Sociological Approaches to Understanding Privacy Concerns in Online Learning in Muslim-Majority Countries


Alan Weber, Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar; Byrad Yyelland, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar

A multi-site mixed-methods sociological study of online learning behaviors in Qatar from 2020-23 of 158 students and faculty concluded that: 1) online privacy is a pervasive and novel concern arising from videoconferencing; 2) reconfiguring the traditional Muslim home became a serious issue due to separate male / female living spaces; 3) with synchronous learning using videoconferencing, complex and unexpected student classroom behaviors arose; 4) female Muslim students expressed anxiety about proper covering (hijab) during videoconferencing; and 6) the recording of online lectures was a pedagogical concern for both faculty and students due to photography taboos related to tribal/family honor.

This paper will be presented at the following session: