Electronic learning- virtual
M. Esmaeili; K. Nazari
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Academic enthusiasm and the factors influencing it are among the key indicators of educational success and the enhancement of students’ psychological well-being. In this regard, life skills — as a set of cognitive, emotional, and social abilities — can affect ...
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Background and Objectives: Academic enthusiasm and the factors influencing it are among the key indicators of educational success and the enhancement of students’ psychological well-being. In this regard, life skills — as a set of cognitive, emotional, and social abilities — can affect academic enthusiasm. Moreover, with the increasing use of social networks among students and their dual role in either facilitating or weakening educational interactions, it has become increasingly necessary to examine how these platforms influence the relationship between life skills and academic enthusiasm. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of social networks in the relationship between life skills and academic enthusiasm among upper elementary school students.
Methods: From the perspective of research design, this study was descriptive, and in terms of purpose, it was applied. The research method was descriptive-survey of a correlational type, based on structural equation modeling (SEM). The statistical population consisted of 4,521 upper elementary school students from District 4 of Qom. Using the Krejcie and Morgan table, a sample of 384 students was selected through simple random sampling. To measure life skills, the Babadi and Meshkani Children’s Life Skills Questionnaire (2011) was used, which assesses four components among students: social skills, self-regulation, self-control (self-management), and social responsibility. To assess students’ academic enthusiasm, the Fredricks et al. (2012) Academic Engagement Questionnaire was utilized, which measures three components: behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, and cognitive engagement. To measure the use of social networks among students, the Jahanbani (2018) Social Networks Questionnaire was employed, evaluating three components: level of use, type of use, and level of trust in users. The content and face validity of the questionnaires were confirmed by 10 faculty members from the Department of Educational Sciences and Educational Management. Reliability was assessed in two stages — before and after the main implementation of the study. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for all questionnaires were above the 0.70 criterion, indicating acceptable reliability. Data were analyzed using correlation and t-tests, Sobel’s test for mediating effects, path coefficients, and model fit indices within the framework of structural equation modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS software.
Findings: The results showed that social networks play a mediating role in the relationship between life skills and students’ academic enthusiasm. Moreover, life skills had a significant effect on social networks, with a t-value of 7.629 (p < 0.001). Similarly, social networks had a significant effect on academic enthusiasm, with a t-value of 6.26 (p < 0.001).
However, the findings indicated that life skills alone did not have a direct and significant effect on students’ academic enthusiasm at the 95% confidence level (t = 0.535, p > 0.05). Nonetheless, through the enhancement and improvement of social network use, life skills indirectly contributed to an increase in academic enthusiasm.
Conclusion: The findings indicated that life skills indirectly, and social networks directly, influence students’ academic enthusiasm. Accordingly, it can be concluded that teaching life skills, alongside the purposeful and informed use of social networks, can play an effective role in enhancing students’ academic enthusiasm. Moreover, social networks provide a significant pathway for transferring the effects of life skills to academic enthusiasm, and their mediating role is statistically validated.
Information literacy
Z. Samimi; A. Mohammadi Dadkan
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Nowadays, one of the major concerns in the field of mental health and education is the excessive use of virtual social networks among adolescents. This phenomenon, due to the expansion of communication technologies and the widespread availability of digital tools, has become ...
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Background and Objectives: Nowadays, one of the major concerns in the field of mental health and education is the excessive use of virtual social networks among adolescents. This phenomenon, due to the expansion of communication technologies and the widespread availability of digital tools, has become an inseparable part of teenagers’ daily lives. Excessive use of these networks can have various impacts on different psychological, social, and academic dimensions. Therefore, identifying the factors associated with the level of social network use is highly important for researchers in psychology, education, and media studies. In this regard, previous research has indicated that cognitive skills such as executive functions—including abilities like self-management, planning, problem-solving, and behavioral inhibition—and also media literacy skills as an important tool for interacting critically and intelligently with media content, can influence the extent of social network use. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the differences in executive functions and media literacy based on the level of social network use among students.Methods: The research method was descriptive and causal-comparative. The statistical population consisted of 2,400 male students in the first year of middle school in Khash during the academic year 2023-2024. Out of this population, 100 students with low use of social networks and 100 students with high use of social networks were selected using available sampling and online participation as the research sample. To collect data, the study used Social Network Addiction Questionnaire developed by Khajeh Ahmadi et al. (2017), the Philosophical Media Literacy Questionnaire (2014), and Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (2011). Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics indicators such as mean, standard deviation, frequency, and frequency percentage, as well as inferential statistics including multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), while respecting its assumptions such as normal distribution of scores and homogeneity of variance-covariance matrices. The significance level was set at 0.05, and analyses were conducted using SPSS version 27.Findings: The findings indicated that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age and gender. To ensure matching between the groups, chi-square test for gender and independent t-test for age were conducted. The results showed that the chi-square test was not significant for gender (p=0.86) and the t-test was not significant for age (p=0.73), confirming that the groups were homogeneous with regard to these demographic variables. Furthermore, the inferential analysis revealed a significant difference in executive functions and all its components (including time self-management, self-organization/ problem-solving, self-control/inhibition, self-motivation, and emotion self-regulation) between students with low and high use of social networks. Similarly, a significant difference was found considering media literacy and all its components (including message comprehension, message purposes, message selection, critical view of messages, and critical analysis of messages) between the two groups. Students with lower use of social networks demonstrated higher executive functions and media literacy compared to the students with higher use of social networks.Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that students with different levels of social network use exhibit different cognitive statuses and media literacy skills. Specifically, excessive use of virtual social networks is associated with negative consequences in cognitive and media literacy domains. These findings highlight the importance of focusing on training cognitive skills and enhancing media literacy among students to reduce the adverse effects of excessive social network use. Therefore, it is recommended to develop and implement educational programs aimed at improving executive functions and media literacy in students so that their use of social networks can be directed toward more positive and constructive outcomes while minimizing potential harms. Such programs could include workshops, practical activities, and innovative teaching strategies integrated into school curricula. The results of this study can serve as a foundation for designing educational and psychological interventions to promote mental health and cognitive empowerment among adolescents.
e-learning
F. Zamani; B. Talebi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The use of information and communication technology in schools is one of the symbols of classroom intelligence which has become more prominent with the advent of virtual social networks and has become widespread with the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. One of the major ...
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Background and Objectives: The use of information and communication technology in schools is one of the symbols of classroom intelligence which has become more prominent with the advent of virtual social networks and has become widespread with the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. One of the major results of this pandemic is that the application of information and communication technology in schools can lead to the promotion of students' academic engagement. The purpose of this study is to explain the effects of language learners' use of social networks on their academic engagement in learning the English language.Methods: This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive and correctional in nature. The statistical population in this study includes all of the 1874 language learners in Iran Language Center - Tabriz Branches, who were studying English in the spring semester of 2016. From this number of students, based on Krejcie and Morgan table, 204 people including 90 girls and 114 boys were selected, first using the stratified random sampling method equally according to the branches of the Center and in the next stage, using the relative stratified random sampling method according to gender. The criteria for inclusion in the study were regular class attendance and taking the mid-term and final exams as well as the interest in continuing participating in the research and providing the required information. Moreover, the criteria for exclusion from the study were lack of class attendance or lack of interest in providing the required information. The instruments used in this study were the Academic Engagement Questionnaire (α₌0.96) and the Educational Use of Social Networks Questionnaire (α₌0.96). Both questionnaires are based on the Likert scale and 5 degrees. In order to analyze the data, the test of structural relationships and prediction with PLS software at the significance level of 0.05 was used.Findings: Descriptive statistics showed that the average academic engagement was 93.82 ±14.2, the average behavioral engagement was 30.27 ± 4.41, the average emotional engagement was 33.8 ± 5.8, the average cognitive engagement was 29.57 ± 5.47, the average educational use of social network for classroom activities was 22.97 ± 9.7, the average educational use of the social network for extracurricular activities was 33.38 ± 8.95 respectively. The use of structural relationships test with PLS software showed that there was an increase in the students' academic engagement, behavioral engagement and emotional engagement with increasing their educational use of social network for classroom activities (p₌0.05). Moreover, there was an increase in academic engagement and emotional engagement of students with an increase in their educational use of social network for extracurricular activities (p₌0.05). The effects of learners’ educational use of social networks for classroom activities on their cognitive engagement and the effect of the learners' educational use of social networks for extracurricular activities on their behavioral engagement and cognitive engagement were not significant (p >0.05). According to the corrected coefficient of determination (0.17), changes in academic engagement can be predicted based on the educational use of language learners of the social network.Conclusion: By increasing the use of technologies based on virtual social networks in the classroom, principled planning and appropriate content regulation can improve academic engagement in language learners. Launching various educational software applications during the Covid-19 pandemic is a good opportunity for appropriate use of information and communication technology in schools and foreign language classes in language teaching centers which will be a good investment to promote academic engagement in language classrooms.
e-learning
S. Hamedinasab; M. Ayati; M. Rostaminejad; F. Seraji
Abstract
Background and Objectives: In recent years, social networking sites and software have become one of the most influential phenomena among new technologies. Student-teacher learning and their professional development also take place in this context, both formally and informally. In this regard, the purpose ...
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Background and Objectives: In recent years, social networking sites and software have become one of the most influential phenomena among new technologies. Student-teacher learning and their professional development also take place in this context, both formally and informally. In this regard, the purpose of the present study is to design a curriculum model for the use of informal learning based on Authorized social networks to develop the student-teacher profession.Methods: The method of this research was done with a multi-method approach. To design the above model, the grounded theory method was first used. Participants in this study were all primary school teachers in Farhan Gian University of South Khorasan in 2018-2019. Based on purposive sampling with semi-structured interviews, until the theoretical saturation of the data, 15 of these students were interviewed. To analyze the data, using the dimension analysis approach and during the open, pivotal and selective coding steps, the existing model of informal learning based on student-teacher social networks was extracted for their professional development. To obtain the validity and verifiability of the data, two methods of reviewing the participants and reviewing the non-participating experts in the research were used. In the end, with the theoretical research method and based on previous findings, at first, the nine elements of Klein were the basis of the work and based on it, the desired model was designed. In the next step, the basic concepts or the same characteristics of the curriculum elements and structural concepts, which are in fact the same as identifying the relationship between these elements, were identified. Finally, the model presented by the experts was validated.Findings: Findings showed that goals in unpredictable social networks are flexible and continuous, which have the property of snowballs and should be validated. Content on social media requires features such as; be in tune with the audience, pave the way for critical thinking, action and screening. Learning activities; They create self-sufficiency and belonging, satisfy desires, motivate and lay the groundwork for individual and group education. Materials and resources; Diverse, easy to access, fluid and interactive. Learner grouping; It is non-linear, optional and based on extensive collaboration and online responsiveness. Also, on social media; Enough time to reflect on the answer, the possibility of communicating with communication nodes at any time, the possibility of wasting useful time with attractive content and achieving a large amount of information in a short time. In addition, access to information and educational resources is available everywhere, and the place of learning is the creator of opportunities and is based on ecology and interactive communication. Teaching strategies; Problem-oriented, interactive, based on inclusive buoyancy and with flexible instructor guidance. Evaluation methods; It is quality-oriented, process-oriented, self-assessing, continuous and based on instant feedback. The findings also showed that most experts confirmed the validity of the model in the criteria of validity, coherence, perceptibility, innovation, usability, acceptability and comprehensiveness.Conclusion: Due to the characteristics of social network-based curriculum elements, curriculum planners are suggested to use the coordinates of these elements to design a curriculum based on social networks in order to achieve the development of student-teacher careers. It is also suggested that Farhangian University provides the necessary infrastructure for the purposeful use of social networks for the development of student-teacher professions.
e-learning
S. Hamedinasab; M. Ayati; M.َA. Rostaminejad; F. Seraji
Abstract
Background and Objectives: To use social media effectively, we need to identify and apply the implications of supportive theories using social media. Different learning theories provide a variety of interpretations of learning. Different learning theories lead to diverse orientations and outcomes in ...
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Background and Objectives: To use social media effectively, we need to identify and apply the implications of supportive theories using social media. Different learning theories provide a variety of interpretations of learning. Different learning theories lead to diverse orientations and outcomes in curriculum planning. Therefore, learning theories serve as a framework for guiding decisions during the design and implementation of the curriculum. The aim of this study was to identify the types of learning theories that support the use of social networks and to analyze learning theories on social networks in order to provide a theoretical basis for designing curricula. Methods: For this study, qualitative content analysis method was used. The statistical population of this study consists of all valid documents related to the subject- supportive theories of learning in social networks- from 1995 to 2018 (n=30) selected based on purposeful sampling. The content of 30 documents were analyzed. The analysis unit is the theme. To analyze the findings, the main and sub-classes were extracted after open coding. To ensure the validity of the research, the methods of review by members, triangulation of data sources and review by colleagues were used, and to ensure reliability, the agreement method between the two coders was used. Findings: The findings showed a variety of context-based, community-based, and person-centered theories that support learning on social media. The findings also include four main categories: It showed the dimensions of social networks, network interactions, types of learning, and curriculum elements. It was shown that network communication in social networks includes social interaction, interpersonal communication and interactive communication with admin and teacher-student communication, which is broad and based on community sharing, central agreement and based on sharing ideas. Types of learning on social networks include; network learning, situational learning, problem-based learning, personal learning, and indirect learning. Elements of the curriculum include; network objectives, network content, network learning environment, network inclusiveness, and network evaluation. Network Objectives; features such as unpredictability, divergence, unpredictability, variability, nonlinearity, flexibility, value, reproductive and interactive. Network content has some features such as distributed knowledge, multiplicity of resources, reliable resources, accessibility, context-based knowledge, shared knowledge, inclusive knowledge, self-centered information, voluntary knowledge creation, interchangeable content. The network environment includes technical and educational features. Among the technical features of this environment, we can mention the diversity of language, the existence of communication tools, the possibility of customizing the message and simulating communication. The educational features of this environment also include; being rich is one of the tools of knowledge management, situational awareness, personalized information, open and flexible environment. The network learner is knowledgeable and up-to-date, independent and active, able to do several things together. The network learner is an actor, and social agent who processes, publishes, and manages knowledge on a regular basis. Evaluation on social media is a nonlinear process, formative, conscious, and continuous that is accompanied by the elimination of standard rankings and tests. Conclusion: Based on the research results, it is suggested that those in charge of education use the coordinates of social network-based curriculum elements to design a curriculum based on social networks. For further research it is suggested that researchers implement the findings in an experimental environment to take a positive step towards the optimal use of social networks to learners’ learning outcome.
Education technology -training course
T. Yaghoobi; M. Abooei Ardakan; F. Gouyandeh Najaf Abadi
Abstract
Nowadays students, as digital natives, are attending social networks, social sites, blogging and doing other activities of Web 2.0, while it seems teachers, as digital immigrants, are less likely to use this technology than students. Given the apparent gap between digital natives and immigrants, and ...
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Nowadays students, as digital natives, are attending social networks, social sites, blogging and doing other activities of Web 2.0, while it seems teachers, as digital immigrants, are less likely to use this technology than students. Given the apparent gap between digital natives and immigrants, and the undeniable benefits of using these tools to teach or assist teaching that leads to collaboration, knowledge sharing and knowledge and data transfer, it is necessary to detect factors affecting the acceptance and usage of this technology by teachers, and then policy making in the field of education to be done properly by the authorities, based on these factors. Thus, this research has used the technology acceptance theory 3, which was introduced in 2008 in connection with the information technology to address these factors. This has been carried out through a descriptive study, and the data has been collected by a questionnaire on the sample of 340 high school teachers in Isfahan. Analysis of hypothesis has been done by structural equation modeling and path analysis methods using LISREL software. The results of this research showed convenient and perceived ease of use, has the most influence on the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies by teachers. Peer support, organizational support and computer self-efficacy positively and computer anxiety negatively are factors that affect ease of use.
