Investigating Development Challenges of Virtual Education in Agricultural Higher Education based on Facultie's Views

Virtual education has changed the methods of teaching and learning in higher education. In the virtual education, faculty members and students can meet each other and talk or work together outside traditional classes and office spaces. The paper therefore, aims to investigate issues of developing virtual education in agricultural higher education. Using a descriptive–survey approach, a questionnaire was developed to gather the data. The research samples included 80 persons were academic members of agricultural faculties who were selected by applying proportional stratified sampling technique. Data were analyzed by using SPSS/WIN software and descriptive and inferential methods were used for the data analysis. The findings indicated that four major factors including financial and technical, human resources, administrating and cultural dilemmas, explained 58.17% of variances of issues of developing virtual education. Therefore, in order to apply virtual education method in teaching and learning process effectively, agricultural higher education institutions should pay attention to these issues appropriately.