e-learning
A. Habibi Azar; J. Keyhan; B. Talebi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Qualified and experienced teachers with high professional and educational ability are very necessary and vital for quality education. In this regard, professional development programs with lifelong and continuous training courses in various formats, including in-service training ...
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Background and Objectives: Qualified and experienced teachers with high professional and educational ability are very necessary and vital for quality education. In this regard, professional development programs with lifelong and continuous training courses in various formats, including in-service training courses, are held for teachers. Despite the importance of these courses, a review of the findings of many studies suggests that in-service education courses were not so effective for many teachers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the challenges of holding in-service training courses in education from the teachers’ perspectives.Materials and Methods: The method of the present study is qualitative with a phenomenological approach in terms of lived experiences. The participants of the present study were all teachers working in West Azerbaijan Province. The research sample was selected by using non-probability purposeful sampling method with considering the criteria such as teachers' reputation, obtaining technology-related rewards in provincial or national festivals, and teaching experience of technology training courses in the Department of Education. The sample size was determined by considering the theoretical saturation rule. In order to receive the feedback of adequacy and theoretical saturation, after each interview, the data were immediately transcribed, handwritten, and encoded. After 22 interviews (13 women and 9 men), the data reached the theoretical saturation. The data collection method was the semi-structured interview. Two techniques of voice recording and note-taking (with the emphasis laid on voice recording) were used for data collection method. To analyze the data and extract the main themes, the content analysis approach was performed based on the four-step approach of Giorgi (1970) in the platform of MAXQDA10 software.Findings: The findings showed that the challenges of holding in-service courses can be classified and presented in four themes or main challenges which are: 1) Motivation of the teachers for active and purposeful participation in the courses (including subcategories of internal challenges and external challenges); 2) the quality of and the method of holding the courses (including subcategories of lack of attention to the thematic nature of the courses, and lack of attention to the required infrastructure); 3) the Continuity (thematic and temporal) in holding the courses (including subcategories of lack of continuity of thematic hierarchy and lack of time continuity in holding the courses); and 4) adapting the content of the courses to the needs of the teachers (including lack of need-oriented courses, lack of attention to the proportion of the prerequisite knowledge of the teachers to participate in the courses and lack of specialized courses).Conclusions: Comsidering that like other government organizations, holding in-service training courses for the teachers is mandatory in the Education Organization, it is assumed that holding such courses is somehow ‘fulfilling a duty’without paying attention to the ‘effectiveness’ of the courses. Therefore, it is cocluded that the first challenge should be lack of teachers’ motivation in participating in such courses. The second challenge is that since the required infrastructures for holding such courses are not provided, thus the courses lack the required effectiveness. The third challenge is that since in-service training courses are not held continuously, both thematically and temporally, therefore, despite spending a large amount of costs, their effectiveness is not evident. According to fourth challenge, since the prerequisite of ‘participation in the course’ and ‘determining the level of the teachers’ are not observed, thus, the content of the courses is not regulated with respect to the development of the professional skills of the teacher. Therefore, it is suggested that for holding such courses, first the assessment of needs and prerequisites of the courses should be formulated, the teachers should be graded, the required prerequisites for such courses should be provided. Considering the sequence of the topics, the courses
Educational Technology
A. Habibi-Azar; J. Keyhan; B. Talebi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Research findings about the application of information and communication technologies in classroom has shown that despite the efforts had been done and the large amount of costs spent for empowering teachers' computer skills, but these activities have not been able to create ...
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Background and Objectives: Research findings about the application of information and communication technologies in classroom has shown that despite the efforts had been done and the large amount of costs spent for empowering teachers' computer skills, but these activities have not been able to create desired changes in the role and activity of teachers in schools. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to study the phenomenological process of Iranian teachers' ICT competence in order to present a native model. Methods: This was a qualitative phenomenological research, because the lived experiences of teachers in achieving technological competence in the classroom have been used to explore the objectives of the study. The statistical population of this qualitative study were all teachers in Urmia city. 22 teachers (13 females and 9 males) were selected by non-probability purposeful sampling method with considering the desired characteristics and theoretical saturation based-rule. Participants who engaged in 17 different schools including public, board of trustees, smart, nonprofit, and rural schools, were selected. The data collection tool was semi-structured interview. Voice recording and note-taking (with emphasis on voice recording), as Two techniques for gathering data, were used. George's (1970) four-step coding approach were used to analyze the data. The coding process was performed in MAXQDA10 software. Findings:The findings of the qualitative analysis indicated that the process of teachers ICT-competence can be organized into five components, including; 1) motivation/ tendency/ interest in teachers including the following sub-components: “Changing in teacher’s salary”, “Changing teachers’ position”, “Create need”, “Classification of teachers based on the prior knowledge”, “Pay attention to the timing of the courses” , “Changing the look to the teaching profession” and “Choosing the right professor”; 2) planning, including the following sub-components: “Teachers Rating (Needs Assessment)” , “Determining curriculum (educational topics)”, “Choosing the right professor”, “Locate the right place” and “Determine the right time”; 3) beginning of the learning process including the following components: “Hardware training”, “Software training”, “Problem-solving training”, “Information literacy training”, “Facilitate access to educational resources” and “Support”; 4) implementation of the learning process including the following sub-components: “In-service preparation courses”, “In-service training courses”, “Specialized school courses”, and “Out-of-school courses” and 5) " institutionalization of technology competence " including the following sub-components: “Problem-solving training’, “Formalize collaboration between teachers” and ‘Formalize follow-up courses for teaching and learning”. Conclusion: This model is presented by looking at the needs of teachers, the conditions and Organizational structure of education, the facilities of schools, the status of courses, the cooperation between teachers, and so on. In this model, all the influential factors in the process of acquiring information and technology competence by teachers have been included and based on the content of the interviews, each of them has been considered in the relevant step. Although it could be organized these components or steps in hierarchical or step-by-step structure, but in many places it is possible to go back and start from the previous step. It is hoped that this model will be a step towards developing an appropriate model in the field of staff technology competence for the Education Organization and other organizations.