Education technology - Lifelong learning
F. Fathi Hafshejani; H. Zeinalipour; A.A. Shikhi Fini; K. Fathi Vajargah; E. Jafari
Abstract
Background and Objectives: With an awareness of the era that entails the day-to-day changes, the organizations must constantly keep up with technology and technological changes and implement them to survive and achieve the best possible results. One of these changes is making decision about the implementation ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: With an awareness of the era that entails the day-to-day changes, the organizations must constantly keep up with technology and technological changes and implement them to survive and achieve the best possible results. One of these changes is making decision about the implementation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in digital learning area at the workplaces, which is regarded as a complicated issue. Awareness of and informing about the effectiveness of educational services of this type of technology, as one of the manifestations of virtual education, is not inconclusive in choosing this path due to the key role of MOOCs as a potential educational strategy in organizations and companies in developed and developing countries. The purpose of this research was thus to identify the technological pedagogical functions of MOOCs to employees in the workplace.Methods: This basic research was conducted using a qualitative research synthesis technique. The corpus included documents (books, research and review articles, dissertations and Internet resources) retrieved by searching the authentic Persian (Islamic World Citation Database (ISC), Magiran, Noor Database (Noormags), CIVILICA Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Barakat Knowledge Network System, Iran Scientific Information Database (GANJ) and Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IranDoc) and Latin web databases (ProQuest, Springer, Scopus, Science Direct, and also Google Scholar search engine) retrieved from 183 sources using a criterion sampling method (From corporate MOOCs 2014 to 2022). A total of 45 samples were selected. Theoretical saturation of themes was reached by the 32th sample. In order to collect data, the library research method was used. The collected data were then analyzed using a thematic analysis technique that is used in qualitative research studies. Finally, to validate the proposed model, a total of six experts in different fields, such as curriculum and educational planning, educational technology, and electronic learning were selected using a purposive sampling method. The researcher-made questionnaire for content validation of conceptual model was then sent for them. The final model was approved after modifications.Findings: Based on the findings of this research, three main components were obtained. The first group was the educational process with six sub-components (Educational targeting of courses, Contents of training courses, Various professional learning methods, Professional educational activities, Educational resources of the courses, and performance evaluation); the second group was the supporting part with five sub-components (training coverage of staff, Educational support, Educational expenses, Educational stimuli, and capabilities of the educational method); and the third group was the operational part with three sub-components (Educational areas, Complementary skills training, and Creating professional soft skills).Conclusion: This study showed the probable consequences of educational functions of MOOC in the workplace. The beneficiaries, including organizations, companies, and employees, can reliably employ these functions in their education system by paying more attention to them because it can be said that most organizations in Iran seem to be still unaware of its potential educational benefits. In a world where with the rapid development of technology, being online is considered a necessity both personally and professionally in Iranian organizations, and the today's workforce is expected to be highly skilled and to continuously improve their skills based on the today's global standards, they can acquire these new skills through life-long learning, i.e. MOOCs, in an advanced digital environment.Methods: This basic research was conducted using a qualitative research synthesis technique. The statistical population includes documents (books, research and review articles, dissertations and Internet resources) retrieved by searching the authentic Persian (Islamic World Citation Database (ISC), Magiran, Noor Database (Noormags), CIVILICA Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Barakat Knowledge Network System, Iran Scientific Information Database (GANJ) and Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IranDoc) and Latin web databases (ProQuest, Springer, Scopus, Science Direct, and also Google Scholar search engine) retrieved from 183 sources using a criterion sampling method (From corporate MOOCs 2014 to 2022). A total of 45 samples were selected. Theoretical saturation of themes was reached by the 32th sample. In order to collect data, the library research method was used. The collected data were then analyzed using a thematic analysis technique that is used in qualitative research studies. Finally, to validate the proposed model, a total of six experts in different fields, such as curriculum and educational planning, educational technology, and electronic learning were selected using a purposive sampling method. The researcher-made questionnaire for content validation of conceptual model was then sent to them. The final model was approved after modifications.Findings: Based on the findings of this research, three main components were obtained. The first group was the educational process with six sub-components (Educational targeting of courses, Contents of training courses, Various professional learning methods, Professional educational activities, Educational resources of the courses, and performance evaluation); the second group was the supporting part with five sub-components (training coverage of staff, Educational support, Educational expenses, Educational stimuli, and capabilities of the educational method); and the third group was the operational part with three sub-components (Educational areas, Complementary skills training, and Creating professional soft skills). Conclusion: This study shows the probable consequences of educational functions of MOOC in the workplace. The beneficiaries, including organizations, companies, and employees, can reliably employ these functions in their education system by paying more attention to them because we can dare say most organizations in Iran are still unaware of its potential educational benefits. In a world where with the rapid development of technology, being online is considered a necessity both personally and professionally in Iranian organizations, and the today's workforce is expected to be highly skilled and to continuously improve their skills based on the today's global standards, they can acquire these new skills through life-long learning, i.e. MOOCs, in an advanced digital environment.
e-learning
E. Jafari; K. Fathi Vajargah; M. Arefi; M. Rezaeizadeh
Abstract
Background and Objective: Not only has MOOC been able to reach a valuable place in the world of teaching and learning as an online educational tool, but it has also been recognized as a wave of thought that has attracted the attention of many writers and researchers. However, this issue is questionable ...
Read More
Background and Objective: Not only has MOOC been able to reach a valuable place in the world of teaching and learning as an online educational tool, but it has also been recognized as a wave of thought that has attracted the attention of many writers and researchers. However, this issue is questionable in Iran because not only is MOOC not used as a dominant educational tool, but so far no research has been done on this issue. But in order to establish the effectiveness of this system in universities and educational centers, a comprehensive view of its situation in other countries must be obtained. Given the benefits as well as the challenges and threats that MOOCs may have for the country's higher education, foresight and adopting measures and strategies in the field of proper management in the use of MOOCs and their local production is very basic. Also, due to the need for adaptation of universities and educational institutions in Iran to different learning methods and online and new educational plans to ensure quality in providing services to users and adaptation to technological spaces that grow and develop online, conducting academic research on developments Higher education is very vital. The purpose of this study was developing a conceptual model for Mooc-based curriculum in higher education. Methods: This was a qualitative study and conducted based on grounded theory approach. The statistical population includes educational technology and higher education technology experts. Using the purposeful sampling approach and interviewing 14 people, theoretical saturation was achieved in the categories. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The reliability and validity in qualitative part of the research was through reviewing by experts who did not participate in the study. Findings: The important issue of current study is the higher education curriculum which is developed in four aspects of goal, content, teaching-learning methods and evaluation analysis and according to causal conditions, the underlying conditions and mediation terms of terms of developing strategies and based on that the final model is presented. Conclusion: The production of MOOCs in Iran is done by considering the contextual conditions and requirements of the environment, considering the philosophy of this matter, and adopting strategies in order to realize the MOOC-based curriculum model, which, if done correctly its effective consequences can be seen. In the present study, it was revealed that despite the weaknesses and challenges associated with MOOCs, the view of experts is positive about the existence of a MOOC-based curriculum. This means that the MOOC-based curriculum model can be used in higher education. Higher education, by taking appropriate measures in line with these challenges, can provide a suitable platform for this innovation in the field of teaching-learning. Also, due to the multicultural nature of Iranian society and the open space of discourse that exists in the MOOCs, it can be used for communication between cultures and subcultures in Iran considering these subcultures in the field of education.
