Contrast+and+Compare+-+Palestine+V+Greece

Clearly both countries in this wiki report are suffering both economically and socially from the effects of the unrest relevant to them. It is interesting to note that the apparent advances and focus on e-learning within Palestine appear to exceed that of Greece based on the research that the writer of this wiki has done. Quite an achievement if this is a correct research outcome as the poverty rate in Palestine appears extremely high based on the World Bank reports previously referred to in this wiki and the internet useage statistics appear low in relation to the rest of the world.

From experience in constructing this wiki however, it is very difficult to find completely up to date resources in English relevant to e-learning in both countries and many resources located were very out of date making it very hard to get a completely clear picture of the situation in Palestine and Greece - for example the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics website which contains non existent, out of date or hard to find statistical information on higher education []. This access to minimal resources does not make the writer feel confident in drawing highly correct conclusions, the conclusions drawn can only be based on the resources displayed in this wiki project.

To that end and factoring in the social, political and economic circumstances surrounding these countries, the writer concludes the following in summary:-


 * E-Learning in Palestine seems more prolific than Greece due to the personal safety and access issues suffered by the Palestinian people necessitating the existence of distance learning in order to educate themselves
 * The research shows the sheer determination of the Palestinian higher education students to continue to learn in the face of adversity as they push past the barriers and find ways to get around social, political and economic complexities
 * Greece appears somewhat in the infancy stage of adoption of e-learning with Greek relevant pedagogical models still evolving
 * The picture of where e-learning funding is at at present post the Greek economic collapse is not clear at all due to the lack of up to date information
 * Both situations are fluid which, I would say would make it extremely difficult to effectively plan and then implement effective e-learning at present as situations change economically, socially and politically all the time. This constant ever moving landscape would take from the academics valuable teaching, learning and implementation time constantly reshaping plans and policies
 * In Palestine it appears that marketing of distance education courses would not be very necessary as it appears that students so badly want to learn that they will find their own way to the available resources, or the non governmental relief agencies will guide them there based on their position within society and locality
 * It is very interesting to note the apparent high level of adoption of Moodle as an open source learning platform in Palestine whilst Greece appears to be looking at utilising a wider variety of proprietary and open source applications (Sidiropoulos, Makridou-Bousiou and Mavromati, 2010)
 * It is sad to see the keen young students in Palestine denied access to international academia and international scholarship offerings due to the Israeli occupation and military control

Finally, it would be impossible to compare e-learning developments in New Zealand with these two countries if one is looking, as the writer is in this wiki, with a specific focus on social, political and economic unrest and its impact on e-learning.

New Zealand is a relatively peaceful and settled country and there is just no comparison between what the people of Greece and Palestine are facing and our own situation. Over the last few months New Zealand has seen cuts across the higher education sector, some of which are only now starting to become evident such as the limiting of places within universities, and staff redundancies and pay cuts. The fallout of these changes will not become evident in published research in respect to e-learning for quite some time as many changes will not actually occur until 2011.

We can analyse statistics such as the broadband pentration in New Zealand which, courtesty of the World Internet Useage Statistics 2010 shows that 85.4% of the New Zealand population has access to the internet. When we compare this with the Palestinian ratio of 14.2% of the population we certainly cannot see equitable access to e-learning straight away. That is unless the statistics should be read expecting that the students can get to somewhere or someone with internet access and, as education is so important to them this is exactly what they do - overcome all barriers whilst many of us kiwis sit and whinge about the broadband speeds.

We as New Zealanders should think long and hard. What would it be like to be shot at on your way to university, to have your university closed for years necessitating teaching and learning in cars, parks and apartments flying under the radar of the Israeli government, to have your window shot at whilst you are studying trying to get an A grade? What would it be like to have the government severely cut your pay and raise the cost of living across all sectors? How would it be to have national protests and riots resulting in death fighting to survive?

Revered US trendsetter Gerald Celente says "when people lose everything and they have nothing to lose they lose it" ([]). I cannot see evidence of this occuring in Palestinian students and educators due to their drive and ambition to succeed and be educated and overcome all obstacles to do it. Looking at our own green shores, I wonder if we will have the same resiliance and drive in tough times maybe yet to come? If we encounter our own economic, social and political unrest will we turn avidly towards e-learning as a way to continue to educate and achieve personal and national goals? Time will tell.