Can Online Learning Produce Scholars?

The essence of traditional Islamic learning is direct student-teacher contact: no one can claim true Islamic scholarship without first sitting at the feet of ulema.

So how does that work online?

Qibla’s online courses are so interactive and give the teachers and students such an intimate idea of what the course material is, how it is to be learned, how it is to be applied and how far the student has progressed, that it is arguably more effective than classroom teachers.

1. Lessons: Most courses have both pre-recorded and live lessons. Pre-recorded lessons are enhanced with slide text, diagrams, mind maps, images, and whiteboard usage. To complement the recorded lessons, there are also weekly or bi-weekly live sessions for review of key concepts and an opportunity to ask questions. Other courses are live only, where the main content of the course is delivered during the live session. During live sessions, you can interact with the instructor either with a microphone or through typing your questions into the text chat box. The instructor will respond to queries via voice. All live sessions are recorded for later review or if you miss the live class.
2. Student Guides: At the beginning of the semester, you will receive an attractive, printable student guidebook that outlines course requirements, policies, lesson outlines, and assignments so that everything you need to excel in your course is literally at your fingertips.
3. Continuous Assessment: In a number of courses, self-assessment allows you to quickly gauge your understanding of the lesson as well as focus on the key aspects that you need to learn from the lesson. Examples include: self-study drills; e-portfolios; reflective questions; and case studies. This alsoshows the teachers exactly where the students are in there learning, where they need to improve and what they are not understanding.
4. Discussion Forums: Discussion forums are the means through which you can maintain a steady conversation with everyone else throughout the course. Posts may include interesting articles from the teacher assistants, requests to the students, and questions from the students. You are strongly encouraged to share thoughts and ask questions via the forum. You can also introduce yourself to your classmates from all over the world and get to know them in the “Meet Your Classmates” forum.
5. Assignments: Assignments test your knowledge across a group of lessons covered in the course. The assignment varies depending mainly on the course goals and science being taught, and can be a mixture of the following: short reflective essay; comprehension questions with discussion; individual project; group project; and closed-book tests, both timed and with no time limit.

With so much learning activity and such a grip on the student performance, students and teachers really feel that traditional standards are not only being maintained but are actually being improved on.