An adaptation of the course experience questionnaire to the Arab learning context

Abstract

This study reports on an adaptation of the course experience questionnaire (CEQ) to the Arab learning context. An Arabic version of the CEQ was used to test the perceptions of a random sample of students at a public university in the UAE as regards their learning environment. The participants were 488 women students who study at nine different colleges and are aged between 20 and 28 years. They completed the CEQ in their final semester at the university just before their graduation with the aim of indicating their satisfaction with their study programmes. The results showed a strong reliability for the CEQ (Cronbach’s alpha = .90), and the construct validity test confirmed the five-factor structure of the questionnaire. These findings support the use of the CEQ as an acceptable benchmark of teaching quality in higher education in the Arab world and strengthen the evidence that the CEQ is a valid and reliable measurement when examining students’ perceptions of their learning outside of the Western world.

Keywords:

• Teaching quality
• higher education
• the course experience questionnaire
• UAE

Acknowledgements

We would like to extend our thanks to the UAE University for approving this research study. We are also deeply appreciative of the students for their participation in this study and grateful to our colleagues for their valuable comments that have helped to improve this manuscript significantly.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hasan Ali

Dr. Hasan Ali has a PhD in Discourse Analysis and is currently working in the Provost Office at the UAE University (UAEU). His professional history includes teaching English as a foreign language, serving as a member of the UAEU Central Outcomes Assessment Committee, and chairing the UAEU University College Assessment Program. His research interests are focused on discourse analysis and outcomes assessment.

Hamzeh Mohd Dodeen

Prof. Hamzeh Dodeen is a Professor in the Psychology Department at the United Arab Emirates University. He is specialized in Research Methods and Evaluation. His research and professional interests include item/test analysis in both classical test theory and IRT, item-fit, person-fit, differential item functioning, international achievement tests, scaling, testing skills, and missing data. He published books on Advanced Statistical Analysis Using SPSS, Program Learning Outcomes Assessment, Students Problems in Tests, and others.