Explaining the elements of the higher education curriculum based on variety of educational interactions in the virtual learning environment

Electronic learning is one of the characteristics of educational courses in this century. In all training courses, especially in virtual learning environments, interaction can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the training process. Also, the careful and thoughtful design of various interactions in the virtual learning environment develops existing capacities to strengthen electronic education programs and increases the quality of learning. Therefore, considering the importance of interactions in the virtual learning environment, the present research aimed to explain the elements of the higher education curriculum (goals, content, teaching-learning activities and evaluation methods) based on the types of educational interactions in the virtual learning environment and by providing solutions It helped the teachers to organize effective e-learning courses.

This research was a descriptive and applied study. The statistical population of the research included the faculty members of Shahid Bahnar, Farhangian and Medical Sciences Universities of Kerman; according to Morgan's table, 297 people were selected as the statistical sample using quota sampling method. To collect research data, a researcher-made questionnaire tool was used, and its validity and reliability were determined as 0.86 and 0.92, respectively. To analyze the research data, one-sample t-test, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations were used, and SPSS23 and AMOS23 software were used. The measurement model was estimated using structural equation modeling.

The results showed that some categories effectively would create and increase educational interactions in the curriculum elements based on the types of interactions in the virtual learning environment. The effective categories in the element of objectives included teachers' attention to educational interactions, paying attention to educational interactions at the ministry level, realism in objectives, and comprehensiveness of objectives. The effective categories in the content element included students' participation in the preparation of electronic content, ease of access to content, use of interactive content, polling of students, a compilation of course content in accordance with the latest scientific findings, preparation of interactive content by professors, Digital Library Update, and interactions between professors. The effective categories in the element of teaching-learning activities included participatory teaching methods, use of social networks, use of tools such as chat rooms, providing feedback, awareness of the need for interaction, encouraging students to seek information from various sources, sharing their previous experiences, networking among students and various information sources, sharing the latest scientific achievements in the field among fellow professors. The effective categories in the element of evaluation methods included process-oriented evaluation, assigning a part of the grade for individual or teamwork and class participation, evaluation of each student's individual work by her classmates, and critique of other students' opinions. Also, the results showed that the elements of the higher education curriculum based on the types of educational interactions in the virtual learning environment were related to each other. The results showed that the factor analysis model had a suitable fit for the design of the desired model and this model could be used in the higher education curriculum to create and increase various types of educational interactions in the virtual learning environment.

In general, the results of this research indicated that the creation and increase of educational interactions in electronic education could improve the quality of education. Therefore, it is recommended that designers, faculty members, planners, managers and in general curators use the model proposed in the current research IN E-learning courses.