JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Year:2018 | Volume:23 | Issue:4 |Papers Count:7

The purpose of this study was quantitative and qualitative analysis (anatomical blend) of classroom management components based on critical thinking in higher education. In the quantitative section, the survey focused on the extent to which the conditions for developing critical thinking in the classroom management component were considered, as well as the identification of distinguish professors in this field. Hereof, 330 people were selected by the Cochran formula as a research sample from a population of 2258 undergraduate humanities' students at Shahid Beheshti University. A two-part questionnaire was used for collecting data. The results of statistical tests showed that the conditions for developing critical thinking in planning and organizing components are less than average, in the components of leadership and discipline are higher than average and in the evaluation component is considered moderate. In addition, 20 distinguished professors were identified. In the qualitative section, in the framework of the phenomenological method and using the purposeful sampling method, the living experiences of distinguished professors about the manners of classroom management components based on critical-thinking were investigated using semi-structured interview technique at two levels of open and axial coding. The findings of this section led to the formation of 12 fundamental and interconnected categories. These categories provide fundamental characteristics of classroom management components based on critical thinking to develop students' critical thinking in the classroom.

Classroom assessment can influence learner's motivation and achievement. Today, the field of classroom assessment faces different challenges. One way of dealing with these challenges is improving students' perceptions of classroom assessment system. The present study aimed to investigate perceptions of classroom assessment environment and its relationship with agricultural students’ academic achievement. The study was a descriptive-correlation survey. Statistical population consisted of all master and doctoral degree students of public universities in Iran (N=87820). Using Krejcie and Morgan’ s table and stratified random sampling method 384 students were selected. The main tool for data collection was a researcher made questionnaire. Its face and content validity were confirmed by a panel of agricultural extension and education experts. In order to assess the reliability of the questionnaire Cronbach’ s alpha coefficient was calculated for different parts (0. 75-0. 82). According to the results, there were a positive and significant relation between students’ perceptions of learning-oriented assessment environment and self-directed learning. According to the path analysis results, the students’ perceptions of performance-oriented structural assessment had the most causal negative impact on academic achievement. It is recommended that the educational officials adopt one of their crucial programs on changing from performance-oriented evaluation methods to learning-oriented.

Globalisation has caused a lot of changes in different institutions. Subsequently internationalization has made many development and advancement in educational systems. Nowadays, necessity and importance of internationalization are felt in our country and it is included in Iranian government Sixth Development Plan. Experiences of developed and pioneer countries show that using an international language as a medium of instruction, alongside internationalization, has a significant role in the success and acceleration of this phenomenon. Whereas, the use of the interface language in Iran's higher education is prohibited. Using a purposive sampling method, grounded theory and interviewing key informants, the researcher tried to present a proper model for the language of instruction in Iran’ s universities in the event of internationalization. In this model, the reasons for using the interface language, existing factors and barriers, their strategies and implications are presented. The result of 28 deep and semi-structured interviews with 28 scholars and key informants led to a 13 factors model that its main phenomenon is upgrading. It means that diversity in the language of instruction makes rising and upgrading in Iran’ s higher education system.

University, as an achievement of modern world, has experienced broad range of changes like quantitative expansion of higher education institutions and increasing number of students in different majors. Simultaneously, with this global phenomenon, the context of Iranian higher education had same changes as well. The university, in the form of a social institution, has social implications after entering various contexts which many of them are not visible and measurable by quantitative indicators. Therefore, to understand the social implications of quantitative expansion of higher education, a theory based interpretation research method was designed. A qualitative research approach, grounded theory methodology, and unstructured-interviews were applied. In this research, 54 informers from three groups of social activists, university students and faculties in three province of Guilan, Ghom, and Sistan and Baluchistan were participated. The results showed that increasing access to higher education as a public demand, generational accumulation and constitution was the initiator of quantitative expansionary policies in Iran. According to participants' points of view, these policies resulted in improving people conciseness, urban development, significantly lowering the quality of higher education, changes on life style, devalue of degree and university, inefficient human resources cricis and increasing regional unemployment which known as social consequences of higher education expansion.

A new feature of citizenship concept, as a global citizen, is emerging and evolving. The aim of this study was to validate a measure for students' attitudes toward the concept of global citizenship. The population of the study was students from Semnan University in 2016-17 academic year (N=15214). Participants were 460 students that were randomly selected from all colleges at Semnan University. The research instrument was Moraes and Ogden Global Citizen Model (2011), a 37-item questionnaire. Data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis. Four competing models including the one-factor model; the eight first-order factor model; the eight first-order factor model with the three second-order factor; the eight first-order factor model with the three second-order factors and the one third-order factor were examined. The results showed that the second-order factor model including the eight first-order factors in the three second-order factors had a favorable fit compared to other competing models. Thus, the three-dimensional construct of global citizen including social responsibility, global competence, and global civic engagement can be an appropriate tool for measuring the student’ s attitudes toward the global citizenship concept.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between student's religiosity, locus of control and attitude toward their future career. The research was a descriptive-correlation study. For this purpose, Tavasoli religiosity questionnaire, Levenson locus of control questionnaire, and a researcher made questionnaire to measure attitude towards future career were used. The statistical population was all students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The research sample, according to Morgan table, was 375 students that were selected through quota sampling method. Data were analyzed by the SPSS and LISREL software. Results showed that there is positive and significant relationship between the students' attitude toward future career and religiosity and internal locus of control. Attitude toward future career is predictable through religiosity and locus of control. The students who were more religious and had internal locus of control, had more positive attitude toward their future career. It is recommended that planning considered for extra-curricular programs in universities about religiosity and reforming the locus of control for success in life, particularly employment.

The purpose of this study was to examine graduate studies private rate of return in Iran by using multilevel models. Using latest statistics, applying a multilevel analysis and Mincer earnings function, the effect of university graduate education on employed earnings was investigated. In multilevel analysis method used, major groups activities are considered as second level units. Meanwhile, by measuring the average years of individuals’ unemployment after completing education and adjusting the years after graduation, the estimates of the years of work experience considered to be closer to reality. The most important results of the study showed that the data have a hierarchical structure. In addition, graduate studies have a positive impact on job earnings and the rate of the impact for each additional year of education is 12. 3%-a rate that exceeds the opportunity cost of education in developing countries (10%). The study also indicated that the effect of work experience on earnings is 2. 6%. This goes beyond the other incentives to enter graduate studies. This result showed the individuals' economic justification. Employees earnings with graduate degrees in urban areas was 21. 4% more than the same group in rural areas, justifying the migration of labor force with graduate degrees to urban areas. Lastly, the return of each additional year of graduate studies is more than the return of each additional year of higher education.