Education technology - higher education
F. Bahrami; M. Nazarzadeh Zare
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Institutions usually bring the technologies they need from their surrounding environments into the organization. Therefore, a university as one of the important social institutions, under the influence of the electronic revolution and the emergence of new technologies in its ...
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Background and Objectives: Institutions usually bring the technologies they need from their surrounding environments into the organization. Therefore, a university as one of the important social institutions, under the influence of the electronic revolution and the emergence of new technologies in its surrounding environment, has moved towards the use of multimedia systems and electronic education; however, the use of electronic education, despite countless opportunities, has also brought major problems and challenges, some of which have been mentioned in previous studies, including the lack of face-to-face communication and interaction between the educator and the learner. Hence, the solution offered in e-learning to face this problem is the blended learning approach. Studies have shown that various factors such as educational, environmental, institutional, and organizational factors are effective in applying blended learning, and not paying attention to any of them can cause the failure of this type of teaching and learning. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of institutional factors on the use of blended learning by the faculty members of Malayer University.Methods: The present study was applied research in terms of purpose, cross-sectional in terms of time, and in terms of method of collecting the required data, it adopted a descriptive-correlation design using structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the present study included all the faculty members of Malayer University with the number of 153 people. Due to the limited size of the research community, all faculty members were tested, and finally, 140 faculty members participated in the study with a return rate of 92%. The tools of data collection were questionnaires of institutional factors and blended learning. For data analysis, descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean) and inferential (correlation test and path analysis) methods were used in SPSS version 22 and Smart PLS version 6 statistical software.Findings: The findings obtained from the statistical analysis of the data indicated a positive and significant impact of the normative factor with a path coefficient (0.151) on the use of blended learning by the faculty members, and the mimetic factor with a path coefficient (0.413) on the use of blended learning by faculty members, and the coercive factor with a path coefficient (0.362) had an impact on the use of blended learning by faculty members. Also, the measurement and fit indices of the model indicated its appropriateness.Conclusion: Overall, the study showed that institutional factors (normative factors, coercive factors, and mimetic factors) have a great impact on the use of blended learning by faculty members. Hence, considering the following suggestions can help to institutionalize the use of blended learning in the academic context, namely the establishment of regulations and internal laws regarding the use of blended learning in the teaching-learning process at universities, more culturalization in the use of blended learning in the teaching-learning process by faculty members, imitating successful universities and institutions in the field of implementing blended learning, training faculty members on how to apply blended learning in teaching, encouraging more faculty members to use blended learning, and finally considering more educational privileges for the use of blended learning in teaching by faculty members.
Educational Technology
Sh. Bakhshaliizade; K. Fathi Vajargah; M. Arefi; A.R. Kiamanesh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Third Mellenium World is a world that is faced with rapid scientific, cultural, and technological change. Increasing access to education services at higher education levels has resulted in admission of students with personal differences to higher education institutes. The change ...
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Background and Objectives: Third Mellenium World is a world that is faced with rapid scientific, cultural, and technological change. Increasing access to education services at higher education levels has resulted in admission of students with personal differences to higher education institutes. The change in the higher education context is associated with a change in the roles and responsibilities of faculty members. Therefore, in order to fulfill their duties and take their responsibilities, it is necessary for faculty members to deploy their understanding, knowledge, and skills in different areas and improve them in accordance with the changes that occur in the society and deploy the teaching-learning approaches to take these differences into consideration. This study is aimed at identifying the qualifications required for becoming a faculty member at higher education institutes on the basis of their roles and responsibilities. Materials: This study is a Basic Qualitative research with a pragmatic and epistemological, interpretive / constructivist approach. First, the documents related to the teaching qualifications in higher education were collected. Then, in order to understand the views and experiences of the Iranian universities’ faculty members, semi-structured in-depth interviews with 14 faculty members were conducted. The documents were described in a qualitative Metasynthesis approach in terms of concepts and themes in a deductive manner within the research context and on the basis of a theoretical framework, and, then, they were analyzed along with the concepts and themes identified in the interviews in an interpretive (deductive and inductive) manner and in the last stage, the concepts and themes were inductively integrated and interpreted and line-by-line coding in MAXQDA 10 was used to analyze the documents and interviews. Findings: In this study, 349 semantic units (open codes), 32 categories and 9 themes (competencies) were extracted which are as follows: Competencies related to: futurology (futurism, risk-taking, entreprenuership), professional ethics ( no abuse of powere, observing students’ boundary, attending with readiness, assuming responsibility for educating the community and observing professionalism), personal competencies (personal identity, ethics and personal behavior, being up-to-date, problem-solving ability and thinking skills), interpersonal-social competencies (cultural identity, effective communication skills, role modeling, patnership and cooperation), organizational competencies (organizational identity, familiarity with objectives and missions of the organization, familiarity with roles including offering services competencies, research competenceies, education competencies, management competencies (self-management, leadership, occupational management, resource management, teaching-learning management, preparation and learning environment management, research management, education-research guidance, planning and organization), practical competencies ( the ability to connect science and practice, effectiveness), writing competencies (knowledge of language and academic writing), and competencies related to acceptability in the communities of practice (scientific community approval. Conclusion: Analysis of the findings showed differences between competencies identified among faculty members in Iran and outside Iran. 10 out of 14 interviewees pointed out abuse of others’ scientific abilities and abuse of power by some faculty members in their own professional condition which probably indicates the need to emphasize this principle in the Iranian higher education society whereas foreign documents mostly emphasized technology. Not mentioning this issue in the interviews by most professors may indicate that some faculty members in Iran are not still amiliar with this concept. The competencies identified in this research can be used to make informed decisions and to determine the required content for the development programs of the candidates intending to cooperate with the higher education institutes as faculty member.
Modern Educational Approaches
M. Baradaran; M. Taghibaygi; A.H. Alibaygi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Metacognition as an individual's knowledge about how to learn in agricultural higher education centers should be taken into consideration because the familiarity with metacognitive topics and its role in the process of teaching learning in agricultural higher education centers ...
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Background and Objectives: Metacognition as an individual's knowledge about how to learn in agricultural higher education centers should be taken into consideration because the familiarity with metacognitive topics and its role in the process of teaching learning in agricultural higher education centers is an attempt on the part of the educators to take an effective step so that they can play an influential role in the effectiveness of the country's agricultural higher education system. The education that is based on metacognition leads to lifelong learning in the learners in a way that cultivating such a trait in agricultural students leads to curiosity, responsibility, and the flourishing of creativity in them. In fact, by using the right methods of learning and studying (metacognition), agricultural learners and students can learn the material that is related to their field of study better and more easily. Methods: The present applied research was a kind of descriptive survey method. The statistical population of the study were the faculty members of Agriculture at Shahid Chamran University (N = 82) and the faculty members of Khuzestan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (N = 85) from which all the information was collected. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire that in the first stage of its design, due to consultation with the research team and based on the theoretical foundations, the most important components of higher education and agriculture were identified. After determining these components, the criteria for each componentwere identified based on the theoretical foundations. The markers were identified during three Delphi stages through conducting interviews with 15 metacognitive experts. The method of selecting experts was in the form of snowballs. In the first stage, based on a review of the theoretical foundations and the viewpoints of the experts (in the form of open-ended questions and interviews), the indicators were identified for the main components related to metacognition. In the second stage of Delphi, a new questionnaire was prepared based on the Likert scale of five sections. After collecting the second stage questionnaires and analyzing the answers, the items with an average of 3.33 and above that were confirmed. The approved items were used to design the third stage questionnaire and to indicate the agreement or the disagreement of the experts. Having done the date analysis, those indicators with which 66% and above were finally approved. Findings: The results showed that the agricultural higher education system of Khuzestan province is in an unsuitable level in terms of all components of metacognition except educational planning and educational environment. Examination of the current situation of agricultural higher education based on the identified indicators showed that in the components of the curiculum, education management and inservice training courses, planning, evaluation, educational environment and teaching based on the amount of one-sample t-test, there is a significant difference between the real value and the assumed value. The course has two criteria of participation and justification that the value of the t-test showed that there is a significant difference between the two real and assumed values. The component of education management and in-service training courses has two criteria of empowerment and justification and the t- test shows a significant difference between the real and the assumed value. The evaluation component has two criteria of participation and performance that the value of the t-test showed that there is a significant difference between the two real and assumed values. The component of the educational environment also has two criteria of motivation, facilitation- interaction in a way that the value of the t-test in all these three criteria shows a significant difference between the amounts of the two real and assumed values. The teaching component has three criteria, namely before teaching, during teaching, and after teaching. The value of the t-test shows a significant difference between the two real and the assumed values. The results of the F-test show that there is a significant difference between at the level of 0.001 between the academic rank of the respondents at the level of 0.005 and between the field of study of the faculty members in terms of performing the tasks that are related to metacognition. Conclusion. In the components of the curriculum, education management and inservice training courses, educational evaluation, instructor or teaching duties, educational planning and learning environment, the current situation is not at an appropriate level. This means that the various indicators of metacognition are not properly observed in these components. Given the importance of these components in agricultural higher education in order to achieve its macro goals and vision, the system should be reviewed and revised based on the indicators that are of significance and priority. It is necessary for the policymakers and planners of agricultural higher education to consider the indicators related to the main components of the system which have been identified in this research in planning and designing the educational programs. The Policymakers and planners are advised to change the educational system in a way that the dominant atmosphere in the classrooms would be participatory and cooperative and the content of the books be adjusted in such a way that critical thinking as a strategy of deep learning can be facilitated.
