Education technology - higher education
F. Shamsi Ashteani; H. Kalantari Dehaghi; M. Nazarzadeh Zare
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Nowadays, the development and deployment of technologies in educational settings seem not to be enough to take advantage of their benefits; rather, this development and deployment require the possession of a series of other skills, such as communication skills. Faculty members, ...
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Background and Objectives: Nowadays, the development and deployment of technologies in educational settings seem not to be enough to take advantage of their benefits; rather, this development and deployment require the possession of a series of other skills, such as communication skills. Faculty members, as one of the determinants of communication in the university environment and as one of the most important pillars for maintaining quality in higher education, need to have the necessary communication skills for teaching, especially in virtual spaces. In addition to having communication skills, the use of ethics in educational settings can also help establish a worthy, constructive, and productive relationship between individuals. Therefore, one of the most fundamental criteria of the higher education system that faculty members are obligated to observe in their profession is professional ethics. In addition to having communication skills and professional ethics in the use of technology, the acceptance of technology by users is also of great importance, as there is always resistance to the acceptance of new technologies. A review of past research regarding the research variables at the domestic and international levels indicates a significant relationship between communication skills and professional ethics in the studies conducted at the domestic and international levels. Accordingly, the main objective of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of technology acceptance in the relationship between communication skills and professional ethics of faculty members in the course of virtual education.Methods: The present research method was a descriptive-correlational study of the structural equation modeling type. The statistical population of the present study included all 288 faculty members of Arak University, of whom 168 were selected using a simple random sampling method based on the Krejcie and Morgan table. In this research, three questionnaires on communication skills, professional ethics, and technology acceptance were used to collect the required data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data in SPSS and PLS software.Findings: The findings of the present study indicated a significant effect of communication skills on professional ethics (0.323), a significant effect of communication skills on technology acceptance (0.334), and a significant effect of technology acceptance on professional ethics (0.257). Additionally, the other findings of the study indicated an indirect and significant effect of communication skills on professional ethics through technology acceptance (0.086). Furthermore, the measurement and model fit indices also indicated the model's desirability.Conclusion: Overall, the results of this research showed that the communication skills of professors in the virtual education environment would play a central and decisive role in improving their professional ethics. These skills had a positive effect on the professional ethics of professors in several ways: 1. the communication skills of professors in the virtual education environment directly improved their ethical behaviors and interactions with students, 2. professors with strong communication skills would be able to apply the principles of professional ethics more effectively in the virtual education process by creating an environment based on trust, respect, and empathy, 3. the communication skills of professors, indirectly and through increasing the acceptance of educational technologies among them, strengthened professional ethics in the virtual education environment, and 4. having strong communication skills, professors would be able to facilitate the process of accepting and using new educational technologies in their work environment. This, in turn, would lead to the improvement of teaching quality, more effective interaction with students, and, as a result, the promotion of professional ethics in the virtual education environment. In general, improving communication skills and facilitating the process of technology acceptance among professors are effective strategies for promoting professional ethics in virtual education. Therefore, paying attention to these components in the design and implementation of professional development programs for professors can play an important role in promoting their professional ethics in the virtual education environment.
e-learning
F. Fadaei; H. Kalantari Dehaghi; M. Abdollahzadeh Rafi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Helping children with learning disabilities in the first years of school by using attractive, technological, and accessible solutions is essential to overcome these problems in many situations, such as the pandemic of Covid-19 to help educators in the achievement of their goals. ...
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Background and Objectives: Helping children with learning disabilities in the first years of school by using attractive, technological, and accessible solutions is essential to overcome these problems in many situations, such as the pandemic of Covid-19 to help educators in the achievement of their goals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of consecutive letter presentation, using a computer-based method on the improvement of the reading ability of dyslexic elementary students.Methods: The research method is quantitative, within the framework of single-subject research projects, and A.B.A.B or Reversal Design. The population of the present study consisted of dyslexic students of Arak city who were studying in the academic year of 2019-2020. Six individuals (2 girls and 4 boys) were purposefully selected from this population. The research instruments were a researcher-made vocabulary checklist, Shirazi and Nilipour Reading Test (2004), Soleimani Phonological Awareness Test (2000) and Fast Naming Test. The research tool was researcher-made software prepared by Microsoft PowerPoint program and run in the final format of Adobe Captivate program in which the words were displayed and pronounced letter by letter, syllable by syllable and finally completely to the student. The research intervention lasted 4 weeks. In the first and third weeks, only the word reading test was administered every day. In the second and fourth weeks, the same tested words in the previous week were taught and exercised. Also, at the end of each week, the phonology test was repeated in the fifth session. Tests of fluency and accuracy of reading texts, phonological awareness, and rapid naming were also administered as pre/post-test before and after the intervention. The results were analyzed, using SPSS software and Wilcoxon and Friedman statistical tests.Findings: The findings showed that the use of computer-based method of presenting consecutive letters can improve the accuracy of reading words separately, as well as the accuracy and fluidity of reading the text; and the student will be able to read in a shorter time and with fewer errors. Also, this method showed significant and upward progress in the phonological awareness of dyslexic students during the intervention. It was also found that after using this method, students did the task of naming the colors with greater speed and fewer errors; indicating that this method had a significant positive effect on information processing speed.Conclusion: The intervention performed in this study, using the available software such as PowerPoint, was able to prove acceptable effectiveness in improving dyslexic students' reading skills, phonological awareness, and information processing speed. Predicting the budget and expert work force to produce content, or teaching the teachers how to prepare and use such programs can be on the agenda of primary educational centers. Also, research on more samples can increase the generalizability of the results.
