Interdisciplinary Journal of Virtual Learning in Medical Sciences
Volume:9 Issue: 2, Summer 2018

Context: Learning analytics is considered as the third wave in educational technology and it is a new and promising field of study. This study was conducted to clarify benefits and challenges of learning analytics in education.
Cooper’s systematic literature review was used as the research method. This method has five steps as follows: a) formulation of the problem, b) collection of data, c) evaluation of the appropriateness of the data, d) analysis and interpretation of relevant data, and e) organization and presentation of the results. Based on the study selection process, 36 articles were finally selected to be analyzed.
The results showed that ethics and privacy were one of the most important challenges of learning analytics in education along with the lack of attention to theoretical foundations and scope and quality of data. The results also showed that learning analytics could bring remarkable benefits for education, such as increased engagement of students, improvement of learning outcomes, identification of students at risk, providing real - time feedback, and personalization of learning.
Based on the results, it can be concluded that learning analytics offer new insights in education, however, there are ethical, educational, and technical issues in the use of learning analytics in education.

Context: Promoting the quality of learning and teaching processes at the tertiary level, including distance education, has been considered as a strategic approach by policy makers in higher education, throughout the world. For this reason a reliable and comprehensive evaluation mechanism can play an important role in assessing the current situation and identifying the needs and problems from one hand and identifying the most important appraisal indicators on the other hand. This study aimed at critically reviewing the literature and theoretical frameworks of previous relevant researches to highlight the most important components and indicators that must be applied in appraising distance education.
Due to the importance of using the findings of previous studies as a foundation for extracting the most important appraisal indicators, 42 national and international research studies relevant to the evaluation of distance education were selected and analyzed, which were published in refereed journals during year 2006 to 2015. The eligibility criteria for selecting these studies were their relevance to any aspect of distance education. For this reason and in order to identify indicators, the content of these studies were analyzed based on the open coding method. Later on, all findings were categorized, outlined, and summarized according to the main components, which may form a comprehensive evaluation system for distance education at the higher education level.
The findings of this meta-synthesis showed that pedagogical knowledge, technology, learning organization, educator, learner, learning content, teaching models and strategies, time, place and space were the most important components of a comprehensive appraisal system that should be considered in evaluating distance education systems and its mechanisms and processes, continuously.
The rise of distance education in Iran’s higher education sector has urged that new comprehensive evaluation system has to be applied as a platform for improving and guaranteeing the quality of learning and teaching processes, curriculum and learning materials, and even the way by which these institutions are managed. Consequently, it is important to be assured that our policies and practices in higher distance education are on the right pathway. Therefore, based on the theoretical frameworks and studies performed before, the outcome of this meta-synthesis however, has highlighted some critical components which are necessary to be taken into account if this system has to be evaluated comprehensively.

The current study aimed at comparing students’ academic engagement (AE) based on their educational use of social networks (EUSN) in learning English at the Iran language Institute (ILI), Tabriz branch.
The current study evaluated the status of EUSN and AE on 204 English language learners (ELLs). The population of the study consisted of all ELLs (n = 1874) studying at the Tabriz branch of ILI in the spring of 2017. The instruments used in the current study to measure variables were the Reeve and Tseng AE questionnaire (α = 0.968) and a researcher-made questionnaire (α = 0.966) for EUSN.
The results of ANOVA and least significant difference (LSD) showed that students’ AE varied according to their EUSN. AE of the ELLs using social network four to six hours a week (103.82 ± 8.19 hours) was higher than (93.74 ± 12.73 hours) those of the ones that spent two to four hours on social network and theirs was higher than (86.52 ± 16.7 hours) those of the ones that spent less than two hours on social network (P The use of social networking in education and learning can provide an appropriate basis for interaction between teachers and students and use of these networks in the teaching process is recommended.

E-learning on how to deal with the environment has a significant impact on strengthening the environmental culture and achieving the goals of sustainable development. The current study aimed at identifying e-learning components in general offices of environment of Northeast of Iran.
The current qualitative study was conducted on 18 elite staff from general offices of environment of Northeast of Iran by purposive sampling until data saturation in 2016. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews, the effective factors of e-learning components were identified, and then they were categorized and placed in the subtheme and main theme.
The results of decoding and analyzing the content of the theme showed that the causative factors (design, implementation, evaluation, human factors, and management) and the underlying factors (learning culture, context, educational environment, and technology infrastructure) and environmental factors (structure and policies of education and technological culture) as factors influencing the identification of e-learning components by interviewees in the general offices of environment of Northeast of Iran.
The identification of the components of e-learning by environmental elites can lead to the localization of an e-learning model. Results of the current study indicated that more attention should be shifted by the general offices of environment from the traditional method to e-learning. Since the application of these methods can be considered as a learning complement by providing a positive experience and a long lasting and deep learning

The demand for higher education is one of the main issues, which should be considered by managers and planners considering the reduced academic population. Currently, distance education institutions are among the most important centers of higher education according to their special mission. The main objective of this study was to identify the determinant economic factors in students’ enrollment in open and distance universities.
This study utilized the documentary - analytical method, time series, and ordinary least square regression model. In this study, the sample size consisted of 500 Payam-E-Noor University (PNU) centers. The sample included the number of applicants of BA of the academic years 2001 to 2014 in PNU and the reliability of independent variables was confirmed using the Dickey Fuller Test. Effective variables for distance education were first derived using the Delphi method. In the Delphi method, the indices and variables were first extracted by examining the documents, distributed to 15 professors of higher education, economic sciences, and social sciences, and finally, the indicators were approved.
This study showed that the earning per master’s degree was 0.144 (P = 0.043); student scholarship and loan (0.583, P = 0.035) were significantly higher and had positive effects on the numbers of PNU applicants compared to other variables. Diploma degree income (-0.083, P = 0.038) and gross domestic production (-22.10, P = 0.092) had significantly higher and negative effects on students’ entrance to PNU.
Expecting future income and students’ scholarships and loans had a determinant impact on the entry of students in PNU. Therefore, educational planners in this university should pay attention to these points

This research studied student’s perception of using SPeCTRUM (as a platform for blended learning) at a university in Malaysia.
A mixed method design was employed to collect data on students’ perception and experience of using SPeCTRUM in learning activities. A questionnaire, individual interviews, focus group discussion, and class observations were used as instruments for collecting the data. Participants were from the faculty of education, university of Malay (Malaysia).
The results showed that the students had positive attitudes towards SPeCTRUM regarding its flexibility in learning activities outside the class hours, including students’ peer interaction. However, the findings showed that the instructor had limited time to interact with students virtually on the SPeCTRUM outside the class, and their priority is informative quality.
According to the results, SPeCTRUM has great flexibility, which allows students to have easy access. It provides the opportunity to save time and allows learning at any time and place.