Islamic school teachers’ perceptions on how they seek to affect their students’ ability to live as Muslims In American society

The American Muslim presence has been at the center of debates around assimilation, belonging, acceptance or even contribution to the mainstream society. In practice of their right to the free choice of education, some American Muslims have been attending full-time American Islamic schools. These schools have been a focal point in painting the picture and understanding of the American Muslim experience. Using qualitative case study methods, this dissertation explored what teacher practices support successful student experiences in relation to positive identity development at three private Islamic Schools in the U.S. The findings revealed that, despite challenges in operations, instability of staff and finances, at all the three cases studied the teachers offered student identity support through varied approaches including means of mentoring, teacher care and teaching by example, fostering a sense of community, family and belonging in the schools where they worked, in addition to a focus on the formative, non-academic, process of education; focusing on spirituality and character formation

JoinSTNassistant Framework: An Agile Holistic Framework for Assisting Decision in Healthcare Facilities to Join Saudi Telemedicine Network

In 2011, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) launched the Saudi Telemedicine Network (STN) as the first national project for telemedicine in the KSA, which is planned to be completed by 2020. The benefits associated with the STN will only be realised through its successful implementation within the Healthcare Facilities (HCFs) across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). There is a high failure rate of implementation projects of telemedicine within other countries (approximately 75% globally, and 90% in developing countries). Furthermore, there is high failure rate of implementation projects of complex Health Information Technology (HIT) systems within HCFs of the KSA (roughly 80%). These dramatic statistics demonstrate the great need for a suitable framework to assist the STN implementation and increase the likelihood of its successful implementation. Prior studies have asserted that there could not be a one-size-fits-all framework that could be applicable and used by all countries for assisting the implementation of telemedicine. To the best of our knowledge, there is not any existing framework that has been specifically developed for assisting the STN implementation. Thus, this research is aimed at developing a novel, agile, holistic framework, referred to as “JoinSTNassistant Framework”, aimed to assist HCFs across the KSA regarding their organisational decision to join the STN. It must be ensured that this JoinSTNassistant Framework is theoretically rigorous, as well as relevant specifically to the context and the needs of the KSA, its HCFs, and the STN roadmap. Therefore, the JoinSTNassistant Framework has been developed through three-sequential phases. The First Phase of development defines and applies the theoretical and philosophical foundations of the JoinSTNassistant Framework. In this First Phase, 56-selected studies from an extensive literature review were analysed. The Second and Third phases of development reflect the practical and pragmatic requirements of the JoinSTNassistant Framework. These two phases must be considered as two stages of validation of the findings of the First Phase, involving as many potential users as possible in the development of the Framework, so as to ensure that it reflects their expectations and meets their needs. The Second Phase of development involved interviews with 81 strategic-level decision makers of HCFs within the KSA. The Third Phase implemented an even higher level of validation, involving as many as 905 potential users, forming a representative sample size of the decision makers of all HCFs across the KSA. In addition, a web-based application (i.e., Portal) for the JoinSTNassistant Framework, referred to as “JoinSTNassistant Portal” was developed for modifying and adjusting the JoinSTNassistant Framework in order to be applicable for each one of HCFs across the KSA, for assisting and guiding them in reaching a decision to join the STN. This research is part of the STN project and is collaborating with the National eHealth Strategy and Change Management Office in the MOH of KSA, and with the STN agency, who is the sponsor and the owner of the STN project

Challenges of Biochar Usages in Arid Soils: A Case Study in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Biochar is a carbon-rich material produced from the pyrolysis of organic biomasses in the absence of oxygen or under low-oxygen conditions. Biochar has received a great interest during the last few decades due to its beneficial roles for carbon dioxide capturing and soil fertility improvement. However, applications of biochar in arid soils are very limited, and there is a lack of knowledge on practical aspects of adding biochar to arid soils. In this chapter, we will focus on biochar applications in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia soils as an example of arid soils. These soils are characterized by several marks, i.e., high soil pH, sand structures, high CaCO3 contents, and low soil fertility. In addition, the unsuccessful recycling practices of agricultural and food wastes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are also discussed. This chapter provides an overview of current biochar knowledge pertinent to its application to arid soils, summarizes what is known so far about biochar and its applications in arid regions, and demonstrates the possible strategies that can be used for enhancing the practices of biochar addition to these soils

Developing and testing a training program to promote creativity among Saudi female fashion design students : concentrating on a combination of design behaviours, namely visual literacy, creative thinking and use of modelling systems, in the early stages of the design process.

This case study research aimed to develop and test a training program that promotes Saudi female fashion design students’ creativity in the early stages of the design process. It also investigated the factors that contributed to its results. The training program targeted a combination of design behaviours including visual literacy, use of creative thinking techniques, use of modelling systems and proposed that enhancing these behaviours together in the early stages of the design process could help improve students’ creativity. A comprehensive review of the literature in creativity enhancement in design was conducted to inform the development of the training program. An embedded design of mixed methods was employed, in which a qualitative method, in the form of a semi structured interview, was embedded within a quantitative method, in the form of a quasi-experiment with a pre-test-post-test control and experimental group design, to provide a deep and thorough understanding of the effect of the proposed training program on students’ creativity. The findings showed a significant enhancement in students’ awareness of creativity and the creative design process, and significant improvements in all targeted creative abilities in terms of fluency, originality, and creativity, with fluency being the most increased creative metric and creativity the least. The findings also revealed the students’ perspective on how people in their cultures understand and appreciate creativity in fashion and how this influenced their creativity. The findings also addressed the influence of students’ personal attitudes on their creative behaviours and abilities in the early stages of the design process

Barriers and challenges in adopting Saudi telemedicine network: The perceptions of decision makers of healthcare facilities in Saudi Arabia

Summary Despite emerging evidence about the benefits of telemedicine, there are still many barriers and challenges to its adoption. Its adoption is often cited as a failed project because 75% of them are abandoned or ‘failed outright’ and this percentage increases to 90% in developing countries. The literature has clarified that there is neither one-size-fit-all framework nor best-practice solution for all ICT innovations or for all countries. Barriers and challenges in adopting and implementing one ICT innovation in a given country/organisation may not be similar – not for the same ICT innovation in another country/organisation nor for another ICT innovation in the same country/organisation. To the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive scientific study has investigated these challenges and barriers in all Healthcare Facilities (HCFs) across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This research, which is undertaken based on the Saudi Telemedicine Network roadmap and in collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH), is aimed at identifying the principle predictive challenges and barriers in the context of the KSA, and understanding the perspective of the decision makers of each HCF type, sector, and location. Three theories are used to underpin this research: the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the Technology–Organisation–Environment (TOE) theoretical framework, and the Evaluating Telemedicine Systems Success Model (ETSSM). This study applies a three-sequential-phase approach by using three mixed methods (i.e., literature review, interviews, and questionnaires) in order to utilise the source triangulation and the data comparison analysis technique. The findings of this study show that the top three influential barriers to adopt and implement telemedicine by the HCF decision makers are: (i) the availability of adequate sustainable financial support to implement, operate, and maintain the telemedicine system, (ii) ensuring conformity of telemedicine services with core mission, vision, needs and constraints of the HCF, and (iii) the reimbursement for telemedicine services. Abbreviations HCFs, Healthcare Facilities; STN, Saudi Telemedicine Network; KSA, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; TOE, Technology–Organisation–Environment; UTAUT, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology; MOH, Saudi Ministry of Health; PHCs, Primary Healthcare Centres; OTN, Ontario Telemedicine Network; CPG, Clinical Practice Guidelines; ETSSM, the Evaluating Telemedicine Systems Success Mode