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The 21st century has witnessed the internet as a key communication hub in the society. In developing countries especially, the utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for human resource development has been widespread and an important factor in developing a knowledge-based economy. ICT has been a driving force that transforms business, economic, social-political changes, and commercial activities in a borderless world. These changes have affected the educational sector completely over the past few years. The rise of information technologies (IT) and the growing popularity of the World Wide Web contribute to the proliferation of online learning. These information technologies will continue to impact directly and indirectly on higher education to change the traditional course delivery methods (Rungtusanatham, Ellram, Siferd, & Salik ,2004). Traditional learning interaction employs the face to face approach while the blended mode mixes face to face with an online component. Pure e-learning, on the other hand, emphasizes the use of ICT tools for online interaction devoid of face to face (Aldowah, Ghazal & Muniandy, 2015).
The rapid development of ICT, specifically internet technologies, has developed new opportunities for education. E-learning has a huge potential to enable higher education institutions to enhance learning and teaching, improve access to instructional resources and programmes, expand instructional opportunities through online learning, and reduce the costs of education in the long term (Lwoga, 2014). However, it has some limitations such as lack of face-to-face interaction with instructors and classmates, high initial costs for preparing online courses, substantial costs for system updating and maintenance, as well as the need for flexible instructional support (Wu, Tennyson, Hsia, & Liao, 2008; Yang, 2003; Yang & Liu, 2007). Furthermore, students in e-learning environments may face feelings of isolation, confusion, and frustration or reduced interest in the subject matter (Wu, Tennyson & Hsia, 2010). With these concerns resulting in non-acceptance and dissatisfaction with e-learning, instructors are searching for alternative instructional delivery solutions to reduce the above problems.
The blended learning has been offered as a favourable alternative instructional approach (Graham, 2006). Learning environments within the blended mode, mix a variety of learning methods for learning events, often combining face-to-face traditional learning with asynchronous and or synchronous online learning (Al-Busaidi, 2012; Gribbins, Hadidi, Urbaczewski,& Vician, 2007). It is characterized as the best feature of online learning and the traditional classroom. Noticeably, the development and emergence of blended learning in higher education institutions are highlighted strikingly in many research literature, not only in the U.S.A. and Europe but also in Asian and Arab countries (Zhao & Yuan, 2010).