A Study of the driving factors in integration and application of distant education and representing a model for distant education

The purpose of the present research was to study the driving factors in integration and application of distant education in PhD courses of Payame Noor University. In order to identify the fundamental factors, a researcher-made questionnaire, consisting of 5 scales and 36 sub-scales, was given to 30 distant education experts.. From a population of 1082 people, 136 were selected as the sample, using random sampling and Cochran’s formula, and the questionnaire was distributed among them. Descriptive statistics as well as inferential analysis; mean, slandered diviation, Pearson correlation coefficient, and exploratory analysis were applied for data analysis in SPSS 18 and LISREL 8.53. Based on the initial findings, these were the self-sufficiency, technological skillfulness, practicality, easy access, and comprehensive support which were identified as the driving factors in integration and application of distance education. The correlation coefficients for these factors were 64%, 52%, 49%, 47%, and 39%, respectively. The final results of LISREL analysis showed that the coefficients of determination for the above factors are 27%, 66%, 77%, 61%, and 80%, respectively, indicating the positive relationship of these factors with integration, application, and modeling of distant education. Chi-square to df ratio (2.172) was less than 3, the value of RMSEA (0.0018) was less than the threshold (), -value (0.2132) was greater than the threshold (), and the values of GFI (0.91) and AGFI (0.90) were equal to or greater than the threshold (0.90), all suggesting the goodness of fit of the model and indicating significant relationships between the five main scales.