e-learning
F. Effati; S.M. Shobeiri; H. Barzegar; M. Rezaee
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Education and improvement of human behavior with their surroundings, is the key to solving environmental crises. This shows the necessity of implementing environmental education programs on a large scale through electronic learning for citizens. In order to successfully implement ...
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Background and Objectives: Education and improvement of human behavior with their surroundings, is the key to solving environmental crises. This shows the necessity of implementing environmental education programs on a large scale through electronic learning for citizens. In order to successfully implement e-learning, it is necessary to design a suitable model; therefore, the purpose of this research was to design and validate the model of e-learning in environmental-citizenship training.Methods: This study was conducted with the aim of designing and validating the e-learning model in environmental citizenship training. This study was exploratory in terms of thematic nature and applied and developmental in terms of objective. This study was carried out in two phases; in the first phase, which was done with the meta-synthesis method, related domestic and foreign research available in the databases and libraries of universities or government centers were investigated and semi- structural exploratory interviews were used. According to the inclusion criteria, the content review was done on 150 researches, and 22 experts were selected to be interviewed in a purposive way using MAXQDA. The kappa coefficient (or Cohen's kappa) was used to measure reliability as well. In the second phase of the research, the validation of the model was done using a 5-point Likert scale survey, which was given to 42 experts in education, environment, electronic education, citizenship education, and in the second step, after collecting information, the data were analyzed using the method of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach.Findings: Using the meta-synthesis method in the qualitative part of the research, 15 components and 49 items related to the EEC model of the environmental citizen were extracted. Cohen's kappa coefficient confirmed 0.95 reliability of the designed model, which was at the level of excellent agreement. According to the findings of the quantitative part of the research, all factor loadings in this model were evaluated as very favorable or acceptable. The value of Cronbach's alpha for all components was above 0.7 and the combined reliability value for all variables of the model was above 0.6, which indicated good internal reliability. The average amount of extracted variance in all of the model structures was above 0.5; therefore, the divergent validity of the model was also confirmed. The coefficient of determination R2 for all of the model structures was evaluated as significant, and the appropriateness of the fit of the structural model was confirmed. The extracted effect size also showed that the quality of the system (Q2=0.795) had the greatest impact on the model. The values of t in all paths of the model were greater than 1.96. According to the results obtained from the modeling of structural equations based on the partial least squares method, there was a positive and significant relationship in the designed paths between the components of the model.Conclusion: The items and components introduced in the design of the proposed model were also approved by experts. The designed model can be effective as a management tool in strengthening the provision of useful training and improving educational performance in this field. Also, the development of such models can help the decision makers as a guide to improve the education process to adopt a suitable policy for investing effective factors in the adoption and development of this educational approach.
Educational Technology - Blended Learning
E. Akbari; T. Yazdinejad; R. Nazari; M. Tatari
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Blended learning is a pivotal concept within the realm of education, possessing immense significance. The advent of the Corona-virus pandemic has underscored the critical importance of this educational approach. Essentially, blended learning has emerged as a potent solution ...
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Background and Objectives: Blended learning is a pivotal concept within the realm of education, possessing immense significance. The advent of the Corona-virus pandemic has underscored the critical importance of this educational approach. Essentially, blended learning has emerged as a potent solution to address challenges and elevate the educational process. This study aimed to delve into teachers' perceptions of diverse educational models, with a particular emphasis on blended learning. The participants under scrutiny were teachers who have traversed both electronic and blended learning methods due to the exigencies of the recent COVID-19 crisis. The research sought to elucidate their preferences, efficacy assessments, interactions, engagement levels in the educational process, as well as their insights into the advantages and distinct characteristics of varying learning environments (including face-to-face, blended, and virtual).Methods: The research society encompassed all teachers spanning different educational tiers who engaged in e-learning/SHAD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among this pool, a total of 964 teachers voluntarily participated in the study. The data collection phase spanned a three-month duration and was executed via an online questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha method was used to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire with a value of more than 0.69. To check the construct validity, the questionnaire was administered to three university experts and three specialists from the Ministry of Education. After considering their feedback and necessary adjustments, the final questionnaire was formulated. The research team meticulously designed the questionnaire, drawing insights from pertinent literature and analogous survey instruments. Subsequently, the survey instrument was digitized using Google Forms. Employing a meticulously designed 5-point Likert scale, the respondents were tasked with evaluating statements that ranged from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree" concerning face-to-face, blended, and virtual learning modalities. Furthermore, the participants were prompted to evaluate their experiences with traditional in-person learning preceding the pandemic and their encounters with online learning during the pandemic. Notably, the teachers were also solicited to express their proclivities for a particular learning approach and to prognosticate the learning model that might optimally serve students in the post-pandemic era. The ensuing data was subjected to rigorous analysis employing the SPSS22 statistical software, with the benchmark for statistical significance set at P < 0.05.Findings: Teachers, upon contemplation, considered blended learning as a potent educational facilitator, extolling its distinctive attributes. They derived satisfaction from the enriched learning environment it furnished and accentuated its inherently interactive nature. Concurrently, educators also acknowledged the corollary augmentation in workload and financial outlays that come hand in hand with blended instruction. Pertaining to their preferences for learning methodologies, the conventional face-to-face training garnered the highest average rank value, standing at 2.37. This outcome denotes its unequivocal preference. Blended learning occupied the subsequent position with a score of 2.22, trailed by virtual training with a score of 1.41. In the context of assessing the efficacy of blended learning and gauging active participation in the pedagogical process, the t-values conspicuously fell below 1.96. Furthermore, the significance levels corresponding to these variables unequivocally fell below the 0.05 threshold.Conclusion: Teachers proffer an affirmative perspective on the attributes of blended learning, particularly gravitating towards its propitious learning milieu and its role in expediting the educational process. Nonetheless, the dimension of effectiveness and the degree of engagement in the learning journey are not uniformly perceived as the hallmark strengths of blended learning. Thus, it is incumbent upon the stakeholders to orchestrate initiatives aimed at enhancing teachers' comprehension and perspectives vis-à-vis blended learning paradigms.
Preparation and compilation of electronic content
Z. Rahbar; F. Ahmadi Kalateh Ahmad; M. Saidi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The emergence of COVID-19 has brought about a sudden shift to e-learning and virtual platforms. Teachers play a key role in developing e-learning content. Hence, they must be familiar with the theories related to the cognitive constructs and e-learning principles to both facilitate ...
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Background and Objectives: The emergence of COVID-19 has brought about a sudden shift to e-learning and virtual platforms. Teachers play a key role in developing e-learning content. Hence, they must be familiar with the theories related to the cognitive constructs and e-learning principles to both facilitate the learning process and enhance the rate of learning and retention among the students. The cognitive load might increase unless the e-learning and experiential content is not developed according to the cognitive load theory, particularly for teaching physics as a field that requires multimodal presentation of the content. This might hinder the students’ learning and retention. In other words, if the principles of cognitive load theory are not observed in the design of electronic and multimedia content of course materials, the learning process will be disturbed and damaged due to the production of additional load beyond the memory capacity of the learners. The current study aimed to develop e-learning content for a concept in physics (e.g. pressure) based on the cognitive load theory. It further attempted to explore its possible impact on the learners’ levels of learning (knowledge, understanding, application) and the degree of their retention.Materials and Methods: The study adopted a quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design with an experimental and a control group. The statistical population included all female ninth graders in district 17, Tehran, the capital of Iran. The sample consisted of 120 learners via multistage stratified random sampling procedures. The participants were assigned to experimental and control groups. To gather the required data, a researcher-made test was used and its reliability was calculated via Cronbach’s alpha as 0.85. The students took part in a three-week virtual empirical sciences course comprising six sixty-minute sessions. Before offering the course, the educational objectives of chapter 8 of the empirical sciences textbook in the ninth grade related to the subject “pressure” were determined using the teacher’s manual and eliciting the experienced sciences and physics teachers’ expert comments. Then, their level of cognitive processing was identified based on Bloom’s taxonomy. The objectives were categorized into three groups of knowledge, understanding, and application. To analyze the data, analysis of covariance and an independent samples t-test were used via SPSS (20.00).Findings: The results of the analysis of covariance for learning levels (knowledge, understanding, and application) demonstrated that developing e-learning materials based on the cognitive load theory enhanced the learners’ levels of learning in the experimental group compared to those in the control group (P < 0.05). Moreover, the results of an independent samples t-test for the delayed post-test revealed a significant difference between the participants in experimental and control groups in terms of their degree of retention (P < 0.01).Conclusions: The findings implied that considering the principles of the cognitive load theory in developing e-learning materials for physics would positively influence the learners’ levels of learning and their degree of retention. Therefore, it is recommended to designers of e-learning content to consider the principles of cognitive load theory in the design and production of their content.
Electronic learning- virtual
H. Maghami; F. Asadi; E. Zaraii Zavaraki
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Traditional teaching methods do not prepare students to live in the 21st century. Students in the 21st century must move beyond the basic knowledge in the subject field and look for more important issues such as acquiring skills. Having self-efficacy skills and creating academic ...
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Background and Objectives: Traditional teaching methods do not prepare students to live in the 21st century. Students in the 21st century must move beyond the basic knowledge in the subject field and look for more important issues such as acquiring skills. Having self-efficacy skills and creating academic conflict by current students are considered as achallenges of the educationl system. Many top universities in advanced countries consider the training of such students at the level of higher education among their goals. Therefore, it is necessary to examine appropriate teaching methods that improve these two skills in learners and use all the available capacities in online education to improve self-efficacy skills and academic engagement, because teaching strategies are changing with the significant advancement of technology. And education should gradually shift its focus from the physical space of the classroom to virtual environments. Project-based learning is a deep and comprehensive learning approach for teaching and learning in the classroom, and it can be combined with e-learning and be used to achieve basic skills such as self-efficacy and academic engagement. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of project-based e-learning on self-efficacy and academic engagement of the sixth-grade students.Methods: The research method was a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population included all the sixth-grade students of Savadkoh in the academic year 2019-2019, among whom, 34 ones (17 ones in the experimental group and 17 ones in the control group) were selected as a sample via the available sampling method. Data collection tools included Appleton et al.'s (2006) academic engagement questionnaire and Jing, and Morgan's (1999) academic self-efficacy questionnaire.Findings: The results showed that there was a clear indication that project-based learning can motivate students to learn and stimulate their self-efficacy and academic engagement for better performance in this field. The findings of the research demonstrated that project-based education in the online environment was generally effective (P<0.05 and F=4.46). In addition, students' academic involvement had a positive effect (P<0.05 and F=7.97).Conclusion: Considering the positive impact of project-based education in the online environment on the effectiveness and academic engagement of students in this research, as well as the increasing popularity of project-based learning, teachers should shift their teaching approaches to project-based education in order to improve education. One of the requirements of this action is empowering teachers in the field of electronic education system and designing appropriate textbooks for learning skills and project-based education. It is also suggested that teachers give students responsibility for learning and assign them active roles, because through project-based learning, they can understand their learning, present their products that show their learning and effort.
E-Lerning
S. Abdoli; M. Nili Ahmadabadi; H. Fardanesh; M. Asgari
Abstract
Background and Objectives:. Learning management systems are one of the most important platforms for virtual education, and usability is the most important feature that determines their quality. In the conducted research, various factors have been proposed as factors affecting the usability of learning ...
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Background and Objectives:. Learning management systems are one of the most important platforms for virtual education, and usability is the most important feature that determines their quality. In the conducted research, various factors have been proposed as factors affecting the usability of learning management systems, but shortcomings in the field of usability of these systems and determining the factors affecting it in a comprehensive and practical guide map, based on which usability of learning management system can be evaluated and improved, is the challenge of various educational institutions in virtual education. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to extract the most important factors affecting usability and then present these factors in a comprehensive and practical framework.Methods: In this research, the qualitative method and meta-synthesis approach were used. Based on the stages of the meta-synthesis approach, after stating the research questions and purposes, the systematic review method was used to search for research reports in the field of usability of learning management systems, which were the statistical population of this research, and the sample - the documents available in Scopus and Web of Science databases - was selected through purposive sampling. Then, the quality of research resources was examined through individual appraisal and comparative appraisal; the findings from the research were classified, these findings were synthesized by the taxonomic analysis approach, and finally, to examine the validity of the findings, the audit trail, consensual validity, and expert peer review methods were used.Findings: The findings of this research included the usability factors of learning management systems and the presentation of these factors in a framework. In this framework, factors were categorized based on the responsible of each factor. Factors included navigation, visual design, learnability and memorability, efficiency, accessibility, errors correction, privacy and security, ease of use, ethical issues and compliance in the tasks of IT specialists and content, Instructor’s knowledge, and learning orientation in the task Instructors/instructional designers. Factors that both IT specialists and instructors/instructional designers were in charge of encompassed interactivity/interaction, assessment and feedback, help and documentation, usefulness, and satisfaction and enjoyment.Conclusion: Based on the findings, by considering usability factors in designing and evaluation of learning management systems, it is possible to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of these platforms in virtual education and ultimately the level of learners' satisfaction. The results of this research, while enriching the research literature in the field of usability of learning management systems, help these systems to be used efficiently, effectively and satisfactorily by learners and teachers. The results also help system developers, instructional designers, and evaluators to adopt a more effective approach to improving system usability by designing and evaluating learning management systems based on the framework presented in this research. The time-consuming nature of testing the usability of learning management systems used in Iranian universities based on the proposed framework was one of the limitations of this research, and other researchers can focus on doing this test in future research. It is also suggested that future research, in addition to the Scopus and Web of Science databases, which have been selected as the sources for research reports, consider the resources available in other databases, such as ERIC and Google Scholar. In addition, increasing the number of reviewers of research in the systematic review and the number of evaluators in the phase of evaluating the quality of resources and validating findings make the results more generalizable. Finally, applying quantitative research methods as well as heuristic evaluation of usability factors can complement this qualitative research.
Technology-based learning environments
F. Khalvandi; SR. Emadi; MA. Omrani
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Managing the e-learning environment means emphasizing on the design and implementation of those strategies that, on one hand, help to fulfill the mission and goals of the education system, and on the other hand, lead to effective learning. This term refers to a new set of knowledge ...
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Background and Objectives: Managing the e-learning environment means emphasizing on the design and implementation of those strategies that, on one hand, help to fulfill the mission and goals of the education system, and on the other hand, lead to effective learning. This term refers to a new set of knowledge and skills in the field of optimal use of the electronic learning environment advantages and capabilities with a futuristic approach. It aims to prepare the mentality and skill power of learners for the changes and developments that occur as the result of the entry of information and communication technology into the field of education. Since the design and creation of practical and useful models for managing electronic learning environment in education system can play an important role in the realization of educational goals, the current research was conducted with the aim of designing a conceptual model for managing electronic learning environment in schools.Methods: This study was practical by purpose and conducted with a mixed-method approach by means of sequential exploratory design. In a way that by using the qualitative method, firstly the pattern or the research conceptual framework was obtained, and then the desired model was validated by quantitative method. In the qualitative part, the statistical population included university professors of Tehran in the field of educational technology and educational administration. Based on targeted snowball method of sampling and theoretical saturation, 17 people were selected. The data collection tool in the quantitative phase was a semi-structured interview. Participating experts assessed the face and content validity of the quantitative tool and its reliability was calculated by the Holsti’s coefficient as 0.92. In the quantitative part, by census method of sampling, all 114 outstanding teachers, experts and educational technologists of Shahindej Department of Education were selected and finally 103 completed the questionnaires. A researcher-made questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale was developed including 56 items based on the indicators identified in the qualitative stage. To measure the validity of the questionnaire, in addition to the face and content validity done by experts, the Average Variance Extracted Index (AVE) was used which its value calculated as to be above 0.6. The reliability of the instrument was measured by the two criteria of Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability, which in both criteria, the values were higher than 0.8. Findings: In the qualitative phase, by using the thematic analysis and open, axial and selective coding method of Strauss and Corbin, 4 dimensions, 15 components and 56 indicators were identified and then primary conceptual model of electronic learning environment management was proposed. The four dimensions of model along with their components were “Teaching-learning process" with the components of active learning, teacher's role, learning styles, learning motivation, evaluation methods, "Teaching content" with the components of content suitability, content production, content quality, content presentation, "Curriculum design" with the components of constructivist approach, problem-oriented learning, socialization of learners and "Levels of interactions" with the components of teacher-learner, learner-learner, teacher-parents. Validating the proposed model by using the structural equation modeling method with the help of software (Smart PLS) showed that the proposed model had the required validity.Conclusion: Based on the findings, it can be stated that the management of the electronic learning environment is a holistic approach aiming to identify and design strategies that create active learning among the learners. Creating an integrated and effective management system in the e-learning environment can help to make the e-learning system more efficient and makes its activities transparent. The use of appropriate mechanisms in the management of the electronic learning environment, by specifying the current and desirable state of the electronic education system, helps to reveal the opportunities and challenges that this system faces and to provide a basis for the correction and improvement of the existing trends and the promotion and excellence of the future states of the electronic education system.
Electronic learning- virtual
K. Hassani; M. Shafiyan; SH. Mirzaee
Abstract
Background and Objectives: New teaching tools provide opportunities for students to choose what interests them. Technology with multimedia learning tools allows students to engage in learning and learn with interest. For this purpose, the present study, with the aim of comparing face-to-face training ...
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Background and Objectives: New teaching tools provide opportunities for students to choose what interests them. Technology with multimedia learning tools allows students to engage in learning and learn with interest. For this purpose, the present study, with the aim of comparing face-to-face training with e-learning, at the level of students' cognitive learning in three areas of Bloom (knowledge, understanding, and application), has been conducted in the sixth-grade mathematics and science courses of Ravansar city.Methods: The quasi-experimental research method and the sampling method was such that 60 sixth grade students of Niayesh Elementary School were selected to participate in this research using available sampling method and then they were randomly divided into two classes of 30 students. The students of these two classes were simlulataneoulsy trained for two months, using face-to-face training for one class and e-learning training for the other class. For data collection, researcher-made math Educational Achievement Questionaire (with alpha of 0.87) and science Educational Achievement Questionaire (with alpha of 0.91) were used. The research instrument included Bloom Learning Levels Questionnaire, which was designed to assess students' learning level in three areas (knowledge, understanding, and application) in math and science. These questionnaires were administered among the students and the data were collected. Initially, with the participation and cooperation of the subjects, in the experimental group 1 (face-to-face education) and experimental group 2 (electronic education), the mathematics and science academic progress questionnaire, which aims to measure the level of students' learning in the level of knowledge, understanding and application in mathematics and science courses It was designed, distributed and implemented among them, and data related to the pre-test was collected.. In order to analyze the data, in descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation were examined, and to examine the normality of the data, a single-sample test (Kolmogorov-Smirnov) and univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance were used to test the hypotheses.Results: The results of analysis of covariance showed that face-to-face training and e-learning are effective on students' cognitive learning levels (P <0.05). E-learning (math course with an average of 15.63 and science course with an average of 17.33) compared to face-to-face training (math course with an average of 14.73 and science course with an average of 16.08), has a greater role in increasing student learning and with the increase of e-learning in the teaching process, there will be a greater increase in the cognitive levels of students' learning. In addition, this effectiveness is higher in science (R .71) than in math (R .26).Conclusion: The results showed that electronic and face-to-face training have an effect on increasing the levels of cognitive learning of students. Therefore, it is suggested that teachers use (combined training) in the teaching and training process to use the beneficial aspects of both e-learning (more flexibility) and face-to-face (more social interaction). In a synthetic teaching method, the tutor tries to combine the learning content through face-to-face classroom tutorials and printed books with web-based interactive tutorials and virtual classrooms. Therefore, by creating effective learning opportunities, a richer environment for the learner will be created. Also, due to the greater effectiveness of e-learning in this research, more attention should be paied by the shcools and teachers to the development of teachers' computer and Internet skills as well as the increased use of this teaching method in the learning process.
Emerging educational technologies
R. Nourollahi feyz; A. Khorasani; D. Masuomi; Z. Farsi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Scientometric research, with its capacity to evaluate scientific research and use multiple indicators to explain the potentials and the scientific and technological performance in various dimensions, has gained popularity amongst researchers. This field of inquiry is employed ...
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Background and Objectives: Scientometric research, with its capacity to evaluate scientific research and use multiple indicators to explain the potentials and the scientific and technological performance in various dimensions, has gained popularity amongst researchers. This field of inquiry is employed in various studies with the main objective of quantitative examination of a wide range of scientific data. This study aims at a scientometric study in the journal of Computer and Education whose main objective is to map out the topics of the articles and present the upcoming research paths. The purpose of selecting this journal is to address the latest research in one of the most specialized journals in the field of educational technology.Methods:In terms of method, this study is categorized in the generality of meta-nalysis method and among applied studies which has been carried out in using the method of scientometric and bibliographic research studies. . In this research, library study methods have been used to study the theoretical literature and collect researchdata. The analysis unit included all articles published in the Journal of Computers & Education between 2010-2021 and the source of data collection was the Scopus citation database and search for articles by means of the journal title. The search results included 2597 articles. A set of scientometric methods and tools have been used to provide a suiatble analysis and interpretion of the results.Findings: Based on the results, 2597 articles were written by 5928 authors among which the highest number of these articles was written by one author and the average collaboration index for authors was 2.5. The United States, Taiwan, and Spain had the most scientific output, and among the authors, Huang, Chen, and Thassi had the highest number of scholarly articles. This issue highlights the important role and influence of these authors in the journal. A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games was identified as the most important article and the focus of the research in this journal is more related to learning.Conclusion: In general, the most significant topics in computer and education journals is the use of digital technologies in the field of distance education and learning. The analysis of the research findings showed that the articles published in the Computer and Education Journal are diversely distributed in different scientific subjects and a broad interest from a variety of research perspectives can be noted. Also, the analysis of keywords for the studied articles showed four thematic developments for journal research in areas, such as e-learning, improving learning or teaching methods, developing educational approaches and the application of digital technologies in learning. The findings in the current study can provide some directions for future research on technological learning. It is suggested that future studies examine which pedagogical issues are the most relevant to the research community through meta-analysis to find how to integrate specific technological tools to aid teaching and learning activities. In addition, how interactive e-learning environments are designed to better meet learners' needs can be explored through further design-based research. In particular, what kind of technology tools can provide better academic performance and learning in educational or student-centered learning environments can be further explored
Technology-based learning environments
M. Moatari; E. pazouki; R. Ebrahimpour; M.R. Rezaee
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Today, e-learning is considered as a transformational technology and an important tool in the process of education and educational activities. On the other hand, the need to learn English as the first language in the world in order to exchange information and communicate with ...
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Background and Objectives: Today, e-learning is considered as a transformational technology and an important tool in the process of education and educational activities. On the other hand, the need to learn English as the first language in the world in order to exchange information and communicate with other nations in order to use up-to-date knowledge is undeniable, so the use of information technology to produce and provide educational services to improve English language teaching and learning is effective. Identifying the effective factors in achieving learning is one of the important and researched cases. Since the factors affecting learning are very wide and extensive, it is important to identify these factors in solving the problems and shortcomings of the educational system. One of these factors is cognitive style. People use different learning styles according to their individual differences. Cognitive style can be defined as the way people process new information and experiences in their minds; therefore, it is necessary to create a personalized environment based on the cognitive style of individuals in order to better adapt the educational strategy to the needs and abilities of the user and increase the efficiency of the learning process. In this research, Riding’s cognitive style, which divides people into two dimensions, verbal-imagery and wholistic-analytic, is used as an effective factor in learning. This study aims to predict the cognitive style of riding, based on the mouse movement of users in a language teaching software. In this regard, the language training software was designed and implemented, in which all the user's mouse movements are recorded on a millisecond scale when reading the English text and using the media designed in the software. Next, by using machine learning methods and interactive data stored from users while working with the software, an intelligent model was presented that categorizes people in two dimensions based on Riding’s cognitive style. This research is practical in terms of purpose.Methods: In this study, Peterson’s cognitive style test is used to extract learners' cognitive style with the aim of constructing labeled data. Also, individuals’ mouse data is recorded when interacting with software, and artificial intelligence-based machine learning algorithms and models are used to build intelligent models for classifying and predicting individuals' cognitive styles. The process of training and building smart models is done through labeled data. Finally, the models used are evaluated by comparing the results of the cognitive style test and the outputs of the intelligent models. In the exams, male and female students aged between 22 and 35, with bachelor's and master's degrees familiar with English participated.Findings: Users stored interactive data was used as the input to the five classifiers of the decision tree, neural network, nearest neighbor, support vector machine, and random forest. Patterson test results were also used as labels for these models; thus, individuals were categorized into two dimensions based on Riding’s cognitive style. The best classification was related to the decision tree with 90% accuracy in the verbal-imagery dimension and 87% accuracy in the wholist-analytic dimension of the results of this research.Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, the designed language teaching system can intelligently extract the cognitive style of people when reading the English passage with appropriate accuracy. Therefore, in the future, the ability to provide personalized content in accordance with the cognitive style of people can be added to the designed software.
E-Lerning
M Akbari; N. Javadi; M. Danesh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: E-learning is a method for designing, , editing, presenting, and evaluating education that utilizes electronic capabilities and facilities to aid learning that educational institutions and learners have welcomed over the past three decades. However, because of the COVID-19 ...
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Background and Objectives: E-learning is a method for designing, , editing, presenting, and evaluating education that utilizes electronic capabilities and facilities to aid learning that educational institutions and learners have welcomed over the past three decades. However, because of the COVID-19 epidemic, e-learning has become the focus of wider public and political attention. Therefore, the study of learners' behavior in confrontation with e-learning and its various dimensions have been taken into consideration. In this research, the authors investigate the factors affecting the user's continued use of e-learning by utilizing the Information Systems Success Model and Flow Theory.Methods: The present study is descriptive-correlative in terms of data collection method and applied research in terms of purpose. The variables of this research have been studied using a standard questionnaire. Furthermore, in this study, sampling was done using designed questionnaires distributed and filled out both online and physically among virtual students admitted to three universities in 2019 and before that (Tehran, Allameh Tabatabai, and Alzahra) located in Tehran. Finally, about 450 questionnaires were distributed in person and electronically among the virtual courses’ students of these three universities among which 23 questionnaires were either not returned or returned without answers, and about 30 cases were deleted due to being incomplete. On the whole, data from 390 questionnaires were analyzed in this study. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS and Smart PLS software.Findings: The results of this study indicate complete confirmation of the four hypotheses and their significance (T-Value more than 1.96) and complete rejection of the four hypotheses (T-Value less than 1.96). Approved hypotheses include confirming the positive and significant effect of information quality on user satisfaction, service quality on user satisfaction, enjoyment on user satisfaction, user satisfaction on user, information quality on user intention, system quality on user intention, and enjoyment on user continues continuous intention to use e-learning systems. According to this analysis, the most influential factor in the user's continued intention to use e-learning systems is the user's enjoyment of using the e-learning system. In addition, enjoyment has the most significant impact on user satisfaction. The hypotheses that have not been confirmed include the effect of system quality on user satisfaction, the effect of concentration on user satisfaction, the effect of service quality on the user’s continued intention to use e-learning systems, and the effect of concentration on the user continued to use e-learning systems.Conclusion: In this study, the researchers have evaluated and studied the main components affecting the subject of the study in the context of e-learning in Iran, specifically among students of virtual courses at three universities in Tehran. Researchers have identified satisfaction as the key factor influencing the user's continued intention to use e-learning systems. So, the researchers have have identified and studied the factors affecting user satisfaction in using e-learning. The satisfaction variable is considered as a mediating variable, and its impact on the user's continued intention to use e-learning systems has been examined. Among the factors affecting user satisfaction, information quality, service quality, system quality, enjoyment, and concentration have been studied. According to the results, system quality and concentration did not affect user satisfaction. Also, service quality and concentration on the user's continued intention to use e-learning systems have not been significant.
TVET
S. Kadkhoda; N. Nastiezaie
Abstract
Background and Objectives: After the declaration of a state of emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in late 2019, countries took measures to control the pandemic, such as full quarantine or the implementation of social distance. One of the action measures taken in the field of education by many ...
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Background and Objectives: After the declaration of a state of emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in late 2019, countries took measures to control the pandemic, such as full quarantine or the implementation of social distance. One of the action measures taken in the field of education by many countries including our country, Iran, was the closure of schools and higher education centers. As a result, the concern to develop and implement curricula for continuing education at home and under the quarantine became the biggest challenge for education systems, and the issue of e-learning became very important. Among the numerous factors that can affect virtual learning, in this study, only two factors of information literacy and the teachers’ attitudes toward virtual learning are discussed. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate teachers' information literacy and its relationship with their attitude toward e-learning.Methods: The research method was descriptive-correlation. The statistical population of the study included 152 teachers in Nikshahr [Sistan and Baluchestan province] in the academic year 2020-2021. 109 teachers were selected through random-stratified sampling in terms of gender and teaching level and based on Cochran sampling formula. The data collection was based on questionnaires of information literacy (in the areas of ability to determine the scope and nature of information, ability to effectively access information, ability to critically evaluate information, ability to use the information purposefully and ability to understand the legal and economic aspects of using information) and attitudes toward e-learning (with components of feeling of self-sufficiency, feeling of desire, feeling useful, intention to use e-learning, feeling satisfied and the tendency to multimedia education). One-sample t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression were used to analyze the data by using SPSS software.Findings: The results showed that that teachers' information literacy in the areas of ability to determine the scope and nature of information, ability to effectively access information, ability to critically evaluate information critically, ability to use information purposefully and ability to understand the legal and economic aspects of using information is lower than the average level; there was no significant difference in comparing the level of information literacy of teachers in terms of demographic characteristics other than gender [superiority of female teachers' information literacy]; teachers' attitudes toward e-learning and its components (feeling of self-sufficiency, feeling of desire, feeling useful, intention to use e-learning, feeling satisfied with the e-learning system and tendency to use multimedia education) were positive; There was a significant positive relationship between teachers' information literacy and their attitudes toward e-learning and information literacy had the ability to predict 73.4% of variance of attitudes toward e-learning.Conclusion: According to the low level of teachers' information literacy in the areas of ability to determine the scope and nature of information, ability to effectively access information, ability to critically evaluate information, ability to use information purposefully and ability to understand the legal and economic aspects of using information and its positive relationship with the attitude to e-learning, holding in-service training courses on information literacy based on the required standards for holding such courses is recommended. It is also recommended to policy makers and curriculum designers of the Ministry of Education to design and implement information literacy courses for teacher training courses.
e-learning
z. seyedi raad; A. H. Tajfar
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of quality factors on the success of e-learning systems. This research is based on the EESS model with applying the changes obtained from previous studies and includes various qualitative components such as technical ...
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Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of quality factors on the success of e-learning systems. This research is based on the EESS model with applying the changes obtained from previous studies and includes various qualitative components such as technical system quality, information quality, educational system quality, service quality, support system quality, learner quality, instructor quality, and content quality. In this study, the effects of these eight qualitative factors on "perceived usefulness" and "perceived satisfaction" as well as the effects of "perceived usefulness" on "perceived satisfaction" have been investigated.Methods: The statistical population includes 270 graduate students of information technology management who were studying in the second semester of the academic year 2020-2021 at two universities and were using a learning management system (LMS) with almost similar characteristics. 152 valid questionnaires have been collected. The five Likert scale questionnaire, including 3 general questions and 51 questions related to model variables, was used to collect data. The analysis of research hypotheses was performed using the PLS technique and Smart PLS 3 was applied to administer the tests and examine the hypotheses.Findings: The results of the analysis show that technical quality, learner quality and content quality affect the perceived satisfaction of the e-learning system. Information quality, service quality, educational system quality, support system quality and instructor quality do not affect the perceived satisfaction of the e-learning system. Information quality, learner quality, instructor quality and content quality affect the perceived usefulness of the e-learning system. Technical quality, service quality, educational system quality, and support factors quality do not affect the perceived usefulness. The perceived usefulness significantly affects the perceived satisfaction and also the perceived usefulness and the perceived satisfaction significantly affect the benefits of using the e-learning system.Conclusions: The results of this study empirically confirm the results of other studies on the effect of quality on the success of e-learning systems and show that different qualitative factors affect the benefits of the learners by influencing the "perceived satisfaction" and the "perceived usefulness" and, as a result, they will lead to the success of e-learning systems. The results of statistical analysis show that increasing the quality of the e-learning system can provide the benefits of the learners such as increasing knowledge and academic success, improving the learning process, effective communication with other students and instructors, as well as saving time and money. The research results show the importance of the quality of the learner, the instructor and the content in the success of the e-learning system and this issue shows the importance of education in increasing the technical ability to use the system and examine the methods to increase enthusiasm and encourage the learners and the instructors to use the system as well as adjust the provided course content as much as possible with the level of knowledge and needs of the learners. In addition, increasing the information quality including the existence and availability of the required information, the ease of use, the up-to-dateness and clarity of the information and its presentation method (pens, images, etc.) are greatly effective on the success of the e-learning system. Conducting appropriate research in a statistical population with a different field of study can provide more accurate information about the relationship between the field of study and the success of the e-learning system. In case of finding any differences in the results, the future studies can examine the extent to which customized systems are needed for different fields of study.
e-learning
R. Mohamadrezaei; R. Ravanmehr
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Many conventional e-Learning systems are based on static information and consider all learners the same, so they cannot meet their diverse needs and tastes. The main drawback of these systems is ignoring the previous interactions and interests of the learners. The e-learning ...
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Background and Objectives: Many conventional e-Learning systems are based on static information and consider all learners the same, so they cannot meet their diverse needs and tastes. The main drawback of these systems is ignoring the previous interactions and interests of the learners. The e-learning recommender systems have been introduced with the aim of overcoming these problems and offering the most suitable personalized courses to each learner. The goal of this article is to propose a trust-based e-learning recommender system using fuzzy clustering while taking into account the learners' previous interactions and interests. For this purpose, the weighted association rules and rank prediction were used to produce a candidate list of learning courses and reclassification of the candidate list to generate the final recommendations list. Methods: In this paper, a novel approach is proposed, which is based on combining the trust relationships among users and their common interests in order to calculate their similarities in an e-Learning recommender system while using fuzzy clustering and weighted association rules, which are aimed at recommending learning courses to the users. In the proposed method, after analyzing the similarities among users and constructing a trust matrix, the next stages are divided into two general phases: the clustering phase of the users and the phase of recommending suitable learning courses for the users. The clustering phase consists of two stages. In the first stage, the optimal number of clusters is obtained using the X-Means algorithm, and in the second stage, the fuzzy C-Means clustering is performed based on the number of clusters obtained. In the recommendation phase for the user, using the weighted association rules and the final clusters obtained for the users, the rank intended by the target user is predicted for each learning item according to the neighbors of the user’s cluster. Finally, based on the predicted rankings, N higher ranking course items are suggested as the target user's favorite items. Findings: Implementation and evaluation of the proposed method on the Moodle dataset demonstrate that with the reduction of the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), the accuracy of the proposed recommendations is increased, utilizing trust relationships, and the coverage rate of the users and ranks has increased, using fuzzy clustering and weighted association rules, respectively, as compared with the other existing methods. These findings result from employing the fuzzy clustering of users based on their interests and the trust relationships among them, which make it possible for each user to join several clusters with different degrees of membership. Moreover, in utilizing weighted association rules, the association rules that are most compatible with the courses taken by the user are selected. Rules selection scores are calculated on the basis of not only the reliability factors but also a combination of the reliability factors and the user’s interest in learning courses. Conclusions: Utilizing the criterion of trust among users increases the accuracy in choosing neighbors and limits the users' harmful effects and invalid opinions, which will ultimately lead to more accurate recommendations. Also, according to the fuzzy clustering of users, the prediction of the rating of different learning courses is done only based on the neighbors existing in the clusters of the target user. As a result, it will perform more efficiently for the massive volume of information available in an e-Learning system and it shall reduce the problem of data sparsity.
e-learning
M. Jafarabadi Ashtiyani; M. Nugmonov
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Since the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is an efficient, well-accepted, learner-centered method in which the learner is active in the whole process of teaching and learning, it is a suitable method for teaching mathematical concepts. Nevertheless, the researchers have pointed ...
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Background and Objectives: Since the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is an efficient, well-accepted, learner-centered method in which the learner is active in the whole process of teaching and learning, it is a suitable method for teaching mathematical concepts. Nevertheless, the researchers have pointed out that the implementation of the PBL method in the traditional way faces serious limitations, such as shortage of financial resources, lack of time, and skilled educators. Therefore, implementing this method to benefit from the existing facilities in the electronic space including writing tools, access to shared resources, discussion and exchange of ideas among students, and sharing opinions and ideas is an undeniable necessity. The main purpose of the present study is designing a new software program based on problem-based learning (named as Facilitator Software) and investigating the effect of this software on the mathematical performance of third-grade high school students. The Facilitator Software was designed and implemented by consultation with a team of educational and mathematical technology experts to learn some of the mathematics topics of third-grade high school. This software provides an appropriate method for teaching mathematical concepts in electronic environments (e-environments) which results in increasing the students' activity in mathematics, saving time and educational expenses and providing an opportunity to take ongoing written examinations for students and online self-assessment in e-environments. Methods: The study was conducted by a random sampling method based on the pretest-posttest with a control group. As a result, two researcher-made mathematics pre-test and post-test were devised in the form of eight questions, each of which had 20 marks, from mathematics textbook of the third grade high school. Data collection was done using a teacher-made achievement test, with validity and reliability considerations. The content validity of the researcher-made mathematics tests was examined and verified by the Lawshe method. In addition, to evaluate the reliability of the mathematics tests, the split-half method was used. For this purpose, statistical software was used to examine and measure the reliability, based on the split-half reliability coefficient and, finally, for the mathematics tests, reliability was found to be 0.78. Participants in this study were 65 male and female students in the third-grade of two public high schools in Tehran. Based on simple random sampling, the Cochran formula, 32 students were selected as the experimental group and 31 students were chosen as the control group from one high school and in the same way, 33 students were selected as the experimental group and 30 students were chosen as the control group from another high school. The traditional method was used in the experimental groups and in the control groups the Facilitator Software was used to teach mathematical concepts. The data were then collected through mathematical tests and analyzed by exerting analysis of variance and post hoc tests. Findings: The results showed that there is a significant difference between the average scores of the control groups and those of the experimental groups in their post-test results. The average scores of the post-test for the experimental groups were higher than those of the post-test for the two control groups. Conclusion: On the whole, the findings showed that the idea of designing and using the Facilitator Foftware with emphasis on BPL in teaching mathematics has been successful and this software had a positive effect on the mathematical performance of the third grade high school students.
E-Lerning
M. Farazkish; Gh. Montazer
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The current generation of academic learners is considered "digital natives" because of their ease of use and familiarity with networking technologies; However, there are ambiguities about the readiness of students to study in an e-learning environment. In particular, Iranian ...
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Background and Objectives: The current generation of academic learners is considered "digital natives" because of their ease of use and familiarity with networking technologies; However, there are ambiguities about the readiness of students to study in an e-learning environment. In particular, Iranian students' lack of motivation for e-learning, despite much infrastructure investment over the past two decades, has been a major challenge that has recently attracted the attention of higher education planners to e-learning readiness, especially from a perceptual perspective. This study investigated the perceptual readiness level of Iranian students for e-learning. Therefore, the current state of perceptual readiness of Iranian students to participate in the e-learning environment beyond the presumption of "existence" or "lack" of this preparation is such that their actual readiness is determined in a number of important universities. Methods: This research is philosophically placed in the positivism paradigm and the logic of deductive reasoning is used. Its macro-targeting is applied, and the survey research strategy is used to collect first-hand data using a questionnaire tool. The survey data were collected between April 2018 and February 2019. In addition, two complementary approaches have been used to formulate and weigh the indicators and criteria for assessing students' e-learning readiness: first, the use of indicators and criteria developed in previous research, and second, and the use of subject matter experts in the country. The use of data from other researches makes it possible to compare the results with the findings of other researchers, and the use of expert opinion causes the localization of indicators and criteria with the requirements and context of higher education in the country. The students' perceptual readiness was measured by the following four scales: Attitude, Perceived usefulness, Willingness and Perceived self-efficacy; Then, the weight of each scale and measure will be calculated. Finally, based on the rating results, the students' perceptual readiness at the number of comprehensive universities and specialized universities will be estimated. Findings: The average perceptual readiness of students for e-learning in 15 selected Iranian universities is 4.9 out of 10, which indicates the situation at the "average" level. Also, the findings show that about 35% of the students' readiness measures are below the "good" level, and the average of all readiness measures is at the "medium" level. Also, considering students' relative perceptual readiness for e-learning, especially in "perceived self-efficacy" and "attitudes" scales, the deans of universities should focus on the two main activities of "enhancing students' self-efficacy through e-learning" and "providing an appropriate e-learning environment”. Conclusion: Considering the decrease in the number of e-learning Iranian students, the results of this study show that one of the important reasons for the failure of e-learning systems in Iranian universities can be students' lack of perceptual readiness. At the same time, considering the lower than average level of students' readiness in the "willingness" and "perceived usefulness" scales, there is a need to focus on awareness and education of students in this regard. Besides, relying on students 'relative readiness to understand self-efficacy and attitude indicators, universities should put two main activities on their agenda: 1) further strengthening students' self-efficacy through e-learning, and 2) providing a suitable environment. For e-learning for students.
Educational Technology
E. Badiee; M.R. Nili; Y. Abedini; B. E. Zamani
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The rapid growth of science and technology and the subsequent emergence of e-learning have revolutionized education. Also in this period, becoming aware of how the brain functions during the learning process has had important effects on training and learning. Educators are ...
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Background and Objectives: The rapid growth of science and technology and the subsequent emergence of e-learning have revolutionized education. Also in this period, becoming aware of how the brain functions during the learning process has had important effects on training and learning. Educators are looking for ways to the most usage of technology-based facilities and new findings in educational neuroscience to obtain the optimal learning, especially in difficult subject matters such as computer programming course, which are associated with the problem-solving process. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of electronic courseware designed based on the brain based learning principles on problem-solving performance and motivation of the students in computer programming course. Methods: This research is a quasi-experimental study, and was conducted with a pretest posttest control group design. In this study, sampling was done by cluster sampling method and thus 60 female students of the eleventh grade of computer fields of vocational schools in Isfahan were selected to participate in the study. Participants were randomly divided into 3 groups of 20 (experimental, control 1 and control 2). A literature review was conducted to identify the brain based learning strategies. Based on the lesson objectives and the strategies derived from the principles of brain based learning, an electronic courseware was designed and developed by the researcher and the expert team. The validity of this courseware was confirmed by experts. The intrinsic and extrinsic motivation subscales of Pintrich et al.'s questionnaire as well as a teacher-made computer programming problem-solving test were used as data collection tools, which were used as a pre-test and post-test, before and after the training, in all 3 groups. The same content from the computer programming course was taught in all three groups. In the experimental group, in addition to the conventional method, an electronic courseware based on brain based learning strategies was used. In the first control group, in addition to conventional method, a non-brain based electronic courseware was used. The second control group was trained only in the conventional method. Findings: The research data were analyzed using univariate covariance analysis on problem-solving performance test scores and multivariate covariance analysis on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation scores. The results of the study showed that the problem solving performance of experimental group was significantly better than the control 1 and control 2 groups (P <0.05) in computer programming course. Also, the extrinsic motivation of the experimental group was significantly higher (P <0.05) than the first control group. Based on these findings, the use of non-brain based courseware significantly (P <0.05) reduced the extrinsic motivation of control group 2 students compared to control group 1. Conclusion: The use of electronic courseware designed and developed based on brain based learning principles has a significant impact on increasing student computer problem solving performance. Also, the application of brain based learning principles in designing and developing the electronic courseware makes more external motivation in the users of this courseware than the users of typical courseware while learning.
Electronic learning- virtual
N. Barari; M. Rezaeizadeh; A.t Khorasani; F. Alami
Abstract
Background and Objective:The separation of learner and teacher from each other in e-learning, has made feedback as the most important challenge in this type of learning. Despite, there is no comprehensive framework based on the science of education, so that how to create educational feedback based on ...
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Background and Objective:The separation of learner and teacher from each other in e-learning, has made feedback as the most important challenge in this type of learning. Despite, there is no comprehensive framework based on the science of education, so that how to create educational feedback based on learning objectives. The purpose of this study was to compilation the educational standards and their indicators based on the Bloom- Methods: Anderson’s taxonomy for design effective and on time feedback for any educational goal. Qualitative research approach is used and based this approach, the phenomenological design strategy has been used. The population included 12 persons of subject matter and faculty member in academic e-learning centers which were selected through purposeful sampling. Those individuals included in the sample who had three characteristics: a) academic education in e-learning, b) teaching in higher education in the faculties of educational sciences, and c) working in e-learning centers of universities and educational institutions. To gather data semi-structured interviews were used. Qualitative data generated from interviews were coded and analysis by Corbin and Strauss method and Maxquda software. Findings: The results of the study led to the development of 4 educational standards and 25 indicators based on the Bloom-Anderson’s taxonomy to design a comprehensive feedback in the field of e-learning. According to the results of this study, educational technologists can evaluate or design more effective e-learning environments. Conclusion: Overall, feedback plays a key role in e-learning process that can pave the way for identifying problems in the teaching-learning process and proposing improvements to these challenges. However, timing of the feedback is critical. Lack of time shows that the potential benefits of feedback are often not achieved, and instructors are often unable to provide feedback tailored to educational conditions and goals. The results of this study can provide appropriate design and presenting of the feedback with the aim of learning and effective use of educational technologies at the right time. In this regard it can help designers of e-learning environments in a way that the right time to provide feedback is not wasted and always provide feedback at the right time and in the right way. Based on the results of the research, evaluators and administrators of e-learning environments can use the e-learning evaluation form of the paper prepared based on the standards and criteria in a Likert scale to evaluate the feedback method of e-learning instructors.
Education technology - Evaluation and testing
F. Taghiyar; M. Siadati; F. Oruji
Abstract
One of the most important parameters in personalization of adaptive learning web-based educational systems is learning style. Up to now, various learning styles proposed and this paper tries to evaluate the efficiency of using one of them, Jackson model. In this study, we categorized students ...
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One of the most important parameters in personalization of adaptive learning web-based educational systems is learning style. Up to now, various learning styles proposed and this paper tries to evaluate the efficiency of using one of them, Jackson model. In this study, we categorized students as model says and delivered learning content matched to each group learning style. Findings of the study indicate differences in performance between matched and non-matched students in one case of the study and in the other case, demonstrate no significant difference. Although these results pertain to an undergraduate educational session, however our proposed framework is general enough to be applied to effective and efficient pedagogy in any area at any level.
Electronic learning- virtual
A.R. Kamalian; A. Fazel
Abstract
In today's speedily world, electronic learning is use to obtaining knowledge, is quickly progressing , developing and changing .This growing process forces people in charge to utilize scientific and logical methods in implementation , evaluation and management of electronic learning systems. One of the ...
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In today's speedily world, electronic learning is use to obtaining knowledge, is quickly progressing , developing and changing .This growing process forces people in charge to utilize scientific and logical methods in implementation , evaluation and management of electronic learning systems. One of the methods according to intellect and logic in electronic learning , is the examination of prerequisites and evaluation of facilities before implementation of electronic learning system. This research was accomplished the goal of examination the facility of implementation of this kind of learning , in Sistan and Baluchestan university. Statistical society is all the student of this university in the second semester of 86-87 educational year . The sample of this research was selected 332 student and the method was random sampling. The means of the research was a standard questionnaire that before was used by another scholar .To analyze the data , descriptive statistical method (average ,standard deviation and variance) and presumptive statistical method (analyzing the unilatral variance ANOVA and T- test, were used. The findings of this research showed that the students of Sistan and Baluchestan university , have relative readiness to enter the electronic learning . moreover , analyzing data presumptively showed the drastically difference between geography students and training science college , management and accounting college students considering of electronic learning .But in other questions of research much more difference was not observed.
Game-based Education
S.A.H. Hosseini Anari; M. Neshati
Abstract
Background and Objective:In recent years, we have witnessed a dramatic growth of digital gaming media in entertainment and popular culture. Games are firmly entrenched in human culture and have consistently impacted their social life and leisure on an unprecedented scale. One of the achievements of digital ...
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Background and Objective:In recent years, we have witnessed a dramatic growth of digital gaming media in entertainment and popular culture. Games are firmly entrenched in human culture and have consistently impacted their social life and leisure on an unprecedented scale. One of the achievements of digital gaming media is that it stimulates issues beyond entertainment. In general, the game can be described as a voluntary activity in which the player has freedom of action and can enter or leave the game at any time. An emerging strategy in the field of play is gamification, but gamification is slightly different from normal play. Gamification can be defined as the use of gamified thinking in areas that do not have the nature of play, which is created to create interaction and motivation in people to achieve the desired goals. Nowadays, gamification has been turned into a strong motive tool to engage and increase users’ participation in the educational systems. Previous research indicates generally the importance and efficiency of gamification methods to improve educational processes, but in these researches, the characteristics of each audience and its effect on their behavior were not investigated. In this research, we attempt to study individual characteristics such as their gender and education background on their effectiveness rate from gamification. Methods: For this study, we designed an educational system based on gamification approach named as “Elenow” and gave it to the students (N=41) who were studying “Technical writing and presentation method” course. Elenow is a web-based system which is accessible on users’ mobile. In addition to the data collected by Elenow system, a questionnaire was given to the audiences and asked them about the effectiveness of gamification process implemented by the Elenow system. Also, the information about the students’ educational background was extracted from the university educational systems. Findings:The most important findings of this research revealed that the individual characteristics of audiences are significant factors on their effectiveness from gamification. Therefore, we can’t consider a single approach for all individuals participating in a gamified activity. Conclusion: The most important results of this research are: as the audience of educational systems has different individual characteristics, such as gender, the effectiveness of each element of the designed gamification is different for them. Also, their level of interest and satisfaction with the elements of gamification, such as; signs, points, etc. are not the same; therefore, in designing gamified mechanisms for educational purposes, a single version cannot be considered for all audiences. For this reason, it is important to consider these features in gamified designs. In particular, some symptoms motivate female students and others motivate male students. While women get better feedback than homework-related symptoms, men are more interested in receiving skill-related symptoms.
Electronic learning- virtual
Z. Abbasi
Abstract
Background and Objective:In general, the purpose of e-learning is to provide equal, free and searchable access to courses and to create a uniform learning environment for different people everywhere and to optimize the presentation of course materials for deeper learning. In such an educational environment, ...
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Background and Objective:In general, the purpose of e-learning is to provide equal, free and searchable access to courses and to create a uniform learning environment for different people everywhere and to optimize the presentation of course materials for deeper learning. In such an educational environment, unlike traditional (teacher-centered) teaching methods, people benefit from the subjects to the extent of their capacity and ability. In e-learning, it is possible to achieve maximum productivity in education by combining different methods of presenting educational content such as text, audio and video, etc. Virtual education utilizes the capacity of computer networks, Internet technologies, satellite networks, and new digital sciences. In fact, the art of using network technologies is to design, select, transform, and manage the educational process. The purpose of this study was to investigate, identify, and rank the most important key factors in the success of the Persian language e-learning course in universities (Al-Mustafa society and Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin). Methods: This is an applied research in terms of the purpose, descriptive in terms of the method of data collection and cross-sectional study. The statistical population of this study was 60 Persian language instructors who taught at least one full term using the E-learning system. The main instrument for data collecting was a researcher-made questionnaire based on the Likert scale of 5 scales. Findings: The results of the research showed that the factor of content was considered as the first priority, technology as the second, students as the third priority, the organizational factor as the forth one, and the last priority was the general issue. In the study of the organizational factors, the educational- management strategies in organization gained the highest amount of 12.32, the highest percentage of variance 32.08 and the highest coefficient of reliability of 0.875, among the factors of student, the sub-factor trust, adaption and response to the needs with the special value of 8.094 and the variance of 27.93 was the most important sub-factor. Also, in determining the factors of content, the factors affecting content production with a specific amount of 5.314, indicated the highest percentage 42.151 of the total variance related to the factors of content. The applicability of technology with a specific value of 6.07 and 36.54 percent of the total variance was the most important sub-factor of the factor of technology. The leadership and strategic factors with the specific value of 10.404 and 26.035 percent of the total variance proved to be the most important sub-factor in general factors. Conclusion: Based on the set of attitudes of success factors in the use of e-learning in higher education centers, this study aims to prioritize these factors in teaching Persian to foreigners. In this research, these two questions have been answered: What are the key factors of success in using the Persian language virtual education system as a second/foreign language from the perspective of teachers of these courses? And what is the priority and importance of these key success factors identified in the education system of the country's universities? In response to the first question, the findings show that from the perspective of teachers of Persian language e-learning courses to foreigners, the content factor ranks first, the technology factor ranks the second, the student factor ranks third, and the general factor is the last after the organizational factor. Also, in answer to the second question, each of these factors has several sub-factors.
e-learning
E. Zarei; M. Javaheri; A. Shikhi
Abstract
Background and Objective:At first glance to the science of educational technology, what usually comes to mind, is the application of new technologies in the education of learners, such a belief indicates a mechanical approach to the scope of technology and education. But experts see educational technology ...
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Background and Objective:At first glance to the science of educational technology, what usually comes to mind, is the application of new technologies in the education of learners, such a belief indicates a mechanical approach to the scope of technology and education. But experts see educational technology as more than just the use of educational tools. They believe that educational technology includes a systematic approach, design, implementation, evaluation and problem solving of educational programs and the simultaneous use of human and inhuman resources, and its ultimate goal is deep, sustainable and effective learning. e-learning is the result of the use of new technologies in education and is one of the inductive methods of teaching learning in which the subject starts from presenting a specific observation or a subject and the audience hypothesizes, collects information, combines information and discovers the problem. e-learning is introduced as an online process by which learning can be done using the Internet and web pages. The teacher can design a new e-space or use the e-learning environments available on the Internet in connection with any of the subjects. The purpose of this study was identifying effective factors and obstacles in using e-learning of primary school students in Karaj. Methods: The present study is a qualitative research and utilized a focus group method. The research instrument was semi-structured interview. By applying the focus group method, the data were gathered through interviewing 29 experts and specialized teachers in the area of e-learning in three stages including Open Source (Primary), Axial and Selective (Optional) Coding. Findings:Open codes were consisted of 75 concepts, and axial codes were compromised of nine categories including organizational elements, information literacy, technology, educational design, beneficiaries, educational sources, environmental factors, limitations and attitude factors. In the area of the barriers and problems in using e-learning, 48 core concepts and codes wererecognized as the axial code of thepresent study in nine categories including structural and organizational obstacles, lack of required training for teachers, weakness of students, inconformity of the current curriculum with information and communication technology, no satisfactory management, no precise goal and objective, cultural conditions and hindrances, lack of appropriate incentive system, space and equipment. Conclusion: Research show that as a learner-centered learning method, e-learning facilitates and enhances high-level cognitive skills such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation and judgment, critical thinking, search and problem solving. Therefore, it is suggested to pay attention to all levels of learning. If the ministry of education fails to provide the necessary infrastructure for the development of e-learning, they will certainly face various challenges. It is recommended to provide the necessary infrastructure for all schools in the country in all provinces.
E-Lerning
F. Rahmani; H. Ahmadi; E. Ghanbari; S.M. Khorasani Kiasari
Abstract
Background and Objective E-learning is a method of teaching that uses a combination of information and communication technology capabilities to facilitate and improve learning. The combination of these facilities provides opportunities for the learner to access the course and curriculum at any time, ...
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Background and Objective E-learning is a method of teaching that uses a combination of information and communication technology capabilities to facilitate and improve learning. The combination of these facilities provides opportunities for the learner to access the course and curriculum at any time, in accordance with their job and family commitments. The ability to access tools, the ability to choose the time and place of training, and the availability of different content formats in this environment put the learner in a position to make a variety of choices. In this environment, the learner can use different tools to communicate with classmates, teachers and other people at the same time and at the same time. Implementing quality and sustainable e-learning programs requires understanding the requirements for establishing and developing e-learning systems. Designing, setting up and maintaining e-learning environments requires a variety of knowledge and skills in the technical, educational and managerial fields. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and rank the effective factors in developing e- learning in higher education. In this study, the effective factors in developing e- learning in higher education were identified in terms of measuring factors of e-learning development including organizational, social, technical and human factors, based on previous studies and the opinion of experts. Methods: Statistical methods were used to test and confirm the research hypotheses and fuzzy AHP ranking method was used to rank the indicators. To this purpose two questionnaires were prepared. The first one is for evaluating the accuracy of the research hypotheses and the second one, a pairwise questionnaire, is for rating the indicators. The statistical population of the research is all students and professors of electronic unit of Islamic Azad University in academic year of 2016-2017. The statistical sample size was considered 384 individuals based on Cochran formula; and was selected through the random sampling method. The questionnaires were distributed among 384 individuals from which, 84 questionnaires were omitted due to different reasons such as wrong answers to the questions and the lack of enough time, and 300 questionnaires were accepted. Findings: A list of 8 indicators (student characteristics, teacher characteristics, content quality, structure management, training process, software infrastructure, hardware infrastructure, university image) is extracted based on technical, human, social, and organizational factors to evaluate the effectiveness of e-learning. The results showed that the introduced scale was a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating the effectiveness of e-learning. Conclusion: The results show that student characteristics are more important while software infrastructure is considered as the second influential factor in this regard. Also, the characteristics of the instructor, the quality of the content, the management of the structure, the infrastructure of the hardware, the teaching process and the image of the university were ranked third to eighth, respectively
Modern Educational Approaches
J. Nasiri; A.M. Mir; S. Fatahi
Abstract
Background and Objective:Internet and computer access have created opportunities for e-learning. Easier access to resources and freedom of action for users is one of the benefits of e-learning. However, e-learning is not as attractive and dynamic as traditional or face-to-face instruction, and in these ...
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Background and Objective:Internet and computer access have created opportunities for e-learning. Easier access to resources and freedom of action for users is one of the benefits of e-learning. However, e-learning is not as attractive and dynamic as traditional or face-to-face instruction, and in these systems the user's condition, such as learning rate and motivation, is not taken into account. Therefore, the developers of e-learning systems can help to solve the problems mentioned in these systems by considering the learning style and design of interactive user relationships. Automated identification of learning style not only increases the attractiveness of e-learning, but also increases the efficiency and motivation of learners in e-learning environments. Research shows that people differ in decision making, problem solving, and learning. Learning style makes people understand a story differently. For example, people with good visual memory prefer to present topics visually rather than orally. Applying a proper teaching method improves the learner's performance in the learning environment. Lack of attention to students' learning style reduces their motivation and interest in studying and engagement in educational courses. Students’ success is one of the prominent goals in the learning environments. In order to achieve this goal, paying attention to students’ learning style is essential. Being aware of students’ learning style helps to design an appropriate education method which improves student’s performance in the learning environments. In this paper, the aim is to create a model for automatic prediction of learning styles. Methods: Therefore, two real datasets collected from an e-learning environment which consists of 202 electrical and computer engineering students. Behavioral features were extracted from users’ interaction with e-learning system and then learning styles were classified using twin support vector machine. Twin support vector machine is an extension of SVM which aims at generating two non-parallel hyperplanes. This classifier is not sensitive to imbalanced datasets and its training speed is fast. Findings: In this study, increasing the attractiveness of e-learning is emphasized and the issue of automatic recognition of students' learning style has been investigated by MBTI model. Two data sets from the interaction of 202 electrical and computer engineering students with the Moodle e-learning system have been collected. The collected data set is very unbalanced, which has a negative effect on the accuracy of the categories. With this in mind, the twin support vector machine uses the least squares as a binder. The distinctive feature of this category is the low sensitivity to data balance and very high speed. The results show that the proposed method, despite the inconsistency of the data, has performed very well in the classification of students' learning style and accurately recognizes 95% of learning styles.Conclusion: Due to the excellent performance of the proposed method, a new component can be added to e-learning systems such as Moodle by identifying the learning style, content and appropriate teaching method for the learner. Future research could also gather more data from an e-learning environment and categorize learning styles with cognitive characteristics from the learner.
E-Lerning
Kh. Sarboland
Abstract
Background and Objective Implementing training and improving human resources allows people to effectively continue their activities and increase their efficiency in accordance with organizational and environmental changes. As a result of the increasing complexity and wast development of specializations ...
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Background and Objective Implementing training and improving human resources allows people to effectively continue their activities and increase their efficiency in accordance with organizational and environmental changes. As a result of the increasing complexity and wast development of specializations in the last century, the traditional education has been criticized for cost-effectiveness, being time-consuming, being prescriptive, having ack of creativity and poor focus on education instead of business results. This type of training is not enough to meet the needs of employees and manage complex affairs in organizations. In this regard, organizations have taken advantage of e-learning to be able to keep their employees up-to-date and active in terms of knowledge and skills required in line with the development of technology. The purpose of this study was to provide an e-learning model on teachers' satisfaction of learning in branches of Ardabil Islamic Azad University. Methods: The study was conducted on the basis of Delphi and survey models of research. In the first stage, the participants of this study were the lecturers and faculty members, and in the second stage, they were the faculty members of Management in all branches of Ardabil Islamic Azad University. Samples of the first stage were 136 subjects and in the second stage 20 subjects. The sampling method in the first stage was random-stratified and in the second stage it was purposive sampling. Data collection instrument was an e-learning researcher-made questionnaire. For data analysis Structural Measurement Model (Confirmatory Factor Analysis) was used and for specifiying e-learning, Delphi three-staged method was used. Findings: Findings included 77 concrete variables and 8 basic concepts (IT infrastructures, quality of educational system, self-learning, learners' support, identifying and recording educational needs, management of values, educational materials, society-based learning). In the first stage, the appropriacy of the model was approved and showed that the structures were in a satisfactory level of validity, and in the second stage, the quality of educational system, IT infrastructures, self-learning and learners' support, were identified as the dimensions of e-learning. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the research, it is suggested that the officials of the units of the Islamic Azad University of Ardabil Province implemented e-learning with a consistent approach in line with the organization's strategy and instructors’ satisfaction. In this regard, the units of Islamic Azad University of Ardabil can form a specialized department of human resources in relation to e-learning of professors and faculty members in addition to identifying talents, building e-learning processes, structures and systems to promote their e-learning processes. Eventually, all systems cannot sustain functioning without evaluation. E-learning does not work in a static environment and must be formed in a dynamic or organized way. Therefore, the units of Islamic Azad University need to adjust the e-learning of their professors based on its characteristics and to establish feedback and evaluation systems (internal and external evaluation system).
