, in the website pages are using cascade style sheet (CSS).
• Graphics: Adobe Photo Shop.
• Animations: Macromedia Flash MX, SwishMax.
• W3C Standard: all JSP and HTML pages designed using W3C standard to achieve the
Primary Users
• Internal Visitors: QOU staff of employees, tutors and students.
• External Visitors:
o
Audience interested in the university academic programs, news and activities.
o
Audience interested in distance and open learning academic programs.
Primary Interfaces
The main page contains:
• QOU definition.
• QOU Structure.
• QOU News and Announcements: Contain news, activities and announcements of the
university.
• QOU Educational Regions and Study Centers: Distribution of the university educational
regions and study centers.
• Academic Programs: Academic programs offered by QOU.
• Scientific Research and Postgraduate Program: Contains definition and the activities of the
scientific research, and QOU magazine for research and studies.
• Admission and Registration: Contains requirements for admission and registration at the
university, and all of the regulations and laws relating to the students.
• QOU Technical and Productivity Centers (ICTC, MPC, Avicenna Knowledge Center, and
Continuing Education Center): Contains definition, activities, equipments and projects at
these Centers.
• Departments of the University (Student Affairs, Quality Control, Planning, Curricula and
Textbooks, Evaluation and Measurement, and Libraries): Containing definitions and
activities for each department.
• Academics: Contains assignments, academic calendar, text books, and self guiding cards.
• QOU Branches: Containing information on office of the university in Amman and
university branches in both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• QOU Web Mail: a mail service for all QOU employees.
42
Figure 21: QOU Website
9. Attendance & private leaves signing System:
Owner
Human Resources Department/Al Quds Open University
Description
• Attendance and private leaves signing System consolidates and provides centralize access
to human resources and enterprise information, tools, and resources in simple and easy
way.
• Attendance and private leaves signing System is a web based application that provides the
Human Resources Dept. with the daily attendance for all of the university staff
Features
Attendance system provides the HR dept. with many services such as:
• The ability to manage daily attendance and private leaves signing of the employees by
recognizing their accounts upon this system.
• The ability to manage all types of employees' shifts by their time stamp.
• The system is completely integrated with HR system, especially the employees' vacation
balances.
• The system has the ability to calculate the attendance late and private leaves by calculating
the late in minutes and update on vacation balance.
• Attendance and private leaves signing System contains a set of reports that satisfies
administrative and monitorial needs, with the flexibility to build any report in the future.
Technology
43
• Internet explorer
• Java initiator
Primary Users
• All university sites and offices (more than 30 sites and offices) in addition to Amman
office.
• Administrator assistants.
• Department managers
Primary Interfaces
• A default screen for recognizing the signature (users' accounts).
Figure 22: Attendance Signing Screen
Figure 23: Private Leaves Signing Screen
10. Curriculum Delivery System
The system facilitates the task of supplies' officers in the distribution of textbooks to
students. The system provided many query screens, reports and statistics system, which is
integrated with Admission and Registration System.
Figure 24: Curriculum Delivery System
44
11. Managerial Portal
Owner
Human Resources Department/ Al-Quds Open University
Description
With the increasing staff numbers significantly, the university took a decision to develop a
managerial portal to that provides electronic services for employees, and so it will increase
the effectiveness and quality of work, in addition to controlling it and give accurate results
smoothly and easily.
System Features
The managerial portal project was divided into three phases as follows:
I) First phase: Online Employee/Manager Self-Service
This phase enables the employees and their managers to view information related to them, like:
Personal Information for each employee
Salary receipt
Vacations and leaves
Applying for the vacations & leaves electronically and sending them to the quarters
concerned at the hierarchy of the University.
II) Second phase: Mailing & Archiving service
III) Third phase: Electronic evaluation service, electronic employment service
Technology
This system is built on top of the following technologies:
• J2EE: Java 2 enterprise edition is the used programming language for the project.
• Struts: an open source MVC (Model View Controller) frame work built on java used in the
presentation layer.
• Tiles: a framework used to build the templates and layout of the project to make it easy for
changing the design and layout.
• JSP: Java server pages.
• W3C standard: all JSP and html pages designed using W3C standard to achieve the
• CSS: all fonts, tables, and colors in the portal pages are using CSS (cascade style sheet).
• Hibernate: an ORM (Object Relation Mapping) open source framework used to build the
tier between the business logic and database, this framework helps in switching the
project between more than one DBMS without a lot of changes.
• JASPER: reporting framework.
• Java script: used in JSP pages to perform some basic validation and control of work flow.
• JBoss: an Open source Application Server used to deploy project on it.
• Tomcat: Web server and Servlet/JSP container used to server JSP and HTML pages.
• Oracle9i: The Database Management System.
• Linux Enterprise: The servers' operating system.
Primary Users: All university employees
45
Figure 26: Alumni Portal
Figure 25: Managerial Portal
12. Alumni Portal:
Owner
Students’ Affairs Department/ Al-Quds Open University
General Description
As one of its responsibilities towards its students, Qou offers the “Alumni Portal” service to
facilitate the connection with their students after their graduation and enables them to send
feedbacks about the university’s services in general which help in improving the used
functionalities and future decisions. It is worthily mentioning that the total number of the
graduates who are able to use this service is 30,000 graduates.
The “Alumni Portal” provides the following electronic services which are directly accessed
through the web browser:
• An institutions guidance
• Discussions forums
• A guidance and opportunities for the higher education
• Studies and reports
Features and Services

Employment Unit Services
This service enables the graduate member to use and access the electronic guide of
institutions and courses available to the graduates, opportunities for training and
employment, employment advertisements, a biography, and advertisements of
employment unit.
Electronic Services
This includes the discussion forum, so the graduates can discuss topics of their
interest.
Opportunities and guidance for Higher Studies
This contains announcements for scholarships in Palestine, Arabic World, and abroad.
ٍStudies and Reports
46
This includes reports and articles related to labor market and unemployment.
The used technology:
Here are the main technologies used to build the system

Java Programming Language: J2EE.
Framework for creating Java web application: Struts.
Dynamic Web Pages: JSP.
Web style sheets: W3C Standard, CSS.
Object Relational Mapping: Hibernate.
Scripting Language: Java Script.
Web Server: JBoss.
Database Management System: Oracle9i.
Server's Operating System: Linux Enterprise.
Users
The “Alumni Portal” provides services mainly for gradates and the employees of the students
affair’s department.
Main Pages
•
•
•
•
•
•
Employment Unit: Institution Guide, Jobs declared, biography, Beneficiary
Graduates.
Electronic Services: Discussion Forums.
Opportunities and guidance for Higher Studies.
Studies and reports.
Announcement and News.
System Management: Reports, Users Accounts, Users Permissions.
47
Multimedia Department (MD)
ICTC established the Multimedia Department (MD) in the year 2001, to support the contents
of university courses by high quality multimedia and electronic media, to improve the
quality of learning. MD includes in its staff professionals in Graphic design, 2D animation,
3D animation, sound & video editing, and CD-based & Web-based multimedia
programmers.
The Department is responsible for programming interactive multimedia e-courses in
cooperation with Media Production Centre (MPC). Multimedia courses include video,
sound, graphics, animation, simulations, pre-tests, and post-tests. Moreover, in cooperation
with the Training and Development Department (TDD), the department delivers training to
the employees and the students at QOU and the local community. Also, the department
participates in workshops to present & share its latest technologies by media and
announcement materials like brochures, banners, and posters. In addition, the department
designs the 2D and 3D animations and graphics to give the real image of QOU.
Mission
Support the university e-courses by high quality contents for students to facilitate the
learning process.
Objectives
Multimedia department main objectives include and not limited to the following:
1. Create multimedia courses for QOU.
2. Create a version for CD based with maximum quality and one for web with
suitable quality.
3. Duplicate our master multimedia courses by our equipments.
4. Design graphics for the department and other QOU's departments.
5. Design 2D, 3D animation for multimedia courses & the advertisement about QOU
and its occasions to highlights the real image of QOU.
6. Training QOU students, staff and our local community.
7. Keep up to date with authoring tools.
8. Enlarge the compatibility field between the different operating systems and devices
day by day.
Scope
Multimedia department scope includes three main categories:
1. Multimedia Courses
Multimedia department works on multimedia courses based on HTML to be published via
Internet, CD's and DVD's. These courses offer the maximum possibilities that enable the
students to interact with them via simulations, pre-tests, post-tests, Discussions, 2D and 3D
animations as well as video and sound.
48
The department receives the basic materials form multimedia commission, which is
responsible for evaluating the suitable text for multimedia courses. Then, the department
works on the course and send it to the commission for evaluation. After that, the
department modifies changes and resends the last version of the course to the commission
for last comments and confirmation. The following is a sample of multimedia courses:
2. The Mechanism of
Phonetics production
1. The main concepts for the
internet and web
3. Prosody (3arood) and Rhythm
4. English graduate Project
2. Graphic Design
Graphic design is one of the responsibilities of the
department. The department designs graphics for
books, brochures, posters, CD covers, billboards, logos
and the graphics of multimedia courses.
49
3. Animation
The department designs the 2D and 3D
animation used in multimedia courses and
video production. The department also
delivers training courses for students,
QOU's staff and the local community in
cooperation and coordination with Training
and Development Department (TDD).
Nowadays, Multimedia and Training
departments are designing the outline of 3D
Movie Production Diploma. This diploma
will cover all the steps to produce 3D movie
from A to Z.
Achievements
The department's achievements can be summarized as follows:
1. Multimedia courses: the department developed the following multimedia courses:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
Computer 0102
How to use mo3jam
Mo3jam al 3ain
3arood and Rhythm
Arab phonetics
Graduation project (Arabic)
Graduation project (English)
Learn how to learn
The networks and sending packets
Arabic Calligraphy
The Mechanism of Phonetics production
The main concepts for the internet and web
Applicants for Thevenin's theory and Delta Y.
2. Graphics: the department produced all graphics needed for the following events and
activities:
a. Conferences and workshops for the University:
nd
- 1st ICT Day and 2 ICT Day: we cover its graphics requirements that include
Folders, Boards, Badges, Certifications and Brochures.
- The Set of Human Rights in the Palestinian Education Life: Certifications, Badges.
- IC3 championship: Posters, Adv, Video Audio converting for the web
50
b. Designing Books, Covers, Posters, Boards, Brochures, … etc
3. Animation: the department is responsible for the design of 2D and 3D animation for:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Introduction and simulation in multimedia courses.
nd
Opening show for some conferences like 1st ICT Day and 2 ICT Day.
The 2D and 3D animation for AVICENNA film.
The 2D, 3D Animation for the university film and the ICTC film.
4. Training: the department delivered the following training courses in coordination with
training department:
a. Training the staff of Multimedia Production Center (MPC) at QOU in the following
programs:
-
-
Adobe Photoshop 8
Macromedia flash professional 8
Autodesk 3D studio max 8
b. Training of e-courses producers and students inside and outside the university on
how to employ multimedia in preparing e-courses in cooperation with AVICENNA
staff.
c. Training of 3D Movie Production Diploma in 240 training Hr., and it was on the
following programs:
• Adobe Photoshop CS3.
• Poser 7.
• Sound Forge 9.
• 3D Studio Max 2008.
• Adobe Premiere Pro CS3.
51
E-Learning Unit
Information and communication technologies offer educational organizations with both
opportunities and challenges. The rapid development of information and communication
technologies especially in the World Wide Web and the internet help universities build up
their visions of a virtual university. Universities want to provide communication facilities,
such as offering their current courses over the internet and making recorded lectures
available to students. This process will enhance the trend of distance education to reach
more students.
Also, with the emerging instructional technologies and their influence on teaching and
learning, it becomes very necessary to equip QOU educational system, students and faculty
members with the necessary skills to cope with these developments and utilize their benefits
in teaching and learning. The E-learning Unit was established at ICTC to assist the
university in exploiting the potential of technology to enhance teaching and learning. One of
the primary goals of the unit is to promote quality self-paced, learner-centered education
through the development and delivery of quality multimedia and web-based courses that
can be delivered completely online or on CD. Additionally, it provides assistance to QOU
faculty to enhance teaching and learning effectiveness through the development of webbased supplementary as well as organizing training workshops related to the development
and delivery of online material. This will help to educate students to be creative and
productive in modern workplaces where interactive, multi-media technologies are
significantly changing the nature of most jobs.
Mission
The E-Learning Unit mission is to improve the use of technology in learning at Al-Quds
Open University.
Objectives
The E-learning Unit has undertaken the following objectives as the means to accomplish its
mission:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Build on past experience with projects such as Avicenna and Rufo.
Raise the awareness of E-learning concept and its need to improve education.
Develop, publish and advertise high quality e-courses
Provide university staff with training, development and support incorporating
technology in learning.
Conduct research in the field, including monitoring the use of technology in learning
and its impact on students and academic staff.
Promote the use of appropriate standards and specifications in e-learning.
E-Learning Unit Achievements
Although the e-learning unit is relatively a new department at the ICTC, it has made the
following accomplishments in the past 2 years:
o
Improve the e-learning infrastructure and capacity-building at Al-Quds Open
University through the experience attained in the Avicenna and RUFO projects.
52
o
Spearheading the video streaming pilot project in the fall semester 2008/2009 where
five courses were delivered to students through the live streaming of lectures via the
university portal. See figure 29 below.
Figure 27: Video Streaming
o
o
o
o
o
Starting the Course Template pilot project. It relies on legacy as well as recent
resources for the course being collected, compiled and properly arranged for use by
students. Some of these resources were in university archives for a long time such as
videos, PowerPoint slides etc. The project started with the Introduction to Computers
course (0102) where the content is now accessible from the student account in the
portal and is incorporated into the curricula starting fall semester 2008/2009. See
figure 30.
The production of 23 e-learning modules currently being used by QOU students as
part of the Avicenna Project.
Conducting a research study to assess both the needs and use of technology in
education at the university.
Carrying out training for both students and staff to propagate the use of e-learning.
Cooperation with other university bodies such as the academic department and the
media production center in identifying needs and implementing international
standards for course production.
53
Figure 28: Online Course Template
Avicenna Virtual Campus
Avicenna project [March 2003- September 2006] is an ambitious project that aims at creating
new community of universities sharing best practices and pedagogical innovation through a
network of E-learning centers across the Mediterranean. With 15 countries involved, it
attempts to accelerate the adoption and the best use of ICT-assisted Open Learning
(OL). The output of the project is a virtual library of 120 online modules produced by the
15 partners. Avicenna Knowledge center in Palestine has produced 22 modules including
one for the blind students. These were among the best productions as rated by the UNESCO.
Main Achievements:
AKC Palestine has produced 22 modules and those modules were used by 23000 students at
the end of the academic year 2006/2007. It is currently installed on the Avicenna Platform
(Plei@d), see the link http://pleiad.qou.edu. Figure 27 below shows a screenshot of one of elearning courses hosted on Avicenna portal.
During Phase 1 to Phase 3, QOU has organized 10 workshops for authors and 3 for tutors. In
addition, it organized a nation-wide ICT day (Nov 2005) attended by large number of
dignitaries where the first batch of produced courses were officially opened. In all, 50
authors and more than 100 tutors were trained.
54
Figure 29: One of e-learning courses hosted on Avicenna portal
Avicenna Knowledge Center (AKC) - Palestine
The Avicenna Knowledge Center (AKC) – Palestine is hosted by Al-Quds Open University
(QOU). QOU highly appreciates the need for e-Learning or RSHQOHDUQLQJ as has one of
the biggest WAN networks in Palestine.
Figure 30: E-Learning System Hierarchy
Transfer of know-how gained from the Avicenna project allowed the production of new
courses and the adaptation of existing ones. It also allowed every student (QOU Student or
students from other universities) to use the labs and to enter the virtual campus thus
benefiting as many students as possible, see figure 28.
Most of Part-time instructors at QOU work are full-time instructors/tutors at other
Palestinian universities thus reaching a wider sector of the community. Those tutors would
carry skills and expertise learned while at QOU to other colleagues and students at these
Palestinian universities.
55
The AKC has been involved with a communication plan to acquaint the university staff and
the Palestinian public with the Avicenna. This plan includes publishing articles in the
university magazine, posting materials on the website, and holding working sessions and
training for academic supervisors, faculty members and production centers staff.
RUFO – Inter-University Network for Open Learning
RUFO is a TEMPUS-MEDA project (JEP-2153_2004), supported and financed by the General
Directorate of Education and Culture of the European Commission (end of 2005 – end of
2008) and coordinated by Cnam (Paris), see the link http://www.cnam.fr/rufo.
RUFO's purpose is to create an interuniversity network in Palestine for the development of
individual and collective competences in the field of open learning, in
connection with European networks.
The output is the adoption of 5 local pioneering-projects of OL (Open
Learning), based on a certain methodology and on terms of reference. Al-Quds Open
University is a partner to this project.
Objectives
The purpose of the project is to:
• Develop individual and collective competences.
• Implement 5 pioneering projects
• Consolidate the methodological tools that are specifically needed for ODL projects
• Produce recommendations for academic training in Palestine
• Create an interuniversity network
• Supervision and control of the project's progress
Main Achievements
•
•
•
During the last year of the project, QOU has participated in 6 workshops in Palestine
and 2 visits to Europe. In addition, it has organized local workshops and meetings
attended by large number of academic supervisors where the first draft proposals for
the 5 pioneering projects were officially proposed.
The steering committee of RUFO project and the European partners have agreed on
the 5 pioneering projects.
The steering committee of RUFO project and the European partners agreed on their
last meeting that took place on Thursday 18th of Jan, 2007 to develop a training
program document that helped facilitating the implementation of RUFO project and
achieving its objectives and outputs. The main objective of the training program is to
provide the participant with the training and the skills to be able to design, develop,
deliver and evaluate e- enabled professional and university courses.
56
Appendix A: ICTC- CVs
57
Appendix B: Laboratories and Facilities
Prometric, Certiport & TOEFL Testing Center
Avicenna Self-Service Room- ICTC (Ramallah)
Computer Lab- Ramallah
Internet Lab- Jenin
Computer Lab- Tulkarm
ICT Lab- Ramallah
Training Lab- ICTC (Ramallah)
ICT Lab- Gaza
58
Appendix C: Accessibility Support
COMPUTER LABORATORIES & TECHNOLOGIES FOR BLIND STUDENTS
Al-Quds Open University established two training Laboratories in order to bring blind, deaf
and disabled students who need a computer, and can benefit from using it, into the
computer age. Computers, and in particular internet, have created a new world for us, but
for a disabled person it means a new life. In a few years internet will become an essential
part of life. Every disabled person should be taught how to use it.
59
Appendix C: Network of Regional Training LABs
C-1
High tech labs are conveniently located across Palestine and
equipped with Pentium 4 PC's, LCD's, boards and other needed
equipments in order to help speed up your development and
lower your total cost.
Fig. 27
No.
Region
1.
Hebron
2.
Jerusalem
3.
Al-Esarya
4.
Yatta
5.
Dura
6.
Bethlehem
7.
Beitsahor
8.
Ramallah
9.
Jericho
10. Nablus
11. Salfeet
12. Qalqilia
13. Tubas
14. Tulkarem
15. Jenin
16. Jenin Center
17. North of Gaza
18. Gaza
19. Middle of Gaza
20. Khanyounis
21. Rafah
Total Number of
Different Labs
Table 2: Distribution of Training Labs at QOU
No. of
Lab's
5
2
1
2
2
3
3
8
2
5
2
2
2
4
5
1
3
7
2
3
3
Type of learning lab's
(3) Computer,(1) Internet, (1) ICT, (1) Multimedia, (1)Blind
(1) Computer,(1) Internet
(1) Internet
(5) Computer,(1) Internet, (1) ICT, (1) Multimedia
(2) Computer,(1) Internet, (1) ICT
(3) Computer,(1) Internet, (1) ICT, (1) Multimedia, (1)Blind
67
60
C-2
Table 3: Training Labs at QOU against number of PC's and connection bandwidth
Educational
center/region
Computer lab
Num of
labs
Jerusalem
Ezarieh
Hebron
Yata
Dora
Bethlehem
Betsahour
Ramallah
Jericho
Nablus
Salfeet
Qalqilya
Tubas
Tulkarem
Jenin Edu
Jenin center
North Gaza
Gaza
Alwosta
Khan uones
Rafah
Total
1
1
3
1
1
2
2
5
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
1
2
4
1
2
2
38
Num of
pc's
22
8
20
14
31
18
21
24
17
27
37
38
26
26
25
24
22
30
27
29
50
---
Total
22
8
60
14
31
36
42
120
17
54
37
38
26
52
50
24
44
120
27
58
25
905
Internet
lab
ICT lab
Multimedia
lab
Cont. Edu.
lab
Blind
lab
Bandwidth
1#
#1
#1
#1
#1
Kbps
8
4
23
7
15
21
12
11
7
24
22
23
10
29
29
15
15
34
14
26
21
370
----1
------1
1
--1
------1
1
----1
------7
----6
------5
5
--5
--------------5
5
5
5
41
61
----------1
----------10
----15
--1
----1
--28
----4
----------------------4
------------8
256
128
256
128
256
256
128
512
128
256
256
128
256
256
256
128
256
256
256
256
256
1397
Appendix D: Additional Training Courses
D-1
Table 4: Management, Financial and Economical Management Training Courses
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
Module
Management Supervision Skills
Quality management
Personnel behaviour evaluation
Top Management Skills
Management Writing Skills
Skills program for Middle Management
Management leadership skills
Communication Skills
Training of trainers
Strategic planning
Time & Crisis Management
Development of new employee Skills
Administrative Skills
Management Information System
Personnel Relations Management
Team work Management
Advanced Decision making methods
Project management Program
Environmental Management
ISO 9000/ 2000
Computerized Purchasing Management
Marketing Strategies
Sales management & sales for Management
Marketing Management
Computerized Financial Analysis
Economical Benefits of Investment Projects
Study of Economical Benefits
Economical Project Evaluation Using Financial Analysis
Business Communication in English
Store System
Purchasing System
Customer Relations Skills
62
Credit Hours
40
30
30
24
40
40
40
30
30
30
30
30
30
40
40
30
30
40
45
40
40
30
30
20
40
30
20
30
40
30
30
25
D-2
Table 5: Computer Training Courses
#
1
2
3
5
6
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Module
Introduction to Unix Operating System
Advanced Course in Unix Operating System
Accounting Computerization
MS Visual Basic
CDs ISIS for Libraries & Research Centers
SPSS Under Windows
PC Maintenance
Developer 2000 Oracle Forms
Web Publishing using HTML
Minitab
TCP IP Networking
Introduction to Cisco router Configuration
AUTO CAD
ICDL
Advertising Using Corel draw
Advanced AUTO CAD with 3D Studio
Graphic Design
Arabic Typing
English Typing
Networking
Credit Hours
20
20
40
50
30
30
30
40
30
40
24
45
40
100
30
30
100
80
80
120
D-3
Table 6: Languages training Courses
#
Module
Credit Hours
1
Arabic Language for Foreigners
60
2
English Language (All Levels)
60
3
Hebrew Language (All Levels)
60
4
French Language (All Levels)
60
5
Dutch Language (All Levels)
60
6
Greek Language (All Levels)
60
63