INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
Year:2015 | Volume:6 | Issue:1 (21)|Papers Count:9

In the present era, having access to information and using it effectively is considered as a fundamental principle in the social and professional life of everyone from different groups of society. In this case, information literacy is a means of communication in the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between instruction of information literacy and academic performance of M.A. students in Islamic Azad University, Roodehen Branch. The research method was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population was all M.A. students of pedagogy, consulting and psychology generally (N=688). 242 subjects were determined as sample through Krejcie and Morgan table and selected randomly by using stratified sampling method based on field of study. To collect data, a researcher made questionnaire was used. Content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by professors and professional experts. The reliability was estimated 0.79 using Chronbach's alpha. To study and analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistics such as Pearson correlation coefficient, two-way ANOVA and multiple regressions were used. The results of the survey showed a significant relationship between instruction of informational literacy (to find, to use and to be motivated) and M.A. students’ academic performance and %10.5 of the improvement in students' academic performance was due to their instruction of informational literacy.

Learning Management System are highly complex for presenting web programs which have been paid special attention in most educational centers in recent years. This study investigated one aspect of this system with regard to evaluation of the quality of these systems, in the Tehran Electronic Universities. A descriptive- survey method was used. The statistical population was all students in Tehran Electronic University in 2014. 143 students of Electronic University of Tehran and 10 specialists in instructional technology at the master level in the university were selected as sample by stratified random sampling method. The researcher made a questionnaire used for gathering the data. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by specialists. The reliability was calculated by using Cronbach Alpha and was 0.93. The results showed that the highest and lowest sub-components from experts' point of view was the technical quality (59.60) and accountability (47.70) and from students' point of view was evaluating technical quality components (62.92) and evaluating accountability (52.21). In general, the results indicated that the quality of learning administrative systems in Electronic University of Tehran, based on the evaluations, was significantly higher than the mean (50%) and lower than optimal level (75%).

Ministry of Education, in order to preserve and promote its role in training and educating the students, has to use informational technology and communication. Hence, the current study aimed to explain the effective factors on the usage of information technology and communication in educational activities by the primary school teachers of Bandar-e-Anzali. It was a quantitative-functional study. With regard to data collection, it was of survey type. From 280 primary school teachers of Bandar-e-Anzali, a total of 162 persons were selected as the sample via a simple random method. The findings of this study showed that in determining the goal, technical facilities related to information technology and communications were the most effective factors for usage of information technology and communication by teachers. According to the results of this research, three factors extracted from the explorative factorial analysis: the first factor was the purpose and content, the second was method of teaching and evaluation and the third one was technical facilities which, altogether, explained 83.74% of total variance. With regard to the findings of the research, providing the technical facilities and promoting the teachers capacities by conducting proper in-service courses is suggested.

The present study aimed to study the relationship between teachers' ICT literacy and the academic achievement of the fifth grade students in Tehran. The research was descriptive in nature and correlational method was used as the design of the study and data collection method. The statistical population of the study included all teachers of the fifth grade in Tehran primary schools who were 2669 in 2014-15 academic year. Based on Krejcie and Morgan table and by using simple random sampling method a sample of 338 was chosen. For data collection, a researcher made questionnaire was used. The content and face validity of the questionnaire was evaluated and confirmed by researchers. Reliability of the survey was explored and the calculated Cronbach Alpha was 0.949 and 0.903 for ICT Literacy scale and Academic Achievement questionnaire, respectively. For data analysis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple Regression tests were used. The findings of the study indicated that there was a significant correlation between teachers' ICT literacy, and students’ academic achievement. Furthermore, Regression analysis showed that use of computer and management files, jobs and ICT predicts academic achievement positively.

The present study aimed to investigate the factors affecting success in e-learning from students' point of view. The research method based on purpose was applied and based on data collection was survey. The statistical population included all students of one of the branches of Mazandaran province Universities, in the academic year 2013. According to the Krejcie and Morgan table 366 people were selected as statistical sample by using random sampling method. For data collection, a researcher made questionnaire was used. Face and content validity of the questionnaire were verified. Its reliability, assessed through a pilot study in a sample of 30 people and Cronbach's alpha, was estimated 0.84. In order to analyze the data, exploratory factor analysis and one sample t-test were used. Exploratory factor analysis showed that three factors including network and support, culture and organizational policies were effective on e-learning success. Also, the results of t-test showed that the variables of culture, organizational policy and network and support in the university branch of the study were less than average.

The aim of the present study was investigating the impact of digital storytelling on language learners’ listening anxiety. Sixty intermediate language learners participated in the quasi pretest- posttest experimental study and were sampled as the experimental (n=30) and control (n=30) groups. Their entry level listening anxiety was assessed by Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Questionnaire (FLLAQ) with respect to three factors: emotionality, worry, and anticipatory fear. Both groups received listening instruction based on Communicative Language Teaching including pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening for 14 weeks. In the listening phase, the experimental group listened to and watched digital stories that were played in multimedia format using a DVD player. The listening phase of the control group included listening to the oral narration of the story without using any multimedia. Pre-listening and post-listening activities of both groups were the same. At the end of the experiment, listening anxiety of both groups was measured by FLLAQ. The result of multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed that the listening anxiety of the experimental group lowered significantly at the end of the experiment in comparison to the control group considering the FLLAQ and its three dimensions. Examining the effect sizes revealed that the treatment effect was considerably strong in lowering emotionality dimension of listening anxiety (partial eta squared= 0.773) in comparison to worry (partial eta squared= 0.552) and anticipatory fear (partial eta squared= 0.247).

The research, in the form of a quasi –experimental design with the aim of education impact, was conducted using visual organizer techniques on leaning and retention of student's health knowledge in 2013. The statistical population of the study included all fifth grade students of Ilam City. The sampling method was based on the aim and data gathering tool was a teacher made questionnaire. According to the nature of quasi – experimental designs, the students of seven classes were selected and they were randomly exposed to the seven visual organizers including family group, vocabulary network, network grouping, group matrixes, simple conceptual maps, inferential conceptual maps and alternative chain sequence. They were trained on individual and public health in ten sessions. Using the questionnaire, the level of students' health in the statistics groups was measured in three stages including before intervention (pretest), immediately after completing the course (after the first test), two weeks after the completion of the program without prior notice. The results of one-way variance showed the significant difference between the groups' learning (the first pre-test and posttest difference) and retention, as well as the superiority of vocabulary network, simple conceptual maps, family groups and group matrixes methods. Furthermore, the covariance analysis results estimated 8% of the education method effect on learning. Therefore, based on the results of the study, the impact of the visual organizers was positive and acceptable.

The present research was conducted on the purpose of examination of the impact of electronic portfolio on student's motivational beliefs. The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design with the control group. Statistics population of the research was comprised of all students of faculty of education and psychology of Allameh Tabatabaei University in the academic year of 2013-2014. Research sample was comprised of two masters’ classes chosen via convenience method. The number of each class was 18 students and all the samples were 36 students that were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. At the beginning of the term both groups were taken a pretest in a same circumstance. Then after the experimental group was assessed by electronic portfolio exposed to them for one term, in order to examine the changes a posttest was taken from both groups. To analyze the data, the covariance analysis method was used. The results showed that motivational beliefs of the experimental group increased significantly compared to the control group. Therefore, it can be concluded that the electronic portfolio is one of the assessment and instruction tools that afford improving student's motivational beliefs.