Electronic learning- virtual
M. Rabbani; M. Keramaty; K. Salehi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The growth of communication technologies, the expansion of the use of electronic devices and the widespread use of the Internet have affected various aspects of human life. Education, teaching and learning, which are an important aspect of people's lives and an unobtrusive ...
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Background and Objectives: The growth of communication technologies, the expansion of the use of electronic devices and the widespread use of the Internet have affected various aspects of human life. Education, teaching and learning, which are an important aspect of people's lives and an unobtrusive discussion at various social levels, has been greatly influenced by these developments and has grown with the growth of technology. Despite extensive research on the benefits and potentials of Cooperative Learning, its implementation has remained challenging. In line with this research gap at the international and national levels, it seems that identifying solutions to implement this approach in the online environment is a basic necessity. This research gap led the researchers to study the challenges and strategies for implementing the Cooperative Learning approach in Iran with an emphasis on the field of educational management with a small sample. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify the challenges and strategies of Cooperative Learning in the online environment.Methods: This research was based on a qualitative approach and was carried out using a descriptive phenomenology method. The field of research is the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of Tehran University and the participants were faculty members working in three groups related to the fields of educational sciences. Sampling method was purposeful and criteria-oriented by determining three criteria: 1. they have participated in cooperative research workshops or are familiar with this approach, 2. they have used this approach in their classroom in a practical way, however little and incompletely, 3. they have taught in both face-to-face and online environments. The sample consisted of 22 people. The data analysis was done with the Colaizzi’s method and the use of Atlas-ti qualitative analysis software. In order to further validate the findings of the research, five visiting professors of the university were also interviewed.Findings: The data analysis was categorized in two dimensions: challenges and solutions to facilitate the cooperative learning process in the online environment. As for the challenges, four themes of facilities, environment, implementation and achievements and 22 sub-themes were identified and categorized; in the challenges related to the limitation of facilities, there were themes including the structural complexities of the electronic space, internet disorders, the online environment and the lack of a proper educational platform; in the challenges related to environmental restrictions, there were themes including the reduction of opportunities for face-to-face interaction, the impossibility of continuous monitoring; in the challenges related to implementation limitations, there were cases including insufficient technical skills, low media literacy, inability to enrich life skills training opportunities, limitation of opportunities for creativity, negative attitude towards the electronic space; Also there were issues related to collaborative group including different schedule of group members, misunderstanding in communication, participation, work report, lack of agreement among members regarding means of communication and difficulty in group decision-making; and in the challenges related to achievement limitations, some themes were identified including encouraging superficial learning, creating the background for the occurrence of physical problems, especially eye problems, and reducing enthusiasm in the classroom. With regard to the solutions to facilitate the cooperative learning process in the online environment, 8 themes including solutions related to the online class (including 7 sub-themes of quick response, inability to teach life skills, attendance and absence, establishing face-to-face communication, creating an atmosphere based on honesty weekly group and individual report and expression of feelings), strengthening internet and broadband infrastructure, easy access of professors and students to the internet, holding online classes in times of low network traffic, using various platforms for learning, teaching how to use technical tools to professors and students, using teaching assistant, use of new technologies for learning were identified and classified.Conclusion: The results indicated that this approach in classrooms, especially in online classrooms, is not only incompletely and very little implemented, but its implementation is facing a wide range of challenges. Considering the strong theoretical support of cooperative learning, its limited implementation in Iran and the identified challenges are thought-provoking and worthy of further investigation. It is clear that most of the identified challenges are not related to the nature and capacities of electronic platforms and are mainly caused by reasons such as incomplete implementation and the inability to act effectively in online environments. It is suggested that in curriculum planning, a special position should be given to wide culturalization regarding the benefits and advantages, disadvantages and threats of cooperative learning in general and online cooperative learning in particular at the level of schools and universities and among managers and students, and especially, teachers and professors.
e-learning
S. Torkashvand; B. Yarigholi; V. Moradiyan Mohammadieh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: With the growth of new information technologies, educational systems have also undergone changes in terms of using new technologies in teaching and learning. New educational technologies have the potential to provide free education around the world and to achieve educational ...
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Background and Objectives: With the growth of new information technologies, educational systems have also undergone changes in terms of using new technologies in teaching and learning. New educational technologies have the potential to provide free education around the world and to achieve educational justice. But in developing and underdeveloped countries, due to their many challenges, a digital divide has been created between the rich and the poor cities which, in itself, has led to educational injustice. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to explain the challenges of the digital divide on the implementation of educational justice in order to solve the problems leading to the realization of educational justice in the country.Methods: The present study is a descriptive-analytical study. Therefore, it is a qualitative research and philosophical analysis. The research approach is analytical and critical. The method of data collection is library- documentary. The research population includes all the studies that had examined the digital divide and educational justice and by investigating the background, 30 research studies directly related to this context were found. The data analysis method was researcher-oriented. The validity of the data was obtained based on the analysis of experts' views. The reliability of the study was in line with the findings of other studies.Findings: The findings of the study indicate that various challenges have affected the digital divide and educational injustice. The challenges that have caused the digital divide in the country's education systems are as follows: governance-infrastructure challenges, educational, cultural and economic challenges. The governance-infrastructure challenge has been analyzed based on the Communication and Information Technology Development Index and shows inequality in the sub-indicators of access, usage and skills among the provinces of the country. Thus, the central provinces are in the top rank and the deprived and border provinces are in the last rank in all three sub-indicators. The educational challenge is also based on components such as the low level of digital literacy of teachers and families, centralized educational management, educational policy-making and reliance on traditional teaching methods. The cultural challenge is also based on components such as gender, race and language. Economic challenge is also based on components such as: low income of families, poverty, priority of earning a living on learning and expensive educational technology tools. Solutions to overcome each of these challenges can be listed as follows: raising the level of digital literacy in students and parents, strengthening the motivation to compete and strive, emphasizing e-learning methods and using new technology in teaching. Also, some other solutions such as upgrading the bandwidth of using the Internet, investing in human resources and developing the internal Internet such as providing Internet access points in every school and library, providing low-interest loans for public equipment in rural areas and urban slums, measures to reduce equipment prices (tax exemption, subsidies provision) and low-interest loans for low-income families, free web education sessions for the deprived, providing free Internet address for all students.Conclusion: The findings show that the digital divide can be examined at three levels: local, national and global. At all three levels, four elements are involved in the digital divide, namely education, economy, governance, and culture. Therefore, in order to get out of the digital divide and achieve educational justice in the country's educational system, we must first identify the gaps, and then take action to eliminate them. Therefore, the country's education system can achieve its ultimate goal, which is a fair society, when it can eliminate the problems facing justice.
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.
Education technology - higher education
A.M. Ahmadvand; H. Nasiri; F. NasrollahiNia; A. Mahjoubian
Abstract
Background and Objective:Nowadays, information technology, has affected the production, distribution, and use of knowledge-based processes. Among other things, the Internet of Things as a network of objects connected to each other can bring new capacities in all fields. The aim of the present research ...
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Background and Objective:Nowadays, information technology, has affected the production, distribution, and use of knowledge-based processes. Among other things, the Internet of Things as a network of objects connected to each other can bring new capacities in all fields. The aim of the present research is to examine the opportunities and challenges that the Internet of Things can have in relation to the higher education system. The concept of connecting devices and objects to each other is a new development on the Internet; anything anywhere can connect to the Internet and be "smart". Connected devices can communicate with each other and share information, then this information can be processed and lead to making decisions. This concept is called the "Internet of Things (IOT)." The wide range of applications of IOT has enabled educational environments at all levels to benefit from it. In terms of the role of IoT in higher education, this domain includes energy storage, monitoring the health and safety of students, optimizing the physical envriornment of the campus and classrooms, as well as enabling students to attend remotely. The main point that seems to differentiate IOT from other past technologies is that older methods cover a limited range of areas of higher education. With the use of various IOT tools, all these tools and facilities can be made intelligent and use for educational, research and service providing purposes. The aim of this study is to investigate the role and function of the IOT in the processes of knowledge production, transmission and application in higher education system. Methods: For this purpose, the systematic approach and the Chelkland SSM method were used. By refer to several internal and external scientific information databases, 25 related articles were identified. Then, without any sampling, all of these articles were studied by the researchers and their contents are divided into four categories: the introduction of the internet of things, the role of the internet of things in educational functions, the opportunities of the internet of things for higher education and the challenges of the internet of things in higher education, and they were organized in the dimensions of the input, process and output of the higher education system. Findings: The findings of the research indicate that the internet of things, by providing advanced information services, provides a flexible and measurable system for academic community that can be used to personalize training and reinforcement of learning, better management of educational processes, and more effective logistic management etc. The use of the internet of things will also challenge higher education, which violation of privacy, security issues, and rising costs are some of these challenges. Conclusion: In the present study, an attempt was made to introduce IOT and its opportunities and challenges for higher education system by reviewing the related literature. IOT is a technology that covers a wide range of applications in the university, from classrooms to laboratories, colleges and parking lots, and more. Within the system, IOT can be used to support the higher education chain and facilitate communication between input, output, and the process, and facilitate monitoring, control, and management of the university's system. In other words, the IOT operates communication center for the university system. In the dimension of higher education and university process, the IOT can be effective in student interaction and participation, evaluation, mental and physical health, classroom management, satisfaction, attendance, time saving as well as faculty management, energy saving, information searching, improving security in the university environment, providing real learning, personal growth and development for both the university instructors and the students, and so on. Of course, as mentioned, the use of this technology has cetain challenges. These challenges include security and privacy risks, high costs, connection to the Internet, scalability, self-organization and acceptance, etce. But despite this, experts generally see the future of this technology as more practical and important than it is now.
Education technology - Evaluation and testing
B.E. Zamani; R. Parhizi; H. Kaviani
Abstract
This study was performed aims to Identification challenges of evaluating Virtual College students' perceptions of electronics courses. Statistical population was consisted of all students of Virtual University. For samples, 140 students were selected using stratified random sampling. Research instrument, ...
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This study was performed aims to Identification challenges of evaluating Virtual College students' perceptions of electronics courses. Statistical population was consisted of all students of Virtual University. For samples, 140 students were selected using stratified random sampling. Research instrument, researcher made questionnaire was a valid and reliable. The obtained data were analyzed. The mean, standard deviation, variance analysis and paired t-tests to measure t. The results showed that the greatest challenges to the evaluation of students' views of electronic Respectively Technical problems with mean 3/71 , Pedagogical difficulties, with a mean 3/20, And Mental health problems with an average of 3.Also, the students' perspective. In the terms different And various disciplines. There was a difference. In the particular challenges of of evaluation. Yet from the perspective of students And in terms different academic, technical problems as the most important challenge of evaluating students' academic performance was introduced.
