Emerging educational technologies
Z. Khorang; R. Esfanjari Kenari; Z. Amiri
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The digital divide, like other social divides, forms a kind of social inequality. This form of social divide is the gap in access to digital tools and digital skills. Inequalities in access to digital tools and knowledge and skills can increase social and educational inequalities ...
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Background and Objectives: The digital divide, like other social divides, forms a kind of social inequality. This form of social divide is the gap in access to digital tools and digital skills. Inequalities in access to digital tools and knowledge and skills can increase social and educational inequalities by transferring students from school to the labor market, and also affect the rate of migration from rural to urban areas. As schools resume education and restrictions are lifted, understanding how developing digital skills during the Covid-19 pandemic may exacerbate social and educational inequalities for some students is becoming more important. Because students in the same classrooms may have different learning. In fact, the extent to which citizens benefit from digital and media tools determines their position and place in the society and the spatial structure of the village and city. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to investigate the digital divide of virtual education of students in Alborz province during the Covid-19 pandemic.Methods: The current research was practical in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical research in terms of the nature and method and was a documentary-field study in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the present study included the students of the central part of Karaj city in 1400, a questionnaire was used to collect the necessary information, the required data was obtained by completing 196 questionnaires and using the stratified sampling method. In the current study, the digital divide was measured with four levels of physical access, skill access, how to use computers and the Internet, and the level of motivational access. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests were used to check the normality of data distribution, and non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to check the mean comparisons. The studied sample included government schools, private schools, gifted students' schools and board of trustees.Findings: The results showed that there was a significant difference among students in terms of access to virtual learning opportunities during the covid-19 pandemic. Rural students compared to urban students had a higher gap in all four levels of physical access, skill, usage and motivation. Also, according to the findings, there was a significant statistical relationship between the geography of the place of residence and the challenges of online learning in the four levels of access mentioned. It was also observed that students who study in government schools have a significantly higher digital divide than the students who study in other schools. The results showed that the level of parents' education has a statistically significant effect on the digital gap of students, and female students have a smaller digital divide compared to male students. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it is suggested that the current and future political efforts should be made with the aim of supporting rural students with disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds so that they not only physically access the Internet and other digital tools, but also acquire the necessary skills to learn and use the Internet. These solutions can be a tool to reduce social inequalities in education in different geographical areas. The digital divide can weaken the social wealth and even erode it. If it is not resolved or at least not reduced, it may have harmful economic, cultural, social and political effects for the rural society. Therefore, it is suggested that by developing the infrastructure and increasing the level of digital literacy of students, the ground will be prepared for the reduction of digital divide. Also, it is necessary to make political efforts with the priority of supporting rural students with disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds to be a tool to reduce the digital divide.
e-learning
K. Taghipour; F. Mahmoodi; M. abbasi; M. Mohammadi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Digital Divide refers to inequality in information and communication technology (ICT) which refers to inequality between the people who have access to digital technology and information and those who have very limited access or no access at all. Considering the fact that the ...
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Background and Objectives: Digital Divide refers to inequality in information and communication technology (ICT) which refers to inequality between the people who have access to digital technology and information and those who have very limited access or no access at all. Considering the fact that the Iranian education has entered the field of providing instruction in Corona pandemic conditions without having the necessary preparations and planning, examining the digital divide and knowing how to implement the instruction in these circumstances can improve the quality of instruction in schools. Accordingly, the current study was conducted with the intention of evaluating the amount of digital divide in the second secondary school education of Tabriz city in the condition of COVID-19 pandemic and identify the factors affecting it.Methods: The descriptive survey research was used. The study population included all teachers and students of second secondary school education of Tabriz city in the second semester of the academic year of 2019- 2020 who were randomly selected using cluster-random sampling method in three schools from each of the five educational districts and the 12th grade class from each school. The data were collected using the questionnaires of Hosseini et al. (2013), Gregg (2016), Zarei Zavaraki and Salemian (2015). The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by experts in this field. The reliability of the questionnaires was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient for Hosseini et al. (2013), Grieg (2016), and Zarei Zavaraki and Salemian (2015) questionnaires which were calculated to be 0.796, 0.86, and 0.92, respectively. Multivariate Analysis of Variance, independent T-Test and Friedman Test were used to analyze the data.Findings: The results showed that there is digital divide between the teachers of the five educational districts of Tabriz city only in the amount of access to ICT and the amount of the usage of computers during the day. However, there is a significant difference between students in five educational districts of Tabriz city in most dimensions of digital divide, access to ICT, the usage of computers during the day and the year, and the level of their skills in using ICT. Teachers, as compared to students, have more access to ICT in most educational districts of Tabriz, but students' attitudes, skills, and their usage of ICT is better than those of the teachers in most districts of Tabriz city. According to the results related to the effective factors on the digital divide from the perspective of the teachers, the shortage of technical, financial, and economic equipment, cultural, motivational- educational weakness, and the shortage of management and planning infrastructures have been identified as the most important and effective factors on creating the digital divide in second secondary school of Tabriz City.Conclusion: According to the findings, the digital divide is evident in the second secondary school education of Tabriz city. It is essential that the Ministry of Education, in addition to equipping schools, sets up ICT centers in the disadvantaged areas for better access of teachers and students to ICT, as well as providing ICT-related skills training courses.
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.
E-Lerning
Kh. Mirzaei; H. Saadi; M. Sepahpanah
Abstract
Background and Objective The issue of improving the quality of education has always been considered and is becoming more and more important in recent years. Recent advances in the computer and information technology industry, the introduction and emergence of information networks and communication technologies, ...
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Background and Objective The issue of improving the quality of education has always been considered and is becoming more and more important in recent years. Recent advances in the computer and information technology industry, the introduction and emergence of information networks and communication technologies, have introduced new methods to designers, programmers, managers and implementers of educational programs. The influence of new information technologies on educational centers has changed the simple teaching-learning relationship entirely. Thus, with the development and penetration of communication and information technology in the university, it is expected that learning patterns will change and the revision of curricula will be given more attention. The use of new technologies in agricultural education is also very important for the following reasons: because on the one hand, technologies related to agriculture, food and natural resources are constantly and rapidly developing, and on the other hand, the low quality of education of agricultural specialists, food experts and manufacturers are recognized as part of the world's food security problem. Unfortunately, in most countries, the training of human resources in agriculture section is one of the most important priorities in development projects, and as a result, educational programs have not been tailored to the needs of production and the demands of the agricultural labor market. The purpose of this study is to compare the views of faculty members and graduate/postgraduate students (MA and PhD) concerning the barriers and strategies for developing e-learning in the College of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University. Methods: The required data for this study have been developed using a survey method by questionnaire technique. In order to determine the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used. The amount of it for the 46 items of the faculty members of College of Agriculture' questionnaire was 0.84 and for the 46 items of the graduate/postgraduate students (MA and PhD)’ questionnaire is 0.85. Population samples of this research were 63 faculty members selected based on census sampling and 280 graduate students selected by multistage random sampling with appropriate assignment. To identify the barriers of developing e-learning in Faculty of Agriculture of Bu-Ali-Sina University, factor analysis was used. To compare the results of both comments Wilcoxon test was used. Findings: The results of comparing the groups indicate that the responses of faculty members and students conform together in 37 items out of 46 items in the questionnaire; and they were inconsistent with each other in 9 items. In other words, 80.43% of respondents in the questionnaire had relatively similar comments and 19.57 % have different opinions. Conclusion: In order to develop e-learning in universities and higher education centers in the country, it is recommended to invest in the training of human resources and the training of skilled manpower. Because the development of e-learning will fail without specialized and capable human resources, and thus the resistance of the traditional education system increases and make it more difficult for information technology to enter higher education. In addition, it is important to pay attention to the nature of various disciplines in planning e-learning. E-learning cannot replace traditional education and it must focus on courses and disciplines that the traditional education system is not capable to address, or those whose problems are tackled better with modern technologies and more success is observed.
e-learning
N. Pouti; H. Moradimokhles; J. Heydari
Abstract
Background and Objective:In recent decades, every day we are facing new achievements in the applications of information and communication technology in the field of education and research. These new achievements have changed the expectations of education and research audiences from the level of services ...
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Background and Objective:In recent decades, every day we are facing new achievements in the applications of information and communication technology in the field of education and research. These new achievements have changed the expectations of education and research audiences from the level of services provided. Today, students and professors want easy and fast access to new scientific and research resources, interaction with each other in absentia, use of technology for better teaching and understanding, and in general, access to information and communication technology and its use for effect. Most of it is teaching and learning. To meet these expectations, universities and higher education institutions must continuously evaluate and equip themselves to achieve the desired level of access to and use of information and communication technology. The purpose of this research was to study the evolutionary trend of e-readiness assessment models with the approach of e-learning. Methods: For this purpose, the studies were examined by both qualitative and quantitative approaches. In the qualitative approach, by studying the articles in this field, the observed trends in these articles are compared with each other. Findings: In the quantitative approach, the latest articles are investigated based on important parameters such as the scope of application, the type of model used, the methods of data collection and analysis, the type of transaction reviewed in the article, evaluation indicators, sources used to publish the article, geographical concentration, the outputs of the study, the types of data used. Based on the results of the qualitative approach, 4 evolutionary periods, from national and one size fits all model with top-down approach to bottom-up approach with special purpose models, are identified. In addition, results of quantitative approach indicate that infrastructure, people and service are the most important factors in electronic readiness; and national scope has been investigated more than other areas. Most studies have quantitative approach with public service orientation for citizen transactions. Also, assessment, maturity and adoption models have been the most used fundamental models in the studies. Conclusion: Comparison of the three main parameters studied in most studies, namely infrastructure, people and services, shows that the rate of infrastructure review has been decreasing and the rate of reviewing people has been increasing, and services have maintained an almost balanced rate during this period. In terms of the geographical focus of the study, the readiness assessment is in the first place in the country and then the readiness assessment is in the province or state. The basic model used for evaluation also has several approaches, the first category is related to the use of preparation models and the next category is related to maturity models. Studies have generated different outputs and have about 18 types of outputs, among which the evaluation model, evaluation framework, effective parameters, current situation, relationship of indicators, strategies and guidelines have the most frequency. In terms of the type of data collected, quantitative data had the highest multiplicity, followed by historical data and finally qualitative data. In terms of data collection methods, the questionnaire is in the first place and the interview and evaluation of the existing documents are in the next rows. In terms of data analysis, categorization, descriptive analysis and strategic analysis have the highest number
