Educational Technology - Blended Learning
A. Hossiny; M.R. Yousefzadeh; F. Seraji
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The mission of the education system is to transform students into citizens of the information society, according to technological developments that can use the facilities and platforms created in education to guide and direct daily activities and solve different problems appropriately. ...
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Background and Objectives: The mission of the education system is to transform students into citizens of the information society, according to technological developments that can use the facilities and platforms created in education to guide and direct daily activities and solve different problems appropriately. The Iranian educational system has emphasized the use of new technologies, the National Information and Communication Network in education, by preparing the "Fundamental Transformation Document of Education". Along with the expansion of ICT integration in schools, the matter of evaluating ICT integration in primary schools is important to ensure and improve the quality of teaching and learning, to determine the contexts and requirements of integration in the curriculum for implementation and enforcement. Evaluation criteria help all experts, managers and teachers to always be aware of the results of their work and know how much educational goals and goals of the organization have been achieved. This awareness leads to the integration of ICT in the curriculum in the desired way. The purpose of this study was to determine the holistic framework for evaluation of ICT integration in elementary school curriculum.Methods This research was conducted by a combined exploratory method in two stages. The qualitative research method was phenomenological. In the first stage, in order to determine the evaluation criteria, the semi-structured interview was conducted using purposive sampling, and in the next stage, a questionnaire was used to confirm the evaluation criteria by available sampling method. The participants in qualitative phase were selected based on criteria-based sampling method and the rule of theoretical saturation and hence included teachers and principals of smart schools. The statistical sample in the quantitative part included experts in the field of e-learning. Participants in the qualitative section included six principals and nine teachers and in the quantitative section, the participants included ten e-learning experts. In order to analyze the collected data in the qualitative part, the collage method (open, axial and selective coding) and in the quantitative part, CVR was used.Findings: The findings of the research in the qualitative part indicated that the evaluation framework of ICT integration included 14 criteria in different sections such as: supportive (3 criteria), electronic content (2 criteria), teacher's teaching activities (2 criteria), materials and learning resources (2 criteria), learning activities (2 criteria) and student group activities (2 criteria). In the quantitative part, the CVR percentage of all six evaluation components was higher than the table number (0.62). Electronic content components and support with the highest percentage and qualification of students were confirmed with the lowest percentage of agreement among the evaluation criteria.Conclusion: In order to increase the quality of integration in evaluation, special attention should be paid to the interaction and transaction of all evaluation components. The emphasis on separate evaluation of the dimensions of integration is the incomplete implementation of integrated evaluation in the curriculum. It is suggested that evaluators have a comprehensive and holistic view of all evaluation criteria in the field of Organizational and Educational Areas in evaluating the integration of ICT in the curriculum.
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.
