Technology-based learning environments
M. Jafari; M.S. Ghoraishi khorasgani; P. Samadi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: One of the most important missions of education is the balanced education of researching and creative students with entrepreneurial spirit and thinking. In this regard, the vision and fundamental transformation document of education emphasizes the importance of cultivating ...
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Background and Objectives: One of the most important missions of education is the balanced education of researching and creative students with entrepreneurial spirit and thinking. In this regard, the vision and fundamental transformation document of education emphasizes the importance of cultivating creative and innovative individuals who possess the necessary skills to contribute to science, technology, and entrepreneurship. Based on this importance and emphasis of upstream documents, therefore, schools should play a pivotal role in developing features such as creativity, self-confidence, futurism, risk-taking, and the tendency towards success (entrepreneurial spirit) in students. Promoting entrepreneurial thinking in schools leads to responsibility, increased creativity in achieving goals and discovering new opportunities, and academic and entrepreneurial skills in students. The present research investigated the role of smart and non-smart schools in promoting entrepreneurial thinking among students.Methods: The present study was applied in purpose, quantitative in approach, and comparative causal. The statistical population includes 690 female students from smart and non-smart high schools in Qazvin city. Using the cluster sampling method, 266 students from each group were selected as the research sample. To collect the data, the researchers used a questionnaire consisting of five main components and 20 items. The formal and content validity of the questionnaire was verified by three experts in the field of study. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and was obtained as 0.779. The data were analyzed using Shapiro-Wilk Test, one-way multivariate of variance test and Levene's test.Findings: The findings indicated that female students in smart schools had higher levels of entrepreneurial thinking in five main components: creative thinking (7.243), independence seeking (6.059), opportunity seeking (7.642), risk-taking (6.473), and internal control locus (5.513) compared to non-smart schools. In general, schools that used modern smart technologies have developed competencies such as creative thinking, independence seeking, opportunity seeking, risk-taking, and internal control locus in students. As a result, students in smart schools felt more successful, motivated, and confident in creating new ideas, ultimately leading to the promotion and emergence of entrepreneurial thinking.Conclusion: Since the entrepreneurial thinking as the basic power of the human mind is one of the main goals of schools and educational centers, therefore schools should be able to provide a suitable platform for the flourishing of characteristics such as; It provided students with creativity, self-confidence, foresight, risk-taking and entrepreneurial spirit. Because, global competition and the need of future jobs for skilled and efficient people show the necessity of creating an entrepreneurial culture in schools. To achieve this goal in the country, it is necessary to raise awareness, promote the culture of entrepreneurship and provide the necessary infrastructure in education. To promote entrepreneurial thinking among students, schools should implement practical teaching methods, team-based and active participation teaching methods, electronic content development of entrepreneurship in multimedia format, periodic feedback on student performance, delegation of school responsibilities, limited options for students, independent problem-solving, and entrepreneurial internships for students.
Mobile learning
M.S. Ghoraishi khorasgani
Abstract
role in COVID-19 crisis is mobile learning. Mobile learning has emerged as a powerful tool in teaching and learning which is considered as one of the beneficial and practical solutions to prevent the closure of the universities. Despite the significance of mobile learning as a tool that has changed the ...
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role in COVID-19 crisis is mobile learning. Mobile learning has emerged as a powerful tool in teaching and learning which is considered as one of the beneficial and practical solutions to prevent the closure of the universities. Despite the significance of mobile learning as a tool that has changed the learning strategies by helping the learners to manage their learning with a flexible approach and to provide new horizons in the field of education system, it has its own challenges. Therefore, identifying these challenges can help provide solutions and make the most of technology in the teaching-learning process. Accordingly, the present study has identified the challenges of mobile learning from the perspective of students.Methods: The present study is applied in terms of purpose and phenomenological in terms of qualitative approach. The target population were undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students of Al-Zahra University who had some experiences in using cell phones for e-learning. Accordingly, after utilizing purposive sampling, 32 students were interviewed until the theoretical saturation was reached. To analyze the interviews, the Colaizzi content analysis method was used. To validate the data, peer review method was applied and the reliability was checked through using the two-coder agreement which was equal to 86 between two codes.Findings: The findings showed that out of 315 extracted codes, 68 codes were dedicated to physical challenges, 35 codes to psychological challenges, 31 codes to quality learning challenges, 63 codes to hardware challenges, 52 codes to infrastructure challenges, 39 codes to skill challenges, and 27 codes to supportive challenges. Physical challenges include: headache and dizziness, extreme eye fatigue, exacerbation of neurological diseases and sleep disturbance. Psychological challenges include: stress and anxiety, depression and hopelessness, and lack of concentration and distraction. Hardware challenges include: keyboard problems, battery and charging problems, microphone and audio problems, file download problems, IC problems, and low mobile memory problems. Infrastructure challenges include: poor internet and facilities and equipment. Skills challenges include individual skills. Learning quality challenges include: quality of teaching and research. Supportive challenges included: organizational support, family support, and faculty support.distributional injustices, and that many students in disadvantaged areas have encountered serious challenges in attending virtual classes and conducting educational and research work. Since for most students using a mobile phone is the only option for attending virtual classes, it is recommended to eliminate or reduce physical challenges through scheduling classes at regular intervals, using brightly colored slides, combining text, videos, and using a combination of online and offline techniques. To meet the infrastructure challenges, it is recommended to use free high-speed Internet and also to purchase or rent powerful servers to provide e-learning services. University funding and the purchase of appropriate facilities including computers and mobile phones can help address many of the hardware challenges. To address skill challenges, training skills in working with educational software and academic messengers and holding various introductory and advanced workshops are essential for students. Moreover, to address supportive challenges, it is suggested that the universities seek financial resources from various organizations and charitable support and allocation of appropriate budget; after identifying low-income and underprivileged students, low-interest loans or grants should be allocated to these students for buying computers and mobile phones and by providing underprivileged students with free loans the supportive challenges can be overcome more than before. Also, instructors should understand the students' conditions by identifying the mentioned students in their classes and deal with them with more flexibility and educational aids. The families’ understanding of the educational conditions and providing a convenient environment and facilities to the best of their abilies can minimize psychological challenges to the least. Despite the fact that paying attention to infrastructure and hardware challenges as a prerequisite for the quality of learning is crucial, to meet the challenges of quality learning, solutions such as allocating useful activities to increase students' learning, doing teamwork with a fair division of tasks to avoid the pressure of work on students, appropriate and timely feedback from instructors, and a variety of written and oral assignments are highly recommended. Finally, it can be noted that by overcoming these challenges, the psychological challenges of stress and frustration in students will also be alleviated.
e-learning
M.S. Ghoraishi khorasgani; M.S. Karimi Mehrabadi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: MOOCs as a form of e-learning, with their great potential and capacity in learning and teaching, can meet different needs of a diverse group of learners. Therefore, universities can utilize it as an effective educational tool in their educational and research courses and help ...
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Background and Objectives: MOOCs as a form of e-learning, with their great potential and capacity in learning and teaching, can meet different needs of a diverse group of learners. Therefore, universities can utilize it as an effective educational tool in their educational and research courses and help improve the quality of their education. Faculty members are among the most important pillars of the university and, accordingly, they play a major role in knowledge transfer and learning; therefore, it is necessary for faculty members to be aware of the latest methods of teaching such as MOOCs as well as knowledge acquisition and information literacy in this field. As a result, the present study has been conducted with the aim of investigating the MOOC-based information literacy of the faculty members of Al-Zahra University. Methods: The research approach used for the study is quantitative; the method is of descriptive-survey type, with a practical purpose. The research population includes the faculty members of Al-Zahra University. Through quota stratified sampling and based on Morgan table, among the 381 faculty members, 181 individuals were selected as the research sample. To collect data, based on the theoretical foundations and research background, a researcher-made questionnaire was developed with a five-point Likert scale (very high, high, medium, low and very low). In order to measure the validity of the questionnaire, the views of experts on new teaching methods and new approaches to teaching and learning were applied. The reliability coefficient of the data was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, with the obtained value of 0.97 which indicates the high reliability of the devised questionnaires. To analyze the data, SPSS 22, one-group t-tests, Friedman and multivariate analysis of variance were used. Findings: The findings indicate that from the participants' point of view, in the components of ‘knowledge’ (1.54), ‘preparation’ (1.53) and ‘analysis / implementation of the course’ (1.61), ‘evaluation’ (1.74), ‘review’ (1.78), ‘optimization’ (1.76) and, in general, the information literacy status of the faculty members based on MOOC (1.66) are rated below the average. The components are prioritized as ‘optimization’, ‘review’, ‘evaluation’, ‘analysis/course implementation’, ‘preparation’ and ‘knowledge’, respectively. Accordingly, ‘optimization’ (3.74) is in the best and ‘knowledge’ (3.25) is in the worst condition. In addition, among the views of the research participants on the ‘gap of information literacy of the faculty members towards the MOOCs’, there is no significant difference among the distinguishing indicators, such as ‘history, gender, academic status, age, and department’. Conclusion: The results of this research show that MOOC-based information literacy is low among university faculty members and their knowledge and awareness of the MOOCs is very low. Lack of up-to-date faculty members, lack of various trainings, such as holding workshops, conferences, specialized meetings in the field of MOOCs, inattention and lack of emphasis laid by higher education institutions on the need to use new teaching methods by the universities, lack of attention to practical skills and familiarity with new teaching approaches in the world as a qualifying feature in employing the faculty members, lack of approval and demand of students from the faculty members to use the MOOCs in their teaching-learning approaches and the dominance of the traditional approach to teaching in the universities can be enumerated as the reasons for the results of the study.
