Technology-based learning environments
S. Khazai; M. Arefi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: With the advent of e-learning, the educational perspective has changed. Following these changes and the separation of learners by the e-learning courses, a sense of isolation and alienation has been created which has even become a threat to learning in these courses. ...
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Background and Objectives: With the advent of e-learning, the educational perspective has changed. Following these changes and the separation of learners by the e-learning courses, a sense of isolation and alienation has been created which has even become a threat to learning in these courses. The dropout rate from e-learning courses is about 40% compared to that of 10% in university courses; In other words, more than 50% of learners drop out of online training centers. Challenges related to erosion and dropout have made student retention a determining factor in academic rankings, and this ranking ultimately supports credibility, academic rank, and the most important criteria for success for higher education institutions; therefore, the sense of presence was considered as an important factor because with the proper implementation of the sense of presence in the e-learning environment, not only the dropout rate was reduced but also it led to better learning of the learners. Therefore, the present study focused on translating and validating the Presence Questionnaire version 3 (PQ3) so that for the first time in Iran, by examining the factor structure, validity and reliability of the Presence Questionnaire tool, it can be used in various contexts of virtual learning environments.Methods: The statistical population of this descriptive study included all students participating in virtual learning courses of Tehran universities in the academic year of 1399_1400 (2020-2021). Among these students, 330 Master’s and PhD students were chosen through simple random sampling method. They responded using Witmer and Singer Presence Questionaire [26 but only 200 questionaires were analyzable.Findings: Based on the results of exploratory factor analysis by principal component method, four main factors (that is, involvement, sensory support, interface quality, and adaptation/immersion) were extracted and selected according to the number of eigenvalues above 1. These four factors, with the power of 89.7 percent, explained the change in the total presence in virtual learning environments. The results of Cronbach's alpha test which was used to evaluate the reliability of the test showed that the whole tool enjoys a desirable consistency (0.98). The results of Cronbach's alpha for subscales ranged from 94.0 to 97.0. The results of confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate the construct validity showed that the questionaire structure had an acceptable fit with the data and all goodness indicators confirmed the suitability of the model.Conclusion: Based on the results of the second order confirmatory factor analysis, the factors of involvement, sensory support, adaptation/immersion, and interface quality explained 69, 65, 89, and 71 percent of the variance of presence in virtual learning environments, respectively. Thus, the obtained results indicate the validity, reliability, and acceptability of the structural factors of the translated version of the presence questionaire to be used in researches related to virtual environment among Iranian learners.
Architecture
J. Mahdinezhad; B. Ssaleh Sedghpour; R. Najjari
Abstract
Background and Objective:In tracing the recent crises of contemporary architecture, one of the roots of this crisis is the lack of attention and learning from traditional architecture in the educational system. Architecture education in Iran has been codified in the form of uniform programs, which has ...
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Background and Objective:In tracing the recent crises of contemporary architecture, one of the roots of this crisis is the lack of attention and learning from traditional architecture in the educational system. Architecture education in Iran has been codified in the form of uniform programs, which has overshadowed architecture. Fixed and uniform programs in higher education in architecture, in the field of architectural activity, have paid little attention to traditional architecture, which can be understood by going through the city and looking at the buildings built in recent years. In order to formulate an organized system for teaching architecture in educational centers, it is necessary to know the basic effective principles in architectural education. In educational processes, the relationship between traditional and modern education is decisive. The purpose of this relationship, in addition to the transfer of information, is to gain in-depth knowledge that is more important than the exact meaning of the message sent. In order to define the specific features of scientific communication, modern concepts in the form of new perspectives on educational methods should be used. This gives rise to new theories of communication that incorporate different ways of recognizing, learning, and transmitting information in order to make non-interrelationships between modern and traditional education. Learning from the potential of traditional architecture, especially Bazaars is helping to design modern commercial-social spaces in today's urban space. To create effective and dynamic urban spaces, that are in harmony with the social, cultural, environmental, physical, psychological and economic needs of the society people has always been the interest of, architects and urban planners. The purpose of this study is to construct, validate, stabilize and standardize the scale of socialization in traditional Bazaar. Methods: The construction of socialization -related items was conducted through an open interview selected by open and central coding, and after review, and evaluation of validity and reliability, 58 items were presented for the participants by eliminating problematic issues. The sample size is 326 which have been selected by random cluster sampling. In order to evaluate the internal coordination of the questions, differential coefficient method and to validate, the exploratory factor analysis, has been done. Finally, the normative table was presented for the main factors. Findings: Considering the results of the research, it can be concluded that this questionnaire has a proper validity and justifiability, and the factors that can be extracted from the factor analysis can measure the learning of traditional architecture. Conclusion: The findings indicate an acceptable initial validity and reliability for the sociability scale. To assess the validity of the questionnaire, exploratory factor analysis was used, which indicates the extraction of 12 components: Culture and belief, new business centers, activity-behavioral component, functional capability, socio-cultural component of the market, social factor, diversity and visual attractiveness, social mixing, physical component, structural values of place, environmental impact on place, physical quality, access and communication. The scale has sufficient factor load to predict the validation measurement tool, ensuring the degree of sociability.