JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Year:2010 | Volume:16 | Issue:2 (56)|Papers Count:7

The purpose of this research was to elucidate the Isfahan university faculty members, views about several aspects of nature of science in science curriculum. These include the following aspects: tentative, inferential, creative, theory – laden, social and cultural, myth of scientific method, nature of scientific theories and laws. The questionnaire was administered to 75 faculty members of physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Geology Departments. The results indicated that goals, contents, implementations, and evaluations were not on the basis of the above aspects of nature of science. Specifically, goals were closer to the optimum. However, evaluations were further away. The authors drew attention to the importance of implementations and evaluations in the science curriculum.

The present research identified major barriers of Isfahan University teachers participation in electronic technology courses. A second goal of this study was to examine the effects of characteristics and demographics of university teachers on these barriers. In this research problems and barriers fell into three distinct categories: personal, perceptual, and contextual. A questionnaire was designed on the basis of these three categories. This was administered to 50 university electronic teachers. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical indexes. The results indicated that compared with personal barriers (weighted mean: 2.71), and perceptual barriers (weighted mean: 3.02), contextual barriers (weighted mean=3.2) appeared to be the strongest deterrent category. In addition, the university teachers characteristics and demographics appeared to have impact on non participation. More specifically the effects of university teachers rank, degree level, and gender on potential deterrence of personal, perceptual, and contextual barriers were statistically significant. Finally, the researchers discussed policies that could raise university teachers participation in electronic courses.

In order to formulate a conceptual framework for higher education evaluation the status of higher education was examined. The article explained by means of documental analysis the formative dimensions of higher education evaluation in selected countries. In addition, a questionnaire was designed to estimate the dimensions of higher education evaluation in Iran. The questionnaire was administered to 60 faculty members of education and higher education management in public universities of Tehran and senior managers of higher education evaluation system. The analyzed document indicated that the selected countries in the world actively took the characteristics of CIPPO pattern into consideration. These include: context, input, process, product, and outcome. The results revealed that the Iranian expert body assisting in higher education supervision did not pay sufficient attention to this scheme. The author’s conceptual framework included the establishment of higher education council. The council should conduct higher education evaluation and provide professional support in setting goals, achieving goals, encouraging feedback, engineering mode, and creating data bases.

The study analyzed the role of leadership, organizational culture and organizational learning in promoting agricultural faculties performance. The questionnaire was administered to 329 full time faculty members selected on the basis of multi – stage stratified sampling. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Lisrel statistical program were used to analyze the data. Research finding indicated that contextual components (Learning organizational culture and transformational leadership) and process component (Organizational Learning) were significantly correlated. Furthermore, the process component and performance component were strongly related. It was concluded that transformational leadership and learning organizational culture through organizational learning improved performance and encouraged learning organizations.

In the past decades, economists have focused on human capital and its effects on economic growth and development. In recent decade they concentrated on gender human capital inequality and its role on economic growth. The literature points out a discouraging effect of inequality among women on growth. In the first step higher inequality in education among women is responsible for lower life expectancy at birth. In the second step, lower life expectancy at birth is partly responsible for low growth and development. In this research the human capital Gini coefficient was used to measure human capital inequality among female and male. It was found that the inequality has declined in the world including Iran. Furthermore, in the developing countries, the lower the inequality among female and male, the more the life expectancy at birth appeared to improve. Moreover, within – country the lower human capital inequality measured by human capital Gini coefficient among women led to higher life expectancy at birth than men.

Researchers have attempted to identify critical factors that contribute to academic achievement. Some studies report direct relation of emotional intelligence, self concept and self esteem with academic achievement. On the other hand, some experts doubt their direct relationship. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship among emotional intelligence, self concept and self esteem with academic achievement. 400 university students were selected by simple random sampling. Bar – on questionnaire of emotional intelligence, Rogers self concept test, and Pop self esteem test were administered. Furthermore, the mean scores of students were used as an index of academic achievement. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical indexes. No statistically significant relationship between emotional intelligence, self concept, self esteem, and academic achievement were found. In addition, no statistically significant differences between emotional intelligence and self concept were found between male and female students. However, the self esteem of female students was higher than male students. The lack of significant relations among the constructs suggests the need for considering other factors that may influence the academic achievement.

Researchers have recognized the importance of extra role behaviors in achieving organizational goals. This study examined the relationship between leader- member exchange (LMX) style and organizational citizen behavior (OCB) of leaders. Liden and Morgan Questionnaire of supervisor – subordinate exchange style and Organ Questionnaire of organizational citizen behavior were administered to 275 faculty members of Allameh Tabatabai university. The results based on correlation and confirmatory factor analysis indicated positive relationship between the quality of leader- Member exchanges and citizenship behaviors performed by faculty members. Furthermore, the confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the model was fit.