Educational Technology - Artificial Intelligence
Vi. Gohari; M. Keramati Nojedeh sadat; F. Ramezaivishki
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Education is one of the main parts of knowledge and science production in which teachers contribute to the scientific and cultural progress of any country. Inefficiency in education and training can lead to challenges and widespread problems of social, cultural, scientific, ...
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Background and Objectives: Education is one of the main parts of knowledge and science production in which teachers contribute to the scientific and cultural progress of any country. Inefficiency in education and training can lead to challenges and widespread problems of social, cultural, scientific, political, religious dimensions in society. Therefore, it seems necessary to assess the competence of student teachers in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes especially before entering the professional field of teaching. In this research, the competency of student teachers before entering education and training was evaluated using artificial intelligence neural network as a precise computing tool.Methods: In the present study, the research method is applied and quantitative. The statistical population consisted of students of Farhangian University, and the sample included 91 teacher students who were selected via cluster sampling in 2015-2016 in the field of Biology Education of Shahid Beheshti Higher Education Center of Farhangian University. A corpus of 500 data (80% training and 20% test) was formed based on the scores of general, educational, specialized educational, theoretical, research, internship, and total average courses. The findings were assessed using the feedforward neural network method. According to the investigations carried out on the layers and the number of neurons on the data of the algorithm, a three-layer neural network was designed with two hidden layers with a number of 300 neurons and an output layer with a number of 1 neuron.Findings: The results of the examination of professional competence are based on the scores of student teachers and the extraction of new data of the seven dimensions of theoretic- specialization, education- specialization, education- practice, general, internship, research, and total average, which show the highest average with a score of 19.8 in the educational courses and the lowest average with a score of 16.67 was in theory-specialized courses. The analysis of the findings according to the educational data of the graduates and the labeling of experts showed the level of competence as 17.77.Conclusion: These results indicate that curriculum planners should pay more attention to specialized-theory courses because teachers must have the appropriate and sufficient knowledge and scientific level to present scientific materials to students in addition to learning educational lessons. Besides, it is suggested to evaluate the competence coefficient in other studies by using special questionnaires based on students' attitudes toward the teaching profession. On the other hand, the student's handwriting can be examined and studied as another indicator. Also, the neural network model of artificial intelligence should be used to determine the competence of student teachers in other fields of basic sciences and humanities.
Electronic learning- virtual
M. Maghsoudi; F. Safaee; A. Hashemi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Relying on e-learning in higher education is not a newly emerging phenomenon and has always been considered as a supplementary learning environment. But with the sudden outbreak of the Corona epidemic, the higher education system was shocked. Although the quality of this learning ...
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Background and Objectives: Relying on e-learning in higher education is not a newly emerging phenomenon and has always been considered as a supplementary learning environment. But with the sudden outbreak of the Corona epidemic, the higher education system was shocked. Although the quality of this learning environment has been continuously assessed before, the main question is whether what was said before the Corona epidemic about the quality of e-learning and its capabilities is true in this era in which it is the only teaching and learning environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of virtual education provided at Farhangian University during the Corona epidemic by relying on measuring the attitudes of educators and students in different fields of study.Methods: In this research, the sequential mixed method was used. In order to collect quantitative data, two separate questionnaires were used for educators and students, which contained 15 and 19 questions, respectively, which measured their attitudes based on a Likert scale of five options. The original version of the educators' questionnaire was developed by Dillon and McLean [39] and the questionnaire developed by Patriot et al.,[40] was used for the students. In this study, the statistical population consisted of 713 students and 89 educators working in Farhangian University of Markazi Province. Participants in this study were selected through convinient sampling method. The questionnaires were distributed among 317 students and 36 educators from the departments of elementary education, counseling, special children education, physical training, English language and Persian literature, theology and information technology. After data collection, one-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. In addition, to collect qualitative data, interview questions were designed based on the results of quantitative data analysis, followed by interviews with 22 students (14 women and 8 men) and 12 students (6 men and 6 women). One of the volunteer educators participated in the interview from the above-mentioned training groups. After recording the interview sessions and implementing it, they were coded and categorized.Findings: It was shown that the educators of different educational disciplines had a positive attitude and high satisfaction with virtual education in this period and there was no difference between the educators of different educational departments in this regard. However, the results showed that students generally had a negative attitude and low satisfaction with virtual education and there was a significant difference between their attitudes according to their field of study. To find out the reasons for these findings, the researchers decided to conduct a semi-structured interview. After analyzing the content of qualitative data obtained from interviews with educators and students, relying on the method of guided qualitative content analysis, it was found that the factors related to the virtual and multimedia education environment as well as participatory learning in shaping educators' attitudes and students is important. Similarly, in addition to these factors, the third factor, which is related to independent learning, played a role in shaping their attitudes and their level of satisfaction with education.Conclusion: This research showed how much educators and students can have different opinions. Because, while the educators participating in this study had a positive attitude and satisfaction with virtual education at Farhangian University, students generally had a negative attitude towards it during the corona epidemic. Based on the findings of this study, qualitative data, multimedia education tools and insufficient use of group and participatory education have been the main weaknesses and the main causes of negative attitudes and relative dissatisfaction of students, as well as content design and curriculum. Lack of encouragement for students to learn independently was another reason for this dissatisfaction. According to the results of this study, it is suggested that in order to implement virtual education optimally, in addition to knowledge and skills, teachers should have a positive attitude and firmly convey this attitude to students. In addition, it is necessary to have adequate monitoring of the factors of school users (teachers), ICT, interface design (virtual education system), management, human-organizational resource support and evaluation during the course.
Teacher Education
H. Abedini Alavi; M. Nili AhmadAbadi; M. Neystani; M. Liaghatdar
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The purpose of architecture education is to prepare graduates for general proficiency in this field of study. However, many graduates of architecture who are employed at the job market observe a profound gap between what they have learned in college and what is being done in ...
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Background and Objectives: The purpose of architecture education is to prepare graduates for general proficiency in this field of study. However, many graduates of architecture who are employed at the job market observe a profound gap between what they have learned in college and what is being done in professional work in architecture. This study -by examining the method of architecture education at undergraduate level and the job market situation in Iran- evaluates the relationship between the education and professional work in architecture to answer the following questions: "1. What are the problems of undergraduate architecture education in Iran that cause the inefficiency of architecture graduates in professional environment?", "2. Which features in the professional environment are necessary for a graduate of architecture?" and "3. How can we make a more effective connection between and the professional architectural environment?" Methods: The present study is an applied one and its method is field survey. In addition, the method of data analysis is analytical-descriptive. Data collection has been done through handing questionnaires and holding interviews with senior undergraduate architecture students as the statistical population who are supposed to enter the architectural job market soon, professors of architecture schools as individuals who are teaching students in this field, and professional architects as individuals who are professionally active in the field of architecture. The students and professors who were studied in this research were selected from 3 Iranian universities at the intermediate level, and professional architects were also selected from the managers of architectural companies. Being a veteran architect was the criterion for selecting professors and architects. The criteria for professors to be a veteran architect have been the experience and years of work, and the academic degree. The criteria for selecting architects have been experience and years of work, the significant number of the projects implemented, and winning awards. Findings: According to the common viewpoints of the three groups who were investigated in this research, the problems of the architecture educational environment that have created a gap between architecture education and architectural profession and the low efficiency of the architecture graduate in the professional environment have a wide range from the beginning of admission of architecture students up to after their graduation. The main problems are: 1. Method of student admission, 2. Admission of too many students, 3. Incompatibility of educational topics with the job market needs, 4. The separation of university from the society, 5. Lack of professional ethics training, 6. Lack of interactive skills training, 7. Lack of professional experience of professors, and 8. General problems of the society including economic issues. Therefore, the characteristics that are necessary for a graduate student of architecture in a professional environment are: 1. Familiarity with the topics required by the labor market, such as having a good command of various architectural software, familiarity with rules and regulations, and so on, 2. Having professional ethics, and 3. Having interactive skills. Conclusion: Based on the benefits of participatory education, it is proposed to turn architecture schools into "participatory education" environments in order to reduce the gap between education and professional work and decrease the low efficiency of architecture graduates in the professional environment. In this regard, it is possible to use the simultaneous training of students of different semesters in architecture courses and the presence of professional architects as expert individuals in some of the class sessions. In this way, students can benefit from each other's participation in design, critique of works, and improvement of skills related to the field of architecture, and the presence of professional architects in order to gradually acquire the skills required by the architectural job market. It is also possible to reduce the gap between education and professional work by establishing "NGOs" that are responsible for linking the university to architecture offices, job market and employers.
Mobile learning
Z. Allahi; F. Barzegar; A.N. Alisoofi; A. Mollazehi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Self-control has been conceptualized in a number of ways but generally refers to the active regulation of one’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Theoretical and empirical work indicates that the ability to effective self-control has important and wide-ranging implications ...
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Background and Objectives: Self-control has been conceptualized in a number of ways but generally refers to the active regulation of one’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Theoretical and empirical work indicates that the ability to effective self-control has important and wide-ranging implications such as enacting positive behaviors that are conducive to longer-term goal attainment and inhibiting negative behaviors that undermine longer-term goal attainment. The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of self-control skills training on reducing problematic mobile phone use among male students of Farhangian University. Methods:The method of the study was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design. The population of the study consisted of all female students of Farhangian University of Sistan and Baluchestan province. The sample consisted of 60 individuals (30 in experimental group and 30 in control group) who had problematic mobile phone use and volunteered to participate in the experiment. The data gathering instrument was Genaro et al. scale of Cell-Phone Over-Use Scale (COS). This scale has no components. It has 21 questions on a 6-point Likert scale (never to forever). The sum of the scores of 21 questions determines the overall score of problematic mobile phone use. To implement the experimental design, first the Cell-Phone Over-Use Scale was implemented and after identifying the students who used Cell-Phone Over-Use, they participated in self-control skills training workshops. Findings: The results of the study showed that training self-control strategies on the problematic mobile phone use has a negative and significant effect on male students of Farhangian University of Zahedan. Also, there is a significant difference between the pre-test and the post-test for problematic mobile phone use in the follow-up group via the virtual network and the non-follow-up group via virtual network. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the training of self-control strategies and follow-up through the virtual group for students at the University of Farhangian will help to reduce problematic mobile phone use and move towards the general use of mobile phone. The results also showed that pursuing self-control skills training through virtual networks makes the effects of these trainings affect the behavior of mobile phone use for a longer period of time. Due to the fact that Cell-Phone Over-Use can affect the educational and learning activities of university students, it is recommended to university officials, educational and research planners to teach self-control skills and follow this Consider consecutive instruction in short-term university curricula.One of the most important limitations of this study was the tendency of students to pretend at the initial diagnosis through a questionnaire that they do not Cell-Phone Over-Use. The results of this research are useful and practical for university research and educational experts, university professors and students and all university educational planners.
E-Lerning
M. Esmaeilnia; H. Kouhestani; A. Maghul
Abstract
Background and Objective:Higher education administrators are looking for ways to increase the number of courses and disciplines. While university budgets are steadily declining, they are forced to increase their distance learning courses to meet the growing needs of learners during budget constraints ...
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Background and Objective:Higher education administrators are looking for ways to increase the number of courses and disciplines. While university budgets are steadily declining, they are forced to increase their distance learning courses to meet the growing needs of learners during budget constraints and recessions. Because this type of training does not require a classroom and the nees less full-time instructors. Over the past two decades, the issue of quality and excellence in universities and higher education institutions has become one of the most important issues in the field of higher education, and especially in the newly-establisehd Farhangian University. National evaluation systems are designed to evaluate teaching and learning programs in universities; and they have attracted atttention at the international level in higher education research, and interest in improving education, both nationally and internationally has increased. An increasing number of universities in Iran have started virtual education courses. Farhangian University has also provided a good platform for these trainings, but so far it has not been able to institutionalize a proper and comprehensive quality education. Therefore, due to the fact that the quantitative growth of virtual education is progressing, yet no improvement has been made in the quality of education, the researchers have taken a step towards responding to these challenges and filling the gap in research literature of the field. The purpose of this study is to design and validate a quality improvement virtual learning model using a mixed method. Methods: In the quantitative section, 608 students and professors were using stratified random sampling method. In the qualitative section, 18 professors were interviewed. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive methods and the grounded theory was used for the analysis of the qualitative data. The data analysis was based on open and pivoted coding. Finally, 14 main categories including quality improvement of virtual education at the University of Farhangian were investigated as strategies, background conditions, intervening conditions and outcomes. Findings: Results suggested that learning-educating activities and human actors had a positive and significant effect on improving quality and deployment strategies. Moreover, deployment strategies exerted a positive and significant impact on quality improvement. Background features also affected deployment strategies and quality improvement in a positive and significant way. The effect of deployment strategies and quality improvement on individual, organizational and transactional outcomes was also significant. Conclusion: Considering the position of Farhangian University in the present models, the fair distribution of knowledge and ignorance of instructors’ character and the positive effect of recruiting distinguished instructors are emphasized in the results section. In causes section, in discussing strategies centralized decision making is referred to; and in strategy section, development of trust making and culture building for virtual learning is referred to that includes using the experiences of other countries. In intervening conditions section, using Web 2 and Web 3, prior knowledge of learners and the combination of face-to-face and virtual education at Farhangian University are mentioned.
Teacher Education
H. Vahedi Kojanagh; N. Karimi; R. Rezaei; A. Esmail Pour
Abstract
Background and Objectives:In the ideals proposed by experts for education systems in the twenty-first century, the teacher is mentioned as the fulcrum of any change. Competence is a set of knowledge, skills and abilities of a particular job that makes a person successful in performing tasks. In recent ...
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Background and Objectives:In the ideals proposed by experts for education systems in the twenty-first century, the teacher is mentioned as the fulcrum of any change. Competence is a set of knowledge, skills and abilities of a particular job that makes a person successful in performing tasks. In recent educational research, the term professional competence is used to describe the specific prerequisites that teachers need to succeed in their work. It is assumed that this professional competence can be learned and taught. Professional competence includes having professional knowledge as well as motivational and emotional aspects. Professional knowledge is divided into different types such as content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and pedagogical-psychological knowledge. A teacher's competence refers to his or her ability to adequately meet the demands and requirements of the teaching profession, using an integrated set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that manifest in the teacher's performance and response. Based on the growth model of teachers' professional competence, the psychological characteristics of the teacher seem to play an important role in gaining learning opportunities. In addition, it has been suggested that beyond specific subject knowledge, more aspects of the teacher, such as teachers' beliefs and motivational and emotional characteristics, are important prerequisites for educating and motivating students. The aim of this study is to investigate professional qualifications among teachers graduated from Farhangian University, former Teacher Education Centers and other universities. Methods: The method of the study is causal-comparative. The sample was comprised of 210 teachers in three groups that graduated from Farhangian University, former Teacher Education Centers and other universities such that the groups were similar in demographic factors. All subjects assessed by teacher professional qualifications questionnaire. The results of two-way analysis of variance show that teachers’ professional qualifications in three groups are different. Findings: The results of the cognitive qualification show that Farhangian University’s graduates have the best state. In management qualification, the difference between Farhangian University’s graduates and former Teacher Education Centers’ graduates is not significant but this difference is significant when other universities’ graduates are considered. Attitude qualification difference is not significant between the groups. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the professional competence of teachers is significantly different. The cognitive competence of Farhangian University graduates is higher than other graduates. Graduates of teacher training centers also have higher cognitive competencies compared to graduates of other universities. In terms of managerial competence, the graduates of Farhangian University have not shown a significant difference with the graduates of teacher training centers, but they are in a better position compared to the group of graduates of other universities. In this case, the difference between former teacher training graduates and other universities is not significant. In attitudinal competence, the difference between groups of teachers is not significant, meaning that these three categories have equally developed attitudinal competence in their graduates.
