Technology of Education Journal
Year:2017 | Volume:11 | Issue:3|Papers Count:9

This study was aimed at identifying interaction solutions in improving the teaching – learning process of smart schools in Semnan the method used for this study was exploratory mixed method that first part is qualitative and second part is quantitative. In the qualitative research, in first case 6 persons who are expert in ICT were sampled and they were interviewed in depth method, in second case 24 teachers were chosen in a purposive and snowball methods and they were interviewed in semi-guided method. After content analysis of the obtained results of interviews and deep theoretical study, the researchers developed this results in a form of questionnaire contained 2 sections: 1: demographic information and 2: interaction solutions in improving teaching – learning process of smart schools in the ideal situation and the present situation. Construct and content validity of the questionnaire was determined by experts, and its reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, which in the ideal situation reported 0.85 and in the present situation 0.89.In the quantitative part of the research, questionnaires were completed by 254 teachers, 24 managers, 24 deputies and 8 experts in ICT that they were sampled in a stratified method. The results are shown that "connecting schools to National intranet and creating local network to the school "with the most important which are ranked in the first place. «Mobilization computer mini PC, class mate, thin client or lap top connected to the network lan" is in the second place» Computer integrated communication with other schools that is placed in the third." Active member in the Portals smart schools» in the fourth place of the improving effect of the teaching - learning played roles in the smart schools.

The existing educational space in schools has been accused of assuming a passive role for children and creating negative effects on their mental development. Although this educational environment initially paved the way for introducing the modern educational program, it lacked the required ability to mobilize and activate a child’s mind, and create motivation for learning. Due to the significance of active learning, its effective elements are first described in this study. From among the 3 effective elements in active learning, “participation” was selected. Subsequently, the effective factors on a child’s participation in the learning process were determined in the form of two models, namely, the social model and the activity model. The research typology is a quantitative method through a surveying study The theoretical content analysis method was used to classify the different perspectives and the interview and observation method was implemented for the selected case study. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of class room size on the students’ participation in the learning process. The statistical population of this study was the middle school children in Bojnourd, Iran, in the 2014-2015 academic year. Subsequently, 279 students were randomly selected from among the above population for completing the questionnaire. The results showed that the majority of the students preferred smaller classrooms, therefore, the overall conclusion in this study is that, to promote participation in the learning process, the following criteria must be considered in designing closed educational spaces: 1) socialization; 2) individual and group activity, and 3) involvement and experience in learning.

Academic educational programs such as architectural programs are all influenced by the quality of education and Premier academic staff. They also consist of theoretical, practical and experimental units. One of the criteria for evaluating such international educational programs is the rate of their research outputs in an international ranking called QS. The lack of knowledge about the relationship between the structure of educational programs and the rate of their research outputs in an international scale causes the inconsistency between educational programs and research outputs. This matter consequently leads to a lower international ranking of universities. Thus, the current article aimed at addressing this issue for the first time. To collect data, the thirteen and three top international and Iranian architectural faculties with higher impact factors in the global rankings were selected. Then, the meaningful relationship between the research outputs and their educational systems upstream and downstream levels, including the relationship between the quality of education, educational programs, faculty members and allotted hours to theoretical, practical and experimental units and the research outputs were investigated. The results revealed that there is no relationship between having top academic staff and allotted hours to theoretical, practical and experimental units and the research outputs in all top international faculties. In addition, the results showed that there is no relationship between the hours allotted to research units and the research outputs of top three Iranian architectural faculties.

This study examines the factors contributing to the development of branding strategies in elearning based universities. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors contributing to the development of branding strategies in a virtual university in Tehran. In this paper, the factors wich affecting strategy (the first stage of the strategic management process) for e-learning based universities, based on the literature and the experience of many years of activity, in this type of Iranian universities, are collected and using professors’ perspectives we can provide scientific and practical strategies that help university to create a successful brand. The survey research strategy conducted for this study. This study is an applied descriptive survey research, Data collection is based on field Studies and questionnaire is used for collecting data. The results indicated that institutional /academic factors, external environmental factors, internal environmental factors and student perceptions factors, had positive and significant effects on development of branding strategies for e-learning based universities.

aim of the present study is to examine the lived experience of the modeling cycle students with using a phenomenological approach. For this purpose, a problem called "local bread and city bread" was used that designed upon 3- year experience of the first author who lived in one of the villages located in the south-eastern part of Iran. In this research, purposive sampling was used to achieve data saturation. In this study, a total of 16 ninth grade female students (8 pairs) took part. Data of this Study collected from various sources, including participant observation, student responses, dialogue between teacher and students and semi-structured interviews. These data were analyzed through interpretation. Finding of this study show that students are capable to determine real world problem and they can make a math model for real world problem. Indeed, experience of everyday life of students helps them to visualize and interpret the bread problem. So, important findings of this study are firstly lived experience of students help them to solve the modeling problem, and secondly lived experience can fill the gap between real world and mathematical world.

The aim of this study is to investigate and redefine the role of the teacher in new environments and rich in technology in accordance with the view of the Connectivism theorists. The research approach is qualitative and the research method is based on Mayring’s qualitative content analysis. The Research community is all of the relationship articles about the Connectivism theory since 2003 to 2015 and learning in accredited journals in the field of education which are sorted with specific keywords. There were 98 articles. The sample was 13 articles which were selected purposefully based on the theoretical saturation of data. The data were been collected from the qualitative-analogous analysis of documents of the sample. By analyzing data the answers to the research question were identified in 29 sub-categories and were classified in 6 main subscales based on the open coding method. The results of the analysis led to the recognition of teacher’s important roles as a model in training environment based on technology in accordance with the learning-oriented Connectivism theory.

The current study aimed to investigate the effect of critical thinking skill training on Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension and reading strategy use. To this aim, 140 highly homogenous students were chosen and two groups shaped; one group was provided with critical thinking skill training, whereas the control group did not receive any training regarding critical thinking skills. Before and after the tutorial, a reading comprehension test and a reading strategy questionnaire were administered. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA. The results indicated that the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in the control group in the reading achievement posttest (p<0.05). Furthermore, subjects in the experimental group used metacognitive, social and compensatory strategies more frequently after the treatment as compared to their usage of the same strategy types before starting out the tutorial. In sum, the current study revealed that critical thinking strategy training played an important role in enhancing learners' reading comprehension ability and also their reading strategy use. In other words, the introduction of elements of the constructivist pedagogy accompanied with specific strategies aimed at encouraging higher level thinking can lead to higher learning outcomes in the process of learning a second/forein language.