INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
Year:2014 | Volume:4 | Issue:2 (14)|Papers Count:9

This paper reports part of the findings of a two- group semi-experimental design study with pre and post test, conducted in 2012, that focused on the effect of podcast with participatory method on students immediate and long term environmental learning compared to conventional teaching (lecture and group discussion) method. Two classes from a female school were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Participants in experimental group were asked to design podcast on environmental issues and students in control group were exposed to conventional method of teaching for a period of 8 sessions. The covariance analysis of the data revealed that teaching method had a significant influence on students’ immediate and long-term learning. In fact, the mean score of participants in experimental group was significantly higher than in control group in both immediate and long-term tests. Considering Eta squared coefficient indicates that implementing participatory designing of podcasts in environmental education can account for 31 percent of students’ immediate and 40 percent of their long-term learning.

The internet is one of the basic principles of modern societies which has affected different parts of society. Little research has been conducted on the impact of the internet on religiosity. Youth is an important part of the social structure of Iran, so the study examined and explained the impact of the Internet on youth religiosity. The research method was correlation and data collection instrument was a questionnaire. The data were collected by using sampling among the city's youth (n=384). Reliabilities of religiosity and Internet questionnaire were 0.93 and 0.78, respectively. Descriptive results indicated that the youth's use of the Internet was below the average and their religiosity was above the average. Correlation analysis showed a very weak negative relationship between the internet and religiosity. Regression analysis indicated that among the eight types of internet use, only three types of chatting, work and education, and games and entertainment had the most influence on religiosity. The results of path analysis showed that the three variables of socio-economic status (- 0.27), internet usage (- 0.16), and urban social area (- 0.13) had the highest negative impact on religiosity. Through use of Internet, social class variable had an indirect influence on the youth religiosity.

The main objective of the research was to investigate the effect of educational software “Misha and Koosha” on achievement motivation and academic achievement in science course of fifth grade boys elementary students in the city of Birjand. This research was quasi-experimental study with a pretest - posttest design with a control group. The statistical population was all the fifth grade male students of elementary schools in the city of Birjand in the academic year 2012-13, among which 50 students were selected by random cluster sampling method. One group (n=25) was selected as the experimental group and the other group (n=25) as the control group. In the experimental group, the software training and in the control group, the general classroom education was used for two months. To collect data, Bernard Weiner motivation questionnaire (with reliability of 0.72) and researcher made tests of academic achievement used. Cronbach Alpha Coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the academic achievement tests that obtained 0.75 for the pre-test and 0.71 for the post-test. The data were analyzed with covariance analysis. The results showed that the “Misha and Koosha” educational software had a positive effect on achievement motivation and academic achievement of science course in fifth grade boys elementary students (P>0.001).

The purpose of this research was ranking the components of educational tools based on social network in schools using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in order to be able to use social network tools to increase productivity in the process of education at virtual schools. The research method was descriptive survey. The sample included 59 male and female experts and the audience (students, teachers and principals) with the age range of 18 to 45 at Roodbar City schools. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire performed based on AHP in 2013. Analysis was done by Expert Choice software. The results showed that among the six original criteria including performance management, performance effectiveness evaluation, security, interactions management, data and processes, both “management performance” and “performance effectiveness evaluation” were assigned as the highest priority for learning-teaching process. Also privacy and security were both equally important, which indicated that maintaining security should be the top priority in e-learning process in virtual schools. Other important measures included data management, interaction and process. The least priority was process management because many of its indexes are included in the present educational system and are being used in all schools of the country.

The purpose of this article was to measure guidance and high-school students' satisfaction and success of distance- education schools in developing the culture of using ICT tools and the effectiveness of distance education in students' self-learning. This was an evaluation study. The statistical population was all distance-education schools in Iran at 2012. A total of 42 schools were assessed in 6 provinces and 875 questionnaires were completed. Three questionnaires at Likert Scale were used. One scale consisted of 26 items to measure students' attitudes towards distance education, another scale consisted of 9 items to measure students' attitudes towards self–instructional learning and, finally, another consisted of 21 items measuring employees' attitudes towards school success in promoting the culture of information and communication technology. Cronbach coefficient for the tools was 0.63 to 0.96. The face validity of questionnaires was desirable according to two of the most experienced professors in distance-learning. Results showed that distance education had been more successful in deprived provinces. Educational satisfaction was favorable in both groups of students but the high school students' satisfaction was higher than guidance students'. Promotion of the use of educational technology was less than acceptable rate. The degree of failure was different in different areas due to their amount of access to facilities. Studying at distance- learning schools had a positive effect on students' self-learning.

In Islamic-Iranian citizen’s area, the fundamental objective in ‎Perspective Document for Iran has been defined as “to meet religious democratic society with the use of IT in order to facilitate and achieve social justice, promotion of life quality, and citizens' moral and scientific virtues development. Using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) approach, this research, focusing on five dimensions, namely technological, legal, managerial, cultural and educational infrastructures, intended to classify influential criteria in enabling e-citizens. The research method was descriptive survey and structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Results indicated that technological infrastructures were of greater importance than the others. Also, among the sub-criteria, factors such as internet networks and bandwidth extension, charter and regulations compilation in IT area, the existence of expert and experienced IT managers, privacy security awareness increase, providing infrastructures for schools (software and hardware), number of IT experts, and interaction training in internet were recognized, respectively, as enabling factors in e-citizens training.

This study aimed to predict computer anxiety based on emotional intelligence and personality traits in teachers in 2012-13 academic year. The study was correlative and predictive. The statistical population consisted of all the teachers of public high schools in central region of the city of Karaj. The sample included 160 teachers (83 male and 77 female) who were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. The data were collected using Shearing's Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, Neo’s Personality Traits Questionnaire, Hansen et al. Computer Anxiety Questionnaire and demographic questionnaire. The data were analyzed with the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, stepwise regression, and independent t test. The results indicated that there were significant negative relationship between computer anxiety with emotional intelligence components and with extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness (P<0.01). There was a significant positive relationship between computer anxiety and neuroticism (P<0.01). Stepwise regression results showed that among the components of the emotional intelligence, the variables self-motivation, self-awareness, empathy, and self-regulation, respectively, entered into the analysis as the predictor variables (totally %36). Among the personality traits, neuroticism and openness to experience had the highest degree of predicting, respectively (totally %16). In addition, no significant relationship was observed in the score of computer anxiety in terms of sex and age.

The present study aimed to investigate the status of smart schools based on standards and to compare its performance with that of public schools. The study method was descriptive survey. The statistical population included all girl secondary schools in city of Yazd. Two public high schools were selected via cluster sampling, and two smart schools were selected via census method. Instruments included smart schools evaluation check list (observation) to examine the present status of the schools, critical thinking skills test, and third grade average to measure academic achievements of the students. SPSS software was used for data analysis, and descriptive and inferential statistics (t test) were used to test the research questions. The findings showed that the current status of smart schools was in low level with respect to teaching-learning content, ICT infrastructure, trained teachers and computer communication with the schools. Only with respect to principals' use of computers it was in accepted level. Also, there was not a significant difference between smart school students' performance and that of the public school students in critical thinking but in academic achievement there was significant difference.