JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Year:2007 | Volume:13 | Issue:1 (43)|Papers Count:8

Educational development in the context of information technology is a challenging task in higher education policy-making. From another point of view Information Technology (IT) has influenced all aspects of social and educational frameworks, which is called information society. Due to these facts, higher education system should reform its strategies and policies to have new structures and processes to overcome its difficulties.In this paper studying the framework of the new paradigm of Information Technology in educational system, and using comparative studies of seven countries' educational development plan, the main challenges in informational development for Iran's higher education system have been summarized and the core strategies have been proposed.

World's educational institutions employ guidelines and criteria to ensure quality of delivered digital contents and e-learning programs. The e-learning industry also chooses criteria for the delivery of e-learning products, but their emphasis is on the usability and compatibility with various software.Though there are some similarities between these views, there are also basic differences between the views. On the other hand, all the institutions, companies, and policy makers involved in e-learning products and deliveries need to have a good understanding of these concepts. Then, they can choose proper criteria and standards in line with their objectives. In this paper, first, short descriptions of the concepts, criteria, and guidelines are expressed. Then basic guidelines and instructions to determine and choose the specifications of digital contents are presented.

In the 21st century, higher education has overcome the limitations of time and space and a new tradition has developed within it. In this century, higher education has been introduced into the virtual world. It has been introduced in three forms: Intelligent virtual university, virtual university through faceto- face communication and virtual university based on asynchronous (usually written) communication. In the first form intelligent software replaces the teacher. In the second, the teacher overcomes space limitations through internet and an educational environment which simulates the real classroom. The teacher sees the students by using a webcam and is seen by the student in the same way .In virtual university's third form the lesson is presented through asynchronous and preferably written communication. This can be whether traditional and limited to knowledge transfer; or. Having active interaction and communication as an essential part, developing a new paradigm in higher education and facilitating students move toward critical thinking level. In this article different forms of virtual university are analyzed and assessed. That takes place based on the Theory of Embodiment, phenomenology of perception and constructivism. Regarding the Embodiment theory university education in virtual environment will be discussed in general and the analysis will be assessed afterwards. In the analysis of the first form of virtual university intelligent software available are compared with real teachers. The second form of virtual university that is directed by using webcams is assessed based on the phenomenology of perception which is due to Merleau Ponty. After analyzing the third form of virtual university in both traditional and reformist modes, a reformist experience of virtual university will be described. The suggestions for developing an Iranian version of virtual university will be offered.

Because of growth of the internet, reduced barriers to accessing and using the internet and increased innovations in the area of information and communication technology, Web-based education are continuously being broadened. Creation and management of instructional content is the major hazard in e-learning industry. Also, individualized contents should be provided considering social, cultural and pedagogical characteristics of the learners. Individual interests, learning styles and prior knowledge are also momentous criteria to be considered. In the recent years, features and capabilities of authoring tools have been drastically improved. Concepts such as "adapting to the needs of learners" and "personalized content" not only make authoring tools to play a more prominent role in the process of creating learning contents but also promise the emergence of a new generation of authoring tools with prominent potentials and capabilities. In this paper we attempt to outline the importance of authoring tools in the performance of e-learning systems. Therefore, capabilities and limitations of current available authoring tools are comparatively studied. These comparisons' are based on criteria such as compatibility with e-learning standards, the amount of time and cost needed for the instructional design and potential features. The outcomes of the study would certainly be of significant help with enhancing the decision making procedure for managers and presidents of learning areas, which maybe overwhelmed by all the technology decisions they have to make, the number of choices available, and the terminology they may not be familiar with. These outcomes would basically lead to determining basic factors of learner satisfaction and therefore improving educational performance.

This research attempts to ascertain the extent use of electronic resources by virtual students in their related educational courses. To determine the difficulties that students encounter in their access to the required information, and also, to offer virtual students the mechanism for information provision are considered as partial aims of the present research.The methodology chosen is a survey one, and the instrument used for data gathering is the researcher's self made questionnaire. The researcher ran a SPSS Software to analyze the collected information. The research population consisted of electronic students of Shiraz University, in the academic year of 2005-6.The results of the study indicate that the majority of virtual students use the information materials at the average level. With regard to the extent use of resources, the analysis of the research outcomes shows that there is a significant difference among various aging groups. Regarding the amount of use of electronic resources among the different levels of the academic studies, a significant difference is also observed. The most important difficulty encountered by the virtual students in obtaining the needed materials is the inadequacy of proper libraries, having relevant and useful resources. The outcome of the research reveals also that the most important reason for not having used information materials is the lack of time for additional readings.

Reliance on academics and transfer of their experiences to students has resulted in a teacher-centered administrative model in terms of development and distribution of study materials at Payame Noor University (PNU). The technologies used in such a system are one-way educational TV programs, audio-video tapes, and residential class meetings on the weekends. The strategic planners of PNU have realized that these approaches are not efficient enough and must be changed to an interactive environment for learning. As it is argued by Brophy and Alleman (1998), in this type of environment learning occurs when faculty develop and encourage discussion through the use of social interaction. The problem in applying these concepts to open and distance education system is "how to develop or maintain such an environment.One way of creating a participative learning environment is the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) combined with concepts taken from Total Quality Management (TQM), which results in a successful performance. Regardless of educational models in open and distance learning systems, a typical successful educational program in this system is more dependent on the learners' commitment and the effective use of the TQM. The implementation of this strategy has been facilitated by the electronic communication technologies; and the demand of the learner for more participation in the learning process is realized through swift and timely feedback, without the adverse effect of the geographical distance between the learner and the teacher.Consequently, educational planners are faced with two major questions.Firstly, to what extent will the quality of education be maintained, and will it remain at the expected level? Secondly, how can this technology be used?PNU is planning to have a three-stage approach to create a new learning environment for its students: First, designing the infrastructure of ICT- based course delivery; Second, implementation of ICT in teaching-learning process with reference to TQM, and developing the study materials based on teacher-student and student-student interactions; Third, evaluation and follow-up system. The aim of this paper is to introduce and comment on this approach.

With the advent and advancements of global Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its impact on all of the aspects of life, the universe entered a new society known as information society. In this process, educational system, as the most important pillar in leading the society toward information society and forming human capital, plays a very crucial role. Achieving this ideal requires the revision of policies and strategies of educational system and establishment of electronic learning concepts.This paper tries to study the concepts, generations, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, interest groups, aims, necessary infrastructures and instructional analyses and designs of electronic learning.Eventually, the challenges Iran faces in establishing and development of electronic learning are examined and some recommendations are offered with the aim of its development in the country.

The rate of using E-learning is continuously increasing. Although e-learning environments are popular, there is little research on teacher's and student's attitudes toward it. The purpose of this study is to investigate students and teachers in Iran's virtual universities. Accordingly, 95 teachers and 161 students are asked. After statistical analysis, research show that teachers have positive attitude toward E-leaning as a teaching assisted tool. Furthermore, behavioral intention to use E-leaning is influenced by perceived usefulness and self-efficacy.Regarding student's attitudes, self-paced, teacher-led, and multimedia instructions are major factors to affect student's attitudes toward e-learning as an effective learning tool.