e-learning
kh. paseban-khamari; M. R. Rabiei; A. Shahvarani-Semnani; M. Rostamy Mal-khalifeh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden expansion of virtual education have created unprecedented challenges in educational systems, particularly in the area of effective and accurate assessment. Assessment is a key element in the learning process that directly ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden expansion of virtual education have created unprecedented challenges in educational systems, particularly in the area of effective and accurate assessment. Assessment is a key element in the learning process that directly impacts the quality of teaching and student learning. In this context, the decline in learning levels, especially in mathematics, has become a significant issue in education. This research investigates the impact of implementing a designed electronic assessment protocol on students' learning in mathematics. The main research question was whether implementing the electronic assessment protocol can help improve students' mathematics learning.Methods: This research was experimental-empirical. The experimental group was influenced by the independent variable (implementation of the electronic education evaluation protocol), while the control group did not experience this intervention. The dependent variable was the academic progress of students in mathematics. Confounding factors, including educational level and type of school (gifted, witness, and regular), were also considered in the statistical model. The statistical population included all female middle school students in Golestan Province during the 2020-2021 academic year. A sample of 204 students (experimental group) was selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. To compare and control, 379 female middle school students (control group) were selected in proportion to the type of school. In the first stage, the electronic content for the mathematics lesson was designed and produced by the participating teachers. Additionally, a training workshop was held for the teachers to educate them on evaluation concepts and to develop an operational protocol in the virtual learning environment. In the second stage, the protocol was implemented in both experimental and control groups, and its effectiveness was assessed. For data analysis, descriptive statistics (mean, variance, etc.) and inferential statistical tests (analysis of covariance and multivariate and univariate tests) were utilized using SPSS software version 27.Findings: The results showed that there was a significant difference in the academic progress of students in the experimental and control groups after the implementation of the e-learning evaluation protocol. In other words, the implementation of the protocol led to a significant increase in the academic progress of the students. Additionally, a significant effect of educational level on the academic progress of students was observed. The type of school also has a significant impact on the academic progress of students.Conclusion: The findings of this research confirmed the effectiveness of the electronic evaluation protocol in improving students' mathematics learning. Utilizing evaluation strategies that align with educational objectives and course content, along with the implementation of integrated evaluation methods instead of relying on a single approach, can enhance the credibility of assessments and improve students' academic progress. These findings offer suggestions for designing and implementing more effective evaluation systems in electronic education. The execution of the electronic evaluation protocol not only increases the accuracy and reliability of assessments but also plays a significant role in enhancing the quality of education by motivating and encouraging students to learn. Integrated evaluation methods, by providing precise and reliable feedback, can assist teachers in identifying students' strengths and weaknesses and adjusting their educational programs based on their actual needs. Therefore, it is recommended that educational systems adopt electronic and integrated evaluation methods to improve the learning process and prepare students for future challenges.
e-learning
F. Effati; S.M. Shobeiri; H. Barzegar; M. Rezaee
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Education and improvement of human behavior with their surroundings, is the key to solving environmental crises. This shows the necessity of implementing environmental education programs on a large scale through electronic learning for citizens. In order to successfully implement ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: Education and improvement of human behavior with their surroundings, is the key to solving environmental crises. This shows the necessity of implementing environmental education programs on a large scale through electronic learning for citizens. In order to successfully implement e-learning, it is necessary to design a suitable model; therefore, the purpose of this research was to design and validate the model of e-learning in environmental-citizenship training.Methods: This study was conducted with the aim of designing and validating the e-learning model in environmental citizenship training. This study was exploratory in terms of thematic nature and applied and developmental in terms of objective. This study was carried out in two phases; in the first phase, which was done with the meta-synthesis method, related domestic and foreign research available in the databases and libraries of universities or government centers were investigated and semi- structural exploratory interviews were used. According to the inclusion criteria, the content review was done on 150 researches, and 22 experts were selected to be interviewed in a purposive way using MAXQDA. The kappa coefficient (or Cohen's kappa) was used to measure reliability as well. In the second phase of the research, the validation of the model was done using a 5-point Likert scale survey, which was given to 42 experts in education, environment, electronic education, citizenship education, and in the second step, after collecting information, the data were analyzed using the method of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach.Findings: Using the meta-synthesis method in the qualitative part of the research, 15 components and 49 items related to the EEC model of the environmental citizen were extracted. Cohen's kappa coefficient confirmed 0.95 reliability of the designed model, which was at the level of excellent agreement. According to the findings of the quantitative part of the research, all factor loadings in this model were evaluated as very favorable or acceptable. The value of Cronbach's alpha for all components was above 0.7 and the combined reliability value for all variables of the model was above 0.6, which indicated good internal reliability. The average amount of extracted variance in all of the model structures was above 0.5; therefore, the divergent validity of the model was also confirmed. The coefficient of determination R2 for all of the model structures was evaluated as significant, and the appropriateness of the fit of the structural model was confirmed. The extracted effect size also showed that the quality of the system (Q2=0.795) had the greatest impact on the model. The values of t in all paths of the model were greater than 1.96. According to the results obtained from the modeling of structural equations based on the partial least squares method, there was a positive and significant relationship in the designed paths between the components of the model.Conclusion: The items and components introduced in the design of the proposed model were also approved by experts. The designed model can be effective as a management tool in strengthening the provision of useful training and improving educational performance in this field. Also, the development of such models can help the decision makers as a guide to improve the education process to adopt a suitable policy for investing effective factors in the adoption and development of this educational approach.
Educational Technology - Artificial Intelligence
M. Rezaei; E. Pazouki; R. Ebrahimpour
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Today, due to the increasing development of technology all over the world, e-learning systems are expanding rapidly. With the progress of electronic education, the movement from traditional education (the approach of providing one education for all) to personalized education ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: Today, due to the increasing development of technology all over the world, e-learning systems are expanding rapidly. With the progress of electronic education, the movement from traditional education (the approach of providing one education for all) to personalized education began. Personalized education is an educational approach that aims to customize learning based on a learner's strengths, skills, interests, and needs. This method of education, like any other new method, has its strengths and weaknesses. In fact, increasing motivation and acquiring self-defense skills can be considered as one of the important benefits of this type of training. On the other hand, as the weaknesses of this method, we can mention the time-consuming training, the challenge in implementation, and the lack of clarity in the method of application. Due to the availability of many data from learners, the use of artificial intelligence to personalize education will both increase the quality and make education more attractive. Nowadays, one of the ways to personalize education is to provide it based on the preferences of learners. Learner preferences can be self-identified and explicitly identified and extracted by directly asking the learner or implicitly and collecting and monitoring data. Today, modeling user preferences is one of the most challenging tasks in e-learning systems that deal with a large amount of information. The aim of this research was to extract the implicit preferences of the learner by using an online interactive intelligent educational system that models the learner's preferences using conceptualization for learning objects through profile expansion and the use of artificial intelligence algorithms. The model was trained with the collected interactive data and provides new learning objects based on the learner's preferences. This research was practical in terms of purpose.Methods: In this research, according to the society available to us, 29 male and female undergraduate students of computer sciences, with an average age of 21.5 years, who had not taken the machine learning course, were included as the participants. After registration, the participants were randomly divided into two control and experimental groups. The experimental group was presented with personalized content that matched their preferences, and the control group was presented with content that did not match their preferences. After the training, the learning rate and cognitive load of the participants were measured by the designed performance test and the NASA workload index questionnaire. At the end, the significance level of the obtained results of the two groups was evaluated using the independent t-test.Findings: Based on the obtained results, the average performance test scores of the experimental group who received content matching their preferences had no significant difference compared to the average of the control group with a value of p=0.7 (while learning), but the cognition of the control group was significantly lower with p=0.00 compared to that of the experimental group.Conclusion: Based on the findings of the research, providing personalized educational content based on learners' preferences using the profile expansion technique significantly reduced the cognitive load during learning. So, Providing educational content based on learners' preferences, as one of the personalized educational methods in e-learning, plays an important role in reducing the cognitive load of learners.
Preparation and compilation of electronic content
Z. Rahbar; F. Ahmadi Kalateh Ahmad; M. Saidi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The emergence of COVID-19 has brought about a sudden shift to e-learning and virtual platforms. Teachers play a key role in developing e-learning content. Hence, they must be familiar with the theories related to the cognitive constructs and e-learning principles to both facilitate ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: The emergence of COVID-19 has brought about a sudden shift to e-learning and virtual platforms. Teachers play a key role in developing e-learning content. Hence, they must be familiar with the theories related to the cognitive constructs and e-learning principles to both facilitate the learning process and enhance the rate of learning and retention among the students. The cognitive load might increase unless the e-learning and experiential content is not developed according to the cognitive load theory, particularly for teaching physics as a field that requires multimodal presentation of the content. This might hinder the students’ learning and retention. In other words, if the principles of cognitive load theory are not observed in the design of electronic and multimedia content of course materials, the learning process will be disturbed and damaged due to the production of additional load beyond the memory capacity of the learners. The current study aimed to develop e-learning content for a concept in physics (e.g. pressure) based on the cognitive load theory. It further attempted to explore its possible impact on the learners’ levels of learning (knowledge, understanding, application) and the degree of their retention.Materials and Methods: The study adopted a quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design with an experimental and a control group. The statistical population included all female ninth graders in district 17, Tehran, the capital of Iran. The sample consisted of 120 learners via multistage stratified random sampling procedures. The participants were assigned to experimental and control groups. To gather the required data, a researcher-made test was used and its reliability was calculated via Cronbach’s alpha as 0.85. The students took part in a three-week virtual empirical sciences course comprising six sixty-minute sessions. Before offering the course, the educational objectives of chapter 8 of the empirical sciences textbook in the ninth grade related to the subject “pressure” were determined using the teacher’s manual and eliciting the experienced sciences and physics teachers’ expert comments. Then, their level of cognitive processing was identified based on Bloom’s taxonomy. The objectives were categorized into three groups of knowledge, understanding, and application. To analyze the data, analysis of covariance and an independent samples t-test were used via SPSS (20.00).Findings: The results of the analysis of covariance for learning levels (knowledge, understanding, and application) demonstrated that developing e-learning materials based on the cognitive load theory enhanced the learners’ levels of learning in the experimental group compared to those in the control group (P < 0.05). Moreover, the results of an independent samples t-test for the delayed post-test revealed a significant difference between the participants in experimental and control groups in terms of their degree of retention (P < 0.01).Conclusions: The findings implied that considering the principles of the cognitive load theory in developing e-learning materials for physics would positively influence the learners’ levels of learning and their degree of retention. Therefore, it is recommended to designers of e-learning content to consider the principles of cognitive load theory in the design and production of their content.
Electronic learning- virtual
S. Azimpour; H. Vahedi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: In recent years, the use of technology and educational media in education has been one of the focus of studies. These media both improve the accuracy of the operation and increase the speed of learning and transfer of concepts. Considering the graphic and spatial nature of ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: In recent years, the use of technology and educational media in education has been one of the focus of studies. These media both improve the accuracy of the operation and increase the speed of learning and transfer of concepts. Considering the graphic and spatial nature of the content of the geometry course and the problems related to accurate and correct drawing and visualization of shapes, it seems necessary to use new methods and tools in education. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of teaching the geometry lesson with electronic educational media methods (teaching with dynamic and static graphic images) and teaching in the traditional way , on the academic progress and geometrical academic self-efficacy of the students.Methods: According to the nature of the work, the research method was quasi-experimental. To conduct the research, a pretest-posttest with a control group design was used. The statistical population of this study included all male students in the tenth grade of mathematics in a District 1 of Tabriz in the academic year 2020-2021. The statistical sample consisted of 79 male students in the tenth grade of mathematics, including 3 classes, which were selected by availability sampling method and were randomly divided into three class groups. There were 26 people in the teaching group using dynamic graphic images electronic media class group, 26 people in the teaching group using static graphic images electronic media class group, and 27 people in the traditional teaching class group. The intervention tool of this research included the software for electronic teaching dynamic graphic images (Geo Gebra) and a set of educational slides designed by the researchers for teaching static graphic images. The study groups were trained for 6 weeks, 1 session per week and 90 minutes per session. In order to collect data related to academic progress, all three groups before and after the intervention, were assessed by using two parallel tests made by the researchers, including 14 questions, in the form of open-ended questions (explanatory) about the concepts of drawing and geometric reasoning from the geometry book of the 10th grade of the mathematics field. The first test was used as a pre-test and the second test was used as a post-test. Also, the participants answered the math self-efficacy questionnaire before and after the training. The data obtained from the pre-test and post-test stages were analyzed using one-way covariance analysis (ANCOVA) after checking the assumptions.Findings: The results showed that the studied teaching methods had different effects on academic progress. With regard to the academic progress, the difference between electronic educational groups (P<0.009), between electronic education group with dynamic graphic images and common education group (P<0.001) and between electronic education group with static graphic images and common education group (P<0.001) was significant. Also, the results showed that the studied teaching methods had different effects on geometry academic self-efficacy. Regarding academic self-efficacy, the difference between electronic educational groups (P<0.02), etween electronic education group with dynamic graphic images and common education group (P<0.05) and between electronic education group with istatic graphic images and common education group (P<0.001) was significant. Among the studied groups of this research, the best results of academic progress and academic self-efficacy were related to electronic education group with dynamic graphic images.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the use of teaching methods with graphic images by teachers in teaching geometry can have a positive effect on students' academic achievement and academic self-efficacy. The use of these tools can play the role of an educational facilitator in improving the students’ academic performance.
Electronic learning- virtual
H. Maghami; F. Asadi; E. Zaraii Zavaraki
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Traditional teaching methods do not prepare students to live in the 21st century. Students in the 21st century must move beyond the basic knowledge in the subject field and look for more important issues such as acquiring skills. Having self-efficacy skills and creating academic ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: Traditional teaching methods do not prepare students to live in the 21st century. Students in the 21st century must move beyond the basic knowledge in the subject field and look for more important issues such as acquiring skills. Having self-efficacy skills and creating academic conflict by current students are considered as achallenges of the educationl system. Many top universities in advanced countries consider the training of such students at the level of higher education among their goals. Therefore, it is necessary to examine appropriate teaching methods that improve these two skills in learners and use all the available capacities in online education to improve self-efficacy skills and academic engagement, because teaching strategies are changing with the significant advancement of technology. And education should gradually shift its focus from the physical space of the classroom to virtual environments. Project-based learning is a deep and comprehensive learning approach for teaching and learning in the classroom, and it can be combined with e-learning and be used to achieve basic skills such as self-efficacy and academic engagement. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of project-based e-learning on self-efficacy and academic engagement of the sixth-grade students.Methods: The research method was a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population included all the sixth-grade students of Savadkoh in the academic year 2019-2019, among whom, 34 ones (17 ones in the experimental group and 17 ones in the control group) were selected as a sample via the available sampling method. Data collection tools included Appleton et al.'s (2006) academic engagement questionnaire and Jing, and Morgan's (1999) academic self-efficacy questionnaire.Findings: The results showed that there was a clear indication that project-based learning can motivate students to learn and stimulate their self-efficacy and academic engagement for better performance in this field. The findings of the research demonstrated that project-based education in the online environment was generally effective (P<0.05 and F=4.46). In addition, students' academic involvement had a positive effect (P<0.05 and F=7.97).Conclusion: Considering the positive impact of project-based education in the online environment on the effectiveness and academic engagement of students in this research, as well as the increasing popularity of project-based learning, teachers should shift their teaching approaches to project-based education in order to improve education. One of the requirements of this action is empowering teachers in the field of electronic education system and designing appropriate textbooks for learning skills and project-based education. It is also suggested that teachers give students responsibility for learning and assign them active roles, because through project-based learning, they can understand their learning, present their products that show their learning and effort.
Electronic learning- virtual
K. Hassani; M. Shafiyan; SH. Mirzaee
Abstract
Background and Objectives: New teaching tools provide opportunities for students to choose what interests them. Technology with multimedia learning tools allows students to engage in learning and learn with interest. For this purpose, the present study, with the aim of comparing face-to-face training ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: New teaching tools provide opportunities for students to choose what interests them. Technology with multimedia learning tools allows students to engage in learning and learn with interest. For this purpose, the present study, with the aim of comparing face-to-face training with e-learning, at the level of students' cognitive learning in three areas of Bloom (knowledge, understanding, and application), has been conducted in the sixth-grade mathematics and science courses of Ravansar city.Methods: The quasi-experimental research method and the sampling method was such that 60 sixth grade students of Niayesh Elementary School were selected to participate in this research using available sampling method and then they were randomly divided into two classes of 30 students. The students of these two classes were simlulataneoulsy trained for two months, using face-to-face training for one class and e-learning training for the other class. For data collection, researcher-made math Educational Achievement Questionaire (with alpha of 0.87) and science Educational Achievement Questionaire (with alpha of 0.91) were used. The research instrument included Bloom Learning Levels Questionnaire, which was designed to assess students' learning level in three areas (knowledge, understanding, and application) in math and science. These questionnaires were administered among the students and the data were collected. Initially, with the participation and cooperation of the subjects, in the experimental group 1 (face-to-face education) and experimental group 2 (electronic education), the mathematics and science academic progress questionnaire, which aims to measure the level of students' learning in the level of knowledge, understanding and application in mathematics and science courses It was designed, distributed and implemented among them, and data related to the pre-test was collected.. In order to analyze the data, in descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation were examined, and to examine the normality of the data, a single-sample test (Kolmogorov-Smirnov) and univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance were used to test the hypotheses.Results: The results of analysis of covariance showed that face-to-face training and e-learning are effective on students' cognitive learning levels (P <0.05). E-learning (math course with an average of 15.63 and science course with an average of 17.33) compared to face-to-face training (math course with an average of 14.73 and science course with an average of 16.08), has a greater role in increasing student learning and with the increase of e-learning in the teaching process, there will be a greater increase in the cognitive levels of students' learning. In addition, this effectiveness is higher in science (R .71) than in math (R .26).Conclusion: The results showed that electronic and face-to-face training have an effect on increasing the levels of cognitive learning of students. Therefore, it is suggested that teachers use (combined training) in the teaching and training process to use the beneficial aspects of both e-learning (more flexibility) and face-to-face (more social interaction). In a synthetic teaching method, the tutor tries to combine the learning content through face-to-face classroom tutorials and printed books with web-based interactive tutorials and virtual classrooms. Therefore, by creating effective learning opportunities, a richer environment for the learner will be created. Also, due to the greater effectiveness of e-learning in this research, more attention should be paied by the shcools and teachers to the development of teachers' computer and Internet skills as well as the increased use of this teaching method in the learning process.
e-learning
M. Jafarabadi Ashtiyani; M. Nugmonov
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Since the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is an efficient, well-accepted, learner-centered method in which the learner is active in the whole process of teaching and learning, it is a suitable method for teaching mathematical concepts. Nevertheless, the researchers have pointed ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: Since the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is an efficient, well-accepted, learner-centered method in which the learner is active in the whole process of teaching and learning, it is a suitable method for teaching mathematical concepts. Nevertheless, the researchers have pointed out that the implementation of the PBL method in the traditional way faces serious limitations, such as shortage of financial resources, lack of time, and skilled educators. Therefore, implementing this method to benefit from the existing facilities in the electronic space including writing tools, access to shared resources, discussion and exchange of ideas among students, and sharing opinions and ideas is an undeniable necessity. The main purpose of the present study is designing a new software program based on problem-based learning (named as Facilitator Software) and investigating the effect of this software on the mathematical performance of third-grade high school students. The Facilitator Software was designed and implemented by consultation with a team of educational and mathematical technology experts to learn some of the mathematics topics of third-grade high school. This software provides an appropriate method for teaching mathematical concepts in electronic environments (e-environments) which results in increasing the students' activity in mathematics, saving time and educational expenses and providing an opportunity to take ongoing written examinations for students and online self-assessment in e-environments. Methods: The study was conducted by a random sampling method based on the pretest-posttest with a control group. As a result, two researcher-made mathematics pre-test and post-test were devised in the form of eight questions, each of which had 20 marks, from mathematics textbook of the third grade high school. Data collection was done using a teacher-made achievement test, with validity and reliability considerations. The content validity of the researcher-made mathematics tests was examined and verified by the Lawshe method. In addition, to evaluate the reliability of the mathematics tests, the split-half method was used. For this purpose, statistical software was used to examine and measure the reliability, based on the split-half reliability coefficient and, finally, for the mathematics tests, reliability was found to be 0.78. Participants in this study were 65 male and female students in the third-grade of two public high schools in Tehran. Based on simple random sampling, the Cochran formula, 32 students were selected as the experimental group and 31 students were chosen as the control group from one high school and in the same way, 33 students were selected as the experimental group and 30 students were chosen as the control group from another high school. The traditional method was used in the experimental groups and in the control groups the Facilitator Software was used to teach mathematical concepts. The data were then collected through mathematical tests and analyzed by exerting analysis of variance and post hoc tests. Findings: The results showed that there is a significant difference between the average scores of the control groups and those of the experimental groups in their post-test results. The average scores of the post-test for the experimental groups were higher than those of the post-test for the two control groups. Conclusion: On the whole, the findings showed that the idea of designing and using the Facilitator Foftware with emphasis on BPL in teaching mathematics has been successful and this software had a positive effect on the mathematical performance of the third grade high school students.
Information literacy
Z. Batooli; F. Fahimnia; N. Naghshineh; F.S. Mirhosseini
Abstract
Background and Objectives:Despite the emergence and advancement of new technologies and, consequently, the change in lifestyle in recent decades, education systems have maintained the same traditional method of education and have not changed according to the characteristics of the digital generation. ...
Read More
Background and Objectives:Despite the emergence and advancement of new technologies and, consequently, the change in lifestyle in recent decades, education systems have maintained the same traditional method of education and have not changed according to the characteristics of the digital generation. Meanwhile, digital generation features have been effective in learning-teaching approaches. One of the most important and recent developments in the field of modern technologies is the use of gamification, that is, the use of game elements in non-game contexts. Gamification is using game mechanics, game aesthetics, and game thinking to engage people, motivate them, and promote learning, and problem-solving. The use of game elements in educational environments has been found in developed countries and even in developing countries as a special place to face current educational problems. The purpose of this study was to review the studies in the field of ‘Gamification in e-learning’ and to present the content analysis of this field and its effectiveness in education. Methods: A systematic search of articles was done in February 2018. After searching the databases Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, and Emerald with keywords Gamification, gamify, and gameful and also online, web, tutorial, module, e-learning, electronic, and e-course, and based on input criteria, 60 relevant articles were selected in this study. The selected articles were analyzed in terms of game elements, gamified e-learning courses, and the purpose of the articles. Findings: Target population in this reviewed article included high school, secondary school, and elementary school students, and also university students from a variety of disciplines, including Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, Business Management, Building Engineering, Computer, Informatics, Library and Information Sciences, Psychology, Journalism, Construction Engineering, Nursing, and Tourism. In these studies, the effectiveness of gamification on learning various educational topics such as the programming languages, English language, data structure and algorithm, mathematics, economy and politics, psychology, informatics, physics, German language, medicine, and biology, have been studied. The effectiveness of gamification on participation/engagement, learning, motivation, anxiety, peer assessment, collaboration, website optimization, cost reduction, and faculty load were among the subject areas studied in these articles. Effectiveness of game elements on behaviors such as leaderboard on anxiety, point on motivation, leaderboard on learning and engagement, half-anonymity avatar on motivation and engagement and, avatar on motivation are among other topics covered in these studies. Furthermore, a few research has been done on determining the game elements affecting learning and motivation, the possibility of predicting the game elements suitable for different users, and gender differences in dealing with gamification. The game element point, leaderboard, badge, levels, challenge, and feedback were used more than other elements. Other elements of the game used in educational environments include avatar, progress bar, social sharing, unexpected rewards, time limit, freedom to fail, currency, missions, and rules/goals. The number of game elements used in these studies varies. In some studies, only one element of the game has been used, and in other studies, two, three, or even more elements of the game have been used and evaluated. Conclusion: The results indicated the effectiveness of gamified e-learning environments to increase learning, engagement, and motivation of learners. This result is due to the features that are at the heart of gamification; because gamification leads to a change in behavior and extensive learning experiences.
Electronic learning- virtual
M. Arab Poshtkohi; A. Zamani Moghadam; A. Rajabzadeh qatri
Abstract
The aim of the present investigation is to determine the significance of the components constituting the e-Learning of the Work and Technology course from Experts’ Point of view. The approach of the investigation is quantitative and a hierarchy analysis method is used. The community of the investigation ...
Read More
The aim of the present investigation is to determine the significance of the components constituting the e-Learning of the Work and Technology course from Experts’ Point of view. The approach of the investigation is quantitative and a hierarchy analysis method is used. The community of the investigation is experts of the training domain, the modern technologies planning domain, and Work and Technology course domain which 18 people of them were selected purposefully as samples. In order to analyze the data, the technique of index paired comparison was used. Based on the obtained results, the most important components which constitute the e-learning of the Work and Technology course include content, page design, organization, motivation, flexibility, evaluation, feedback, balanced workload, helping, and training-learning activity. It is evident that the findings of the present investigation help the decision-makers to adopt effective strategies for training courses as the most important components constituting the e-learning are specified and thereby the decision-makers may control the levels of resource assignments.
Electronic learning- virtual
Z. Abbasi
Abstract
Background and Objective:In general, the purpose of e-learning is to provide equal, free and searchable access to courses and to create a uniform learning environment for different people everywhere and to optimize the presentation of course materials for deeper learning. In such an educational environment, ...
Read More
Background and Objective:In general, the purpose of e-learning is to provide equal, free and searchable access to courses and to create a uniform learning environment for different people everywhere and to optimize the presentation of course materials for deeper learning. In such an educational environment, unlike traditional (teacher-centered) teaching methods, people benefit from the subjects to the extent of their capacity and ability. In e-learning, it is possible to achieve maximum productivity in education by combining different methods of presenting educational content such as text, audio and video, etc. Virtual education utilizes the capacity of computer networks, Internet technologies, satellite networks, and new digital sciences. In fact, the art of using network technologies is to design, select, transform, and manage the educational process. The purpose of this study was to investigate, identify, and rank the most important key factors in the success of the Persian language e-learning course in universities (Al-Mustafa society and Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin). Methods: This is an applied research in terms of the purpose, descriptive in terms of the method of data collection and cross-sectional study. The statistical population of this study was 60 Persian language instructors who taught at least one full term using the E-learning system. The main instrument for data collecting was a researcher-made questionnaire based on the Likert scale of 5 scales. Findings: The results of the research showed that the factor of content was considered as the first priority, technology as the second, students as the third priority, the organizational factor as the forth one, and the last priority was the general issue. In the study of the organizational factors, the educational- management strategies in organization gained the highest amount of 12.32, the highest percentage of variance 32.08 and the highest coefficient of reliability of 0.875, among the factors of student, the sub-factor trust, adaption and response to the needs with the special value of 8.094 and the variance of 27.93 was the most important sub-factor. Also, in determining the factors of content, the factors affecting content production with a specific amount of 5.314, indicated the highest percentage 42.151 of the total variance related to the factors of content. The applicability of technology with a specific value of 6.07 and 36.54 percent of the total variance was the most important sub-factor of the factor of technology. The leadership and strategic factors with the specific value of 10.404 and 26.035 percent of the total variance proved to be the most important sub-factor in general factors. Conclusion: Based on the set of attitudes of success factors in the use of e-learning in higher education centers, this study aims to prioritize these factors in teaching Persian to foreigners. In this research, these two questions have been answered: What are the key factors of success in using the Persian language virtual education system as a second/foreign language from the perspective of teachers of these courses? And what is the priority and importance of these key success factors identified in the education system of the country's universities? In response to the first question, the findings show that from the perspective of teachers of Persian language e-learning courses to foreigners, the content factor ranks first, the technology factor ranks the second, the student factor ranks third, and the general factor is the last after the organizational factor. Also, in answer to the second question, each of these factors has several sub-factors.
Modern Educational Approaches
J. Nasiri; A.M. Mir; S. Fatahi
Abstract
Background and Objective:Internet and computer access have created opportunities for e-learning. Easier access to resources and freedom of action for users is one of the benefits of e-learning. However, e-learning is not as attractive and dynamic as traditional or face-to-face instruction, and in these ...
Read More
Background and Objective:Internet and computer access have created opportunities for e-learning. Easier access to resources and freedom of action for users is one of the benefits of e-learning. However, e-learning is not as attractive and dynamic as traditional or face-to-face instruction, and in these systems the user's condition, such as learning rate and motivation, is not taken into account. Therefore, the developers of e-learning systems can help to solve the problems mentioned in these systems by considering the learning style and design of interactive user relationships. Automated identification of learning style not only increases the attractiveness of e-learning, but also increases the efficiency and motivation of learners in e-learning environments. Research shows that people differ in decision making, problem solving, and learning. Learning style makes people understand a story differently. For example, people with good visual memory prefer to present topics visually rather than orally. Applying a proper teaching method improves the learner's performance in the learning environment. Lack of attention to students' learning style reduces their motivation and interest in studying and engagement in educational courses. Students’ success is one of the prominent goals in the learning environments. In order to achieve this goal, paying attention to students’ learning style is essential. Being aware of students’ learning style helps to design an appropriate education method which improves student’s performance in the learning environments. In this paper, the aim is to create a model for automatic prediction of learning styles. Methods: Therefore, two real datasets collected from an e-learning environment which consists of 202 electrical and computer engineering students. Behavioral features were extracted from users’ interaction with e-learning system and then learning styles were classified using twin support vector machine. Twin support vector machine is an extension of SVM which aims at generating two non-parallel hyperplanes. This classifier is not sensitive to imbalanced datasets and its training speed is fast. Findings: In this study, increasing the attractiveness of e-learning is emphasized and the issue of automatic recognition of students' learning style has been investigated by MBTI model. Two data sets from the interaction of 202 electrical and computer engineering students with the Moodle e-learning system have been collected. The collected data set is very unbalanced, which has a negative effect on the accuracy of the categories. With this in mind, the twin support vector machine uses the least squares as a binder. The distinctive feature of this category is the low sensitivity to data balance and very high speed. The results show that the proposed method, despite the inconsistency of the data, has performed very well in the classification of students' learning style and accurately recognizes 95% of learning styles.Conclusion: Due to the excellent performance of the proposed method, a new component can be added to e-learning systems such as Moodle by identifying the learning style, content and appropriate teaching method for the learner. Future research could also gather more data from an e-learning environment and categorize learning styles with cognitive characteristics from the learner.
e-learning
A. Habibizad Navin
Abstract
Background and Objective:Human resources (HRs), as the most important asset of any organization, play a significant role in their goals, competition and success. Thus the training of human resources plays an important role to achieve the growth and success of any organization. Teaching and learning are ...
Read More
Background and Objective:Human resources (HRs), as the most important asset of any organization, play a significant role in their goals, competition and success. Thus the training of human resources plays an important role to achieve the growth and success of any organization. Teaching and learning are performed by different technologies such as traditional education, distance learning, e-learning and the use of grid and social networks. Existing evaluation models of e-learning have mostly examined partially the educational outcomes, the employees’ efficiency and the impact of e-learning, Therefore, in this paper a comprehensive model is presented that models and evaluates the efficiency and cost of the organization and the time and efficiency of the personnel in the current and electronic methods. Methods:First, the relationships in the e-learning system were modeled and formally expressed with mathematical relationships, and then the simulation was performed, and finally the costs of e-learning were evaluated based on the simulation results. Findings: The obtained results by simulation show that e-learning system improves the HRs utilization by 15% and decreases the training cost of organizations by 18% in comparison to the common method. Conclusion: Waste of human resources in organizations reduces the efficiency of the organization, as for solving this problem in organizations and turn it into potential and increase the intangible assets of the organization, e-learning was proposed. Web-based e-learning system is a type of training system that uses a three-tier architecture under the Internet and increases the educational productivity of the organizations and in general reduces the waste of staff time, increases the efficiency of the organization and the amount of costs. It reduces the time spent on training, and in this way can reduce unemployment, leisure time and staff wastage through training under the computer network and mobile devices and the web, which are available everywhere and always at a low cost. It also converts the intangible capital of the organization and increase the expertise and capability of the organization. Common methods of modeling and evaluating the effectiveness of e-learning were examined. Most of these models only partially assessed the effect of education on learners' performance. Therefore, in this article, a comprehensive model was presented and evaluated both the efficiency and costs of the organization and the time and efficiency of personnel in the common and electronic methods. The simulation results using MATLAB software show that the number of trained employees and intangible assets in the web-based e-learning system increases more than three times compared to conventional methods. Training costs will decrease by eighteen percent and the efficiency of the organization's employees will increase by fifteen percent. Analyzing and evaluating network and cloud training is recommended for large organizations as future work
Electronic learning- virtual
D. Karimzadegan Moghaddam; F. Taleban; D. Vahdat
Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of e-Learning on the reading and memorizing the Quran on third year elementary school students in Tehran. The sample included 60 students who are selected by non-random sampling method. 30 students are considered as control group and 30 ...
Read More
The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of e-Learning on the reading and memorizing the Quran on third year elementary school students in Tehran. The sample included 60 students who are selected by non-random sampling method. 30 students are considered as control group and 30 students are considered as experimental group. To collect data, a Self-made software called “Quran Angels”, and a questionnaire in accordance with the objectives of the third grade textbook are used. Independent samples t test and t affiliates are used to compare the experimental and control groups. The findings show that the difference between the mean scores of pretest and posttest in the experimental group is more than the control group. It is concluded that using the educational software “Quran Angels” has a positive impact on the reading and memorizing the Quran on third grade elementary students.
Electronic learning- virtual
M. Rostami; S.S. Ayat; F. Saghari; F. Yaghoobi
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to anticipate students' proceed and to enhance their learning efficiency and success in a learning environment, using data mining. Based on library and survey searching methods, as well as consulting with experts, some effective features in students' learning ...
Read More
The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to anticipate students' proceed and to enhance their learning efficiency and success in a learning environment, using data mining. Based on library and survey searching methods, as well as consulting with experts, some effective features in students' learning are identified and then using feature selection method, the most efficient ones are chosen. To clarify the relation between selected features, fuzzy clustering is applied to them. In the second phase of the research, scores of the students of Educational environment study, are predicted, using data mining. Variables taken are midterm and final scores and the average score of selected units in one semester by students studying there between 2006 (1385) and 2012 (1391). According to the achieved methods we can guide each student from the beginning of the semester in line with their effective features, and based on scores gained during the semester we can inform the student about his range of final score to receive an educational plan based on his/her abilities. These methods can be effective in streamlining learning procedure in a system. Test results show the desired accuracy (0.939) of the proposed method than previous methods (discovery of association rules, classification, and identifying the inconsistencies).
Electronic learning- virtual
B. Maghsoudi; S. Sulaimany; A. Amiri; M. Afsharchi
Abstract
Educational and technology based learning is the turning point of learning and so is utilizing networks for design, presentation, selection, management and development which includes learners, specialists and content providers. A large volume of data which is produced in user interaction with learning ...
Read More
Educational and technology based learning is the turning point of learning and so is utilizing networks for design, presentation, selection, management and development which includes learners, specialists and content providers. A large volume of data which is produced in user interaction with learning management systems, student selected courses and their course grades are stored. These data include valuable information for studying, analyzing student behavior and offering consulting services. Electronic learning systems need virtual consultants and online associate specialists because of user-teacher distance and lack of related assistance in order to help students make better decisions and improve the learning quality level. This study aims at gaining more experience than is acquired by an associate specialist and dean by means of data mining. It also uses the data mining results to conduct educational guidance in electronic learning systems. It finds hidden patterns in student's course selection and predicts their final grades. The research also investigates the effect of activity, entrance method, time of attendance, and semester in electronic learning systems
Educational Technology - Teacher Education
F. DehBashi Sharif; B. Zandi; I. Ebrahimzadeh; S.M. Ziahossaini; A. Alipoor
Information literacy
A. Kardan; S. Kardan
Abstract
One of the important issues in a learning management system is the assessment of the learner’s knowledge level. In basic methods of assessment, questions are simply ticked by the learners, and then automatically scored by machine. In this sort of examinations, two problems may be raised. Firstly, ...
Read More
One of the important issues in a learning management system is the assessment of the learner’s knowledge level. In basic methods of assessment, questions are simply ticked by the learners, and then automatically scored by machine. In this sort of examinations, two problems may be raised. Firstly, the learner may answer and mark the questions accidentally by guessing the answer without having enough knowledge about the related subject. Secondly, he/she may slip in answering the questions due to his/her inattention, although he/she has enough knowledge about the related subject. In this work, an improved method for knowledge level assessment is presented. In the proposed method learning concepts are modeled based on the hierarchical construct of learning objectives, and the learner’s knowledge model is used to estimate his/her knowledge level. This model is established on the basis of Bayesian networks, and considering the hierarchical construct of learning objectives. To evaluate the proposed method, a set of questions by considering the learning objectives was designed and ordered into different levels of complications. Then these questions were used for assessments. In this work also a new algorithm for updating the nodes in a Bayesian network is introduced. By means of this algorithm the effect of guessing and slipping answers in an assessment is undoubtedly reduced. Finally, by presenting a model for knowledge and use of the hierarchical construct of learning objectives, an effective solution for three above mentioned problems of guessing answers, slipping answers, and the origin of wrong answers have been established.
