JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Year:2014 | Volume:19 | Issue:4 (70)|Papers Count:9

To modernize any society, particularly in developing countries, it is necessary to focus and to be concerned with educational institutions. The quality of these institutions and their anticipation to fulfill the present and future needs of the society throughout education, research and professional services are important. Hereof, faculty development is an organized, goal- directed process to achieve progression and growth of skills that enable one to contribute in a meaningful way to the advancement of field of interest, whether educational, operational or scientific. The purpose of this study was to design a conceptual model for faculty members' development in City of Tehran universities. This research relied on qualitative research methods and was done based on the Grounded Theory approach. Research participants included 12 full time faculty members that some of them have administrative position in Ministry of Science, Research and Technology or in universities and 5 scholarship doctoral students. In this research type, data are generated through semi structured interviews. In validating the gathered data two methods of member checking and external audit were used. Data were analyzed using the content analysis approach. The core phenomenon of this study is faculty development that they were analyzed in three personal, professional and instructional dimensions. A final model was developed by considering causal, contextual and intervening conditions.

The most important objective of the educational systems is to increase students' learning and trying to improve its quality. Such an ideal has special place in higher education. The main purpose of present research was to investigate students learning approaches and how students' attitudes tend to their learning approaches. Research approach was mixed-descriptive method. The study population consisted of the students at University of Tehran in 2009-10 school year. In the quantitative study, 220 subjects were randomly selected. For the second part of the extreme 6 individuals were selected. Two questionnaires (Inventory of two-factor learning approaches, Biggs et al 2001) and interviews were used to collect data. Reliability coefficient of the questionnaire for deep learning approaches was.73 and for surface approach. SO. Quantitative analysis was used for clustering of students in learning approaches and test of MANOV A. In qualitative analysis coding of interviews were utilized. Quantitative results showed that Tehran University students used a more deep learning approach. Engineering majors and postgraduate students had more deep learning approach. In the qualitative analysis five major themes for why students tend to approach learning were identified: teacher's teaching methods, teachers' evaluation method, student learning objectives, learning strategies and curriculum content.

Today, skills are the key element in organizational success and personal development and is considered a key factor in deployment of human resources in the market. The purpose of current study was examining students' basic skills in global age era. This study was a descriptive survey. The statistical population was consisted of Shahid Chamran University students in the academic year 2010-11. Sampling method was stratified random sampling including 334 students in Humanities, Basic Sciences, Agriculture, Engineering and Veterinary. The research instrument was a researcher made questionnaire with a reliability of .89. The results showed that students 'skills at this university are about average (3.42).Computer literacy had lowest and teamwork had highest averages. There was significant difference in students' skills from the desirable level. So that, the means of responsibility and team-working skills were significantly above average. But the means of communication, problem solving, flexibility skills, and computer literacy were less than average. In addition, the results showed that there were significant differences between male and female students in communication, responsibility, and team-working. Furthermore there were significant differences between students' major and year of studying.

The main objective of this research was to study the components of implementing the Total Quality Management in the agricultural faculties in Iran's North West universities. An analytical- explanatory research method was chosen for this study. The statistical population of the study consisted of the all agricultural faculty members in Tabriz, Ardabil, Orumieh and Zanjan universities (N=. 268). According to Krejcie and Morgan table, 155 individuals were selected by using stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts in the University of Zanjan. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the instrument. Cronbach 's alpha coefficient for the components level of importance for implementing the Total Quality Management in the agricultural faculties was 0.91. The results of factor analysis showed that five factors namely client-centered, srructural-comrnunicational, managerial, professionalism participatory- development and team-oriented explained 67.55 percent of total variances of components of implementing the Total Quality Management in the agricultural faculties.

Web-based instructional design has a great impact on educational variables such as achievement motivation. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of Gagne and five leveled bybee Instructional Design Models on achievement motivation of students through Web-based instruction. The study was semi-experimental design. After a pre-test on 32 students, they were randomly divided into two groups where the Gagne Instructional Design Model was applied on one of the groups and by bee Instructional Design Model on another and subsequently post-tests were performed on both groups. Research population was undergraduate students of Instructional Technology from Allame University (2009-2010) that 32 students were randomly selected through cluster sampling. The reliability of the performed test was 74%. In analyzing the data, descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and variance) and inferential statistics for testing research hypothesis and finally, in generalizing the obtained result from a sample to the research population, analysis of covariance (ANCOV A) were used. Results showed that a significant difference between the achievement motivation of students that were taught by the by bee (Teacher-Directed) Instructional Design Model and those of the Gagne Instructional Design Model. Furthermore, the achievement motivation of students taught by y bee (Learner-Centered) Instructional Design Model was more than students taught through Gagne Instructional Design Model.

Today, due to new competition discussions existed in Iran's universities, these institutions have become involved in the process of change. Therefore, they seek to provide best services for students in order to satisfy them. In fact, satisfaction reflects the effectiveness of all educational fields scientifically and practically. The present research was conducted to review the student satisfaction with student services in Payam Noor University. A descriptive-survey research method was chosen for this study. Statistical population (29537) was included newly arrived students of bachelor's degree in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 at Payam Noor University. Finally, 379 students were selected according to Morgan Table through stratified-quota sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher made questionnaire through whichlzadi et al found its reliability and validity about %88. Analysis was conducted using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics was used and due to research questions, t-test and one way analysis of variance were utilized. Results showed that the average of customer orientation at Payam Noor University is assessed at low level. This means that student satisfaction with educational services is low. Also, there were no significant differences between educational groups of Tehran's Payam Noor University. The degree of customer orientation was same at Faculty of Humanities and Sciences.

Academic ethics violation (cheating) among students is a major issue in higher education. This issue is relatively common and its study concern remains high. The purpose of this descriptive survey research was to analyze the cheating behaviors among college students using multidimensional scaling approach. The statistical population was College of Agriculture's master students at Razi University (N= 265). A sample of 107 students was' selected using stratified sampling technique. A questionnaire was utilized for information gathering. The research instrument was validated by Psychology and Measurement faculty members. The reliability of the questionnaire as a measure of internal consistency was determined via Cronbach's alpha (0.91). Part of data was analyzed by multidimensional scaling. Results showed that students illustrated two cheating behaviors dimensions. The first dimension was interpreted as "type of cheating behavior" and the second as "seriousness of cheating behavior". Results revealed that competition among students is the main reason for academic cheating behaviors. In students' opinion, the majority of cheating behaviors are common and serious at university context. The results could have implications for higher education administrators to understand students' perceptions toward cheating behaviors.

The main purpose of this research was to analyze self leadership strategies and its relationship with entrepreneurship among faculty members in University of Kashan. Research type was descriptive correlative. Statistical population of research included all faculty members in 2012- 2013 academic year who were 260 individuals. Statistical sample was 84 who were selected by random stratified sampling method. To gather data, two questionnaires were used: Self- leadership questionnaire with 31 items and entrepreneurship questionnaire with 47 items. The reliability coefficients of questionnaires were obtained through Cronbach alpha as 0.81 and 0.90 respectively. Collected data was analyzed at level of inferential statistics including correlation coefficient, multivariate variance and regression. Research findings revealed that self- leadership strategies and entrepreneurship mean was higher than average. There was a significant and positive relation between the self- leadership behavioural-focused strategies, natural reward strategies, constructive thought strategies and entrepreneurship. The constructive thought strategies have more important role in predicting entrepreneurship.