Electronic learning- virtual
M. Rabbani; M. Keramaty; K. Salehi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The growth of communication technologies, the expansion of the use of electronic devices and the widespread use of the Internet have affected various aspects of human life. Education, teaching and learning, which are an important aspect of people's lives and an unobtrusive ...
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Background and Objectives: The growth of communication technologies, the expansion of the use of electronic devices and the widespread use of the Internet have affected various aspects of human life. Education, teaching and learning, which are an important aspect of people's lives and an unobtrusive discussion at various social levels, has been greatly influenced by these developments and has grown with the growth of technology. Despite extensive research on the benefits and potentials of Cooperative Learning, its implementation has remained challenging. In line with this research gap at the international and national levels, it seems that identifying solutions to implement this approach in the online environment is a basic necessity. This research gap led the researchers to study the challenges and strategies for implementing the Cooperative Learning approach in Iran with an emphasis on the field of educational management with a small sample. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify the challenges and strategies of Cooperative Learning in the online environment.Methods: This research was based on a qualitative approach and was carried out using a descriptive phenomenology method. The field of research is the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of Tehran University and the participants were faculty members working in three groups related to the fields of educational sciences. Sampling method was purposeful and criteria-oriented by determining three criteria: 1. they have participated in cooperative research workshops or are familiar with this approach, 2. they have used this approach in their classroom in a practical way, however little and incompletely, 3. they have taught in both face-to-face and online environments. The sample consisted of 22 people. The data analysis was done with the Colaizzi’s method and the use of Atlas-ti qualitative analysis software. In order to further validate the findings of the research, five visiting professors of the university were also interviewed.Findings: The data analysis was categorized in two dimensions: challenges and solutions to facilitate the cooperative learning process in the online environment. As for the challenges, four themes of facilities, environment, implementation and achievements and 22 sub-themes were identified and categorized; in the challenges related to the limitation of facilities, there were themes including the structural complexities of the electronic space, internet disorders, the online environment and the lack of a proper educational platform; in the challenges related to environmental restrictions, there were themes including the reduction of opportunities for face-to-face interaction, the impossibility of continuous monitoring; in the challenges related to implementation limitations, there were cases including insufficient technical skills, low media literacy, inability to enrich life skills training opportunities, limitation of opportunities for creativity, negative attitude towards the electronic space; Also there were issues related to collaborative group including different schedule of group members, misunderstanding in communication, participation, work report, lack of agreement among members regarding means of communication and difficulty in group decision-making; and in the challenges related to achievement limitations, some themes were identified including encouraging superficial learning, creating the background for the occurrence of physical problems, especially eye problems, and reducing enthusiasm in the classroom. With regard to the solutions to facilitate the cooperative learning process in the online environment, 8 themes including solutions related to the online class (including 7 sub-themes of quick response, inability to teach life skills, attendance and absence, establishing face-to-face communication, creating an atmosphere based on honesty weekly group and individual report and expression of feelings), strengthening internet and broadband infrastructure, easy access of professors and students to the internet, holding online classes in times of low network traffic, using various platforms for learning, teaching how to use technical tools to professors and students, using teaching assistant, use of new technologies for learning were identified and classified.Conclusion: The results indicated that this approach in classrooms, especially in online classrooms, is not only incompletely and very little implemented, but its implementation is facing a wide range of challenges. Considering the strong theoretical support of cooperative learning, its limited implementation in Iran and the identified challenges are thought-provoking and worthy of further investigation. It is clear that most of the identified challenges are not related to the nature and capacities of electronic platforms and are mainly caused by reasons such as incomplete implementation and the inability to act effectively in online environments. It is suggested that in curriculum planning, a special position should be given to wide culturalization regarding the benefits and advantages, disadvantages and threats of cooperative learning in general and online cooperative learning in particular at the level of schools and universities and among managers and students, and especially, teachers and professors.
E-Lerning
Gh. M. Rahimidoost; F. Moosavi; A. Masnavi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Today Internet has a substantial effect on all aspects of human life and has influenced every individual and social aspects. According to studies, more than 82 percent of Iran's population use Internet by the year 2019. Internet as an attractive and pervasive medium has a deep ...
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Background and Objectives: Today Internet has a substantial effect on all aspects of human life and has influenced every individual and social aspects. According to studies, more than 82 percent of Iran's population use Internet by the year 2019. Internet as an attractive and pervasive medium has a deep effect on economic, financial, administrative sectors as well as social, cultural, and scientific communications; and somehow has changed people’s lifestyle. This effect has been such that today a concept called digital citizenship is mentioned instead of the traditional concept of citizenship. Since instruction and learning are an important area of human life, reducing the increasing costs of instruction and improving students’ learning and teachers’ teaching have become a main challenge of educational systems, and officials and mangers therefore seek to solve such a problem. Generally, technologies as a new solution open promising windows for educational system administrators. From the advent and development of the Internet as a powerful and interactive tool, it has been at the center of attention of the administrators. The unique nature of the Internet and the fundamental differences with previous media have also attracted the attention of many teachers and professors. Internet provides numerous tools and facilities and could be a desired environment for overcoming challenges. These tools and facilities could be applied in different phases and parts of teaching. Some are appropriate for presenting materials, some for gaining and directing students’ attention, some for doing various practices, and some for doing cooperative and group projects. Therefore, researchers recently have studied how to use Internet tools for various purposes of teaching and learning. Investigating teachers' abilities and capabilities for using Internet tools in teaching and learning has become a main question for researchers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the skills of math teachers of secondary schools in Ahvaz to integrate Internet tools in their teaching. Methods: The research method was descriptive survey in which a researcher-made questionnaire was designed. Developed questionnaire consisted of 41 Likert type questions which were divided into 5 categories. 10 questions were related to presenting the material, 9 questions to gaining attention and motivating learners, 13 questions related to designing and developing practices, 4 questions related to providing optimal feedback to learners and finally 5 questions related to facilitating cooperative learning. Reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by alpha coefficient and found to be 0.872. Then expert views were used for assessing the validity of the questionnaire. Statistical population was Ahvaz math teachers and based on the size of the population, all 67 teachers (37 males and 30 females) were selected from high-school teachers. Then the required data was gathered by the questionnaire. Findings: The results this study indicate that the teachers' skills in using the Internet tools are almost poor. In other words, teachers' skills for presenting the materials (1.62), for gaining attention and motivating learners (1.55), developing practices (1.79), providing optimal feedback to learners (1.72), and for facilitating cooperative learning environment (1.23) were all lower than the assumed mean of the study. Conclusion: Theskills of teachers in integrating Internet tools into teaching including presenting the materials, gaining attention and motivating, developing practices, providing optimal feedback to learners, and for facilitating cooperative learning environment are all poor and need to be improved.
