INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
Year:2013 | Volume:4 | Issue:1 (13)|Papers Count:10

The aim of the present research was to study the effect of instructional multimedia on social skills development in mentally disabled grade five primary students in Tehran. The research method was quasi-experimental. The statistical society included all mentally disabled students in the fifth grade school in Tehran that were divided into two control and test groups selected via accessible sampling. The social skills learning questionnaire was the data collecting tool in the research. For eight sessions, the test group was trained using researcher-made multimedia software and the control group was trained with traditional method (lecturing). To evaluate resultant changes, a pre-test was conducted on both groups. After pre-test, the test group was exposed to the independent variable, i.e., multimedia instruction, and a post-test was performed on both groups. To analyze the data, statistics methods were used both in descriptive and inferential levels. The results indicated that the social skills development was higher in students that have received material through instructional multimedia.

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between using mass media (with emphasis on TV) and promotion of environmental literacy in secondary school teachers in Tehran. The nature and purpose of this study was applied, and in terms of research method it was descriptive and correlational. The statistical society included a total of 9899 secondary school teachers in Tehran among which 370 were selected as a sample from 19 districts of Tehran using cluster sampling and Cochran formula. The tool for collecting data was researcher-made questionnaire whose content and face validity were approved by environment and education experts. The reliability of the questionnaire based on Chronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.79. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (Pearson's correlation and multiple Regression) as well as SPSS software. The results indicated that there was a relationship between the amount of watching media (with emphasis on TV) and the level of knowledge, attitude, behavior and the overall environmental literacy of teachers. Further, multiple logistic regression analysis showed that, according to multiple correlation coefficient (R=0.809), the intensity of the relationship between the criterion and predictor variables was very strong and effective.

The goal of this research was to investigate the evolution trend of cell phone usage in primary school children. The research method was qualitative and the type was grounded theory. The study sample included 115 girl and boy cell phone users who studied from 1st to 6th grade in primary school. The sampling of the research was purposeful. The results of the study indicated that girl and boy cell phone users at early grades of primary school, after getting acquainted with some features of cell phones (like communications, entertainment, education and services) use it positively. But at higher grades of primary school, due to lack of necessary cultural grounding in society, school and family for proper usage of cell phones, the application of cell phones gradually drifts towards improper usages (like time wasting, call disturbing, malignity, snobbery, facilitation of girls and boys relationships, SMS loves, call credit exploitation, playing with Bluetooth, disclosure of individuals' private information, improper or pornography photos and videos applications, electronic aggression, finding hidden identity, identity disorientation, and cell phone addiction). Therefore, to avoid these issues, it is necessary for cultural and educational authorities and students’ parents to make a big effort for cultural grounding for proper and useful application of cell phones.

This study examined the impact of ICDL in-service training on individual, occupational, and organizational performances of the staff in educational system in Iran. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey method. Likert-type questionnaire was designed by the researchers. The validity of the questionnaire was determined by a group of experts. The reliability of the survey through Alpha Cronbach method was 0.897. The statistical population of the study was all the staff and teachers of Marivan city, among which 291 were selected through Morgan table. One- sample t test and Friedman analysis method were used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that ICDL course had an improving effect on individual, occupational and organizational performances of teachers and staff. Word and Excel were selected by the teachers and staff as the most practical skills. Additionally, improving computer knowledge and career performance were the most important goals of teachers and staff to take ICDL courses.

The purpose of this study was the investigation of the relationship between learning styles (active- reflective and sequential-holistic) and computer anxiety in undergraduate students of faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabatabaee University. To do so, a sample of 310 students was selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. Measurement tools in this research included Felder - Soloman learning styles questionnaire (1999) and Heinsen and colleagues computer anxiety questionnaire (1987). The research data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics (mean, frequency, standard deviation, independent t test, and point biserial correlation coefficient) and the following results were obtained: There was a significant relationship between active-reflective learning style and students' computer anxiety, i.e., students with reflective learning style had more anxiety than those with active style. There was also significant relationship between sequential-holistic learning style and computer anxiety, so that students with holistic learning style had a higher computer anxiety than those with sequential learning style. There was no significant relationship between gender and computer anxiety.

Usability evaluation can be the first step to improve e-learning systems. Since there is not an appropriate toll in Iran to completely evaluate it, the goal of this study was validating a foreign sample called UseLearn and it's implementing in e-learning universities of Tehran. The research method was descriptive–correlational. A sample size of 288 was chosen through proportional allocation. The tool used in this study was UseLearn. The data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis, Cranach’s alpha coefficient, one-sample t test, ANOVA and MANOVA. Results showed that 12-factor model tested in this study was approved by AGFI. Also, factor loadings obtained for the questions (except question 29) indicated the validity of the questionnaire. One sample t test results indicated that the e-learning systems in e-learning universities of Tehran are not in a good situation in terms of usability. Results of MANOVA showed that there was a significant difference between the means of components of UseLearn questionnaire. Thus, UseLearn questionnaire can be used as a valid tool for assessing the usability of e-learning systems in the country.

Today, unemployment is a serious crisis in many countries of the world. Therefore, this research explored the relationship between students' evaluation of their information technology (IT) skills and their employability among Tehran University agriscience postgraduate students. The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population comprised of 1491 Tehran University agriscience postgraduate students. Based on Kerjesy and Morgan table, 310 agriscience postgraduate students were selected by random sampling. The research tool was a questionnaire with different parts employed for measuring variables whose face validity was confirmed by panel study. Alpha coefficient ranged from 0.79 to 0.81 showed satisfied reliability. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was the statistical method used in the study. The results indicated that all the three skills related to employability including team working, personal management and fundamental skills have received a significant effect from skills related to information technology. Also, information technology skills showed greatest effect on team working, of which up to 55% of employability variance can be explained.

The aim of this research was providing Persian version of the basic psychological needs questionnaire (Sorebo et al., 2009) and investigating its factor structure, reliability and validity among Iranian students in virtual courses. This was a cross sectional, descriptive and correlational study conducted on 218 e-learning students of Hadith Sciences University in Mashhad. The sampling was performed with available sampling method. First, BPNS was translated from English to Persian and its face validity was confirmed by three e-learning specialists and three e-learning students. Then it was filled by the e-learning students. The validity of the questionnaire was examined by internal consistency and structure reliability with both methods of confirmatory factor analysis and heuristic analysis using SPSS and LISREL softwares. The Chronbach's alpha coefficients for all subscales and total scale were satisfied in terms of psychometric properties. The factor structure of BPNS using the exploratory factor analysis supported the 3 main factors model which explained 41 percent of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis results also indicated that items are good fit. Then, according to the evidence, BPNS in e-learning setting has good reliability and validity in Iranian population and is an appropriate tool for assessing the motivational and psychological aspects of learning in Iran.