الفهرس 
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Abstract
In March 2020, COVID-19 has declared a global pandemic. It affected every aspect of life, including education. It led to the closure of schools and universities. This closure put a considerable burden on the academic institution to cope with the unprecedented shift from traditional to online learning. The outbreak triggered new ways of teaching online. Most countries imposed restrictions, where the medium of education has shifted into either synchronous or asynchronous modes.
The current study aimed to develop a strategy to improve e-learning system in nursing education at the Faculty of Nursing-Alexandria University, and then use the results of the assessment to build a strategy to enhance the current level of quality of the e-learning system. It was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing-Alexandria University as a higher education organization that had to integrate e-learning to cope with the global requirement as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The study included the following categories of subjects:
1. Faculty of Nursing administrative staff (dean and vice dean), Head of the Academic Departments, Managers of ADIP unit, Measurement and assessment unit, and IT unit (n=16).
2. Teaching staff (n= 414) from (n=469)
3. All nursing students (n=180) enrolled in postgraduate programs were included in the study.
4. Undergraduate nursing students that were included in the study (n= 360).
Three tools were used in this study as follows:
Tool (1): Readiness for Organizational Change Scale
It was developed by Armenakis,Holt, Feild, & Harris (2007). It was used by the researcher to assess the level of faculty of nursing administrators and teaching staff readiness to integrate e-learning in nursing education. It consisted of 25 items. The scale was divided into four dimensions that measure appropriateness, management support, change efficacy, and personal valence. Respondents’ answer were measured on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 6=strongly agree.
Tool (2): Barriers to Online Teaching
This tool was divided into two sections:
Section I: Barriers facing administrative and teaching staff
This section developed by Berge’s (1999) and modified by Thompson (2013). It was used by the researcher to identify levels of the barriers facing administrative and teaching staff to online teaching. This section includes 29 items classified into 4 categories of barriers. These are Organizational Change, Technical Expertise, Support and Infrastructure, Faculty Compensation and Time, and Threat of Technology. Respondents’ answers were measured on a 5-point rating scale ranging from 1 = No Barrier to 5 = Very Strong Barrier. Demographic and professional data about the subjects of this section included: age, gender, highest Level of formal education, and academic discipline or field of study.
Section II: Barriers facing Nursing Students in Online Learning
It was developed by Muilenburg and Berge (2005). It was used by the researcher to identify barriers facing nursing students to online learning. This section includes 45 items subdivided into 8 categories of barriers namely: Cost and Access to the Internet, Technical Problems, Time and Support for Studies, Learner Motivation, Technical Skills, Academic Skills, Social Interactions, and Administrative/Instructor Issues. Respondents’ answers were measured on a 5-point rating scale ranging from 1 = No Barrier to 5 = Very Strong Barrier. Demographic and professional data about the subjects of this section included: age, gender, students’ level.
Tool (3): Faculty E-Learning Self-Assessment Tool
It was developed by the researcher based on an extensive review of literature related to International and Regional e-learning standards to audit the Faculty of Nursing e-learning system. It consisted of 103 criteria categorized into ten standards as follows:
1. E-learning unit vision and mission and strategic plan
2. Individual and institutional values (10 criteria).
3. Design and development of the e-learning system (4 criteria).
4. E-teaching and learning (11 criteria).
5. Quality of teaching staff (6 criteria).
6. Educational support (10 criteria).
7. Faculty support (12 criteria).
8. Technology support (8 criteria).
9. Learning outcomes (2 criteria).
10. Evaluation of students (11 criteria).
The items included in each standard were measured on a 3-point Likert scale ranging from completely done (2 point), partially done (1), and not done (0 point).
An official Permission for conducting the study was obtained from the Dean of the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University.
Situation Analysis
- Situation analysis was conducted in order to assess the current status of ADIP unit in the faculty of nursing in Alexandria University.
- Auditing was conducted using the following three mechanisms:
1. Inspection of the related documents to verify items related to e-learning and e-learning implementation in the faculty of nursing. On other hands, auditing the documents helped in assessing the weaknesses related to the absence of regulatory rules.
2. Interviews performed with teaching staff, post graduate students and undergraduate students to assess the weaknesses of the ADIP unit in the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University.
3. Observation to assess items that needed to be changed or improved in order to be included in the strategy.
4. Auditing of the e-learning infrastructure to assess the needed changes to be conducted on the infrastructure of pedagogical innovation and distance learning center.
5. A survey conducted with the students (undergraduate/ Postgraduate) to assess the barriers that faced them related to e-learning.
II. Gap Analysis Phase
- Data were collected from auditing the documents of ADIP unit, interviews conducted with teaching staff and from the survey introduced to the students. Then the results were entered to SPSS statistical package version 25 to analyze the data to understand the weakness of the pedagogical innovation and distance learning center and ways to improve its performance and shift toward full implementation of e-learning in the faculty of nursing, Alexandria University.
- Based on the analysis of the study tools 1,2,3 gaps analysis in each standard of self-assessment:
a. Ranking and prioritization of standards of faculty e-learning self-assessment were done based on the statistical results of the analysis that showed overall achievement level of these standards ≤75%.
b. The Fishbone tool was used to identify root causes analysis for each standard dimensions of the faculty e-learning self-assessment tool that are partially achieved or not achieved. Also, factors affecting levels of standards dimensions achievement that show moderate or high barrier levels and low and moderate levels of organizational readiness were considered in identifying gap analysis.
III. Strategy Development Phase
- Based on the findings of the gap analysis, key actions were proposed to fortify the areas that needed it most.
- Participants’ thoughts on how the e-learning module could be enhanced were added into the development of the present strategy.
- Thirteen strategic goals were defined, each of which represented a strategic improvement action to be completed in order to boost the performance of the pedagogical innovation and distance learning center in a certain area.
- In addition, more detailed objectives were added under each strategic goal, each of which stood in for a fundamental part of what needed to be achieved in order to realize the improvement strategic goals.
- The responsible unit and persons for each strategic goal were defined.
- Indicators for success in reaching each goal were outlined, and the bodies in charged with putting them into action were specified.
- The developed strategy was presented to a jury composed of five experts in e-learning implementation from Alexandria University
- The Jury comments on the strategy were taken into consideration and added to the strategy.
IV. Communication and Dissemination Phase
After completing the strategy, the researcher communicated with the manager of the pedagogical innovation and distance learning center in order to discuss the implementation of the proposed strategy.
Ethical Considerations:
An approval for conducting the study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University.
Written informed consent from the study subjects was obtained after explaining the aim of the study. Confidentiality and privacy of the study subjects were maintained and the subjects’ voluntary participation and their right to withdraw from the study at any time was emphasized.
The following were the main results of the present study:
1. Slightly more than half of administrative staff (56.3%) aged more than 50 years of age. The highest percentage of the teaching staff (39.0%) age also ranged from 30 to less than 40 years of age.
2. The highest percentage of postgraduate students age (56.1%) ranged from 25 to less than 35 years of age. Additionally, the highest percentage of undergraduate students age (38.6%) ranged from 22 to less than 24 years of age.
3. The majority of the administrative staff (93.7%) held a doctorate degree, whereas, more than half of the teaching staff (58.1%) held a doctorate degree.
4. All faculty of nursing administrators (100.0%) and the majority of teaching staff (90.3%) had previous experience with e-learning.
5. Moreover, all of the faculty administrators (100.0%) attended training on e-learning, 81.2% of them attended four-times training on e-learning, and 56.3% of them got fair experience in e-learning. On the other hand, more than half of the teaching staff (57.4%) attended training on e-learning, and 45.1% of them attended four-times training.
6. More than half of both postgraduate students (57.2%) and undergraduate students (58.1%) attended training in e-learning.
7. The faculty of nursing showed an acceptable level of overall quality of e-learning (50.01%).
8. The highest percentages of the total readiness for e-learning was devoted to the high level of both faculty administrative staff and teaching staff 68.8% and 58.8% respectively.
9. The highest percentage of administrative staff (43.8%) had moderate level of perception of overall barriers to e-learning, whereas the highest percentage of teaching staff (57.9%) had moderate level of the overall barriers to e-learning.
10. More than half of postgraduate students 55.6% perceived low level of barriers to e-learning. However, nearly three-quarters of undergraduate students 71.7% perceived a moderate level of barriers to e-learning.
11. There was a strong negative significant correlation between the overall administrative staff readiness for e- learning and their overall perceived barriers to e- learning.