distance education

The purpose of this study is to ranking the purpose of the curriculum in Distance education from the perspective of faculty members of Payame Noor University of Fars Province.

In this research a descriptive-analytical method with a mixed approach was used. In this regard, after interviewing 12 subject experts and saturating the data, a researcher-made questionnaire with content validity and reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.94) was prepared and provided to the professors electronically. The Sampling of this research in the qualitative part is Targeted and randomly in the quantitative part, and 109 people responded Friedman test was used to ranking the purposes of the questionnaire.

The result showed that the organization of textbook, tests and their coordination with the provided frameworks, paying attention to the needs of society, prioritizing and implementing information and communication technologies to help and Facilitating learning should be a priority. Given that the average of all items is higher than the hypothetical average of 4, all objectives are important for explaining the new curriculum.

The results of the research show that in order to explain the Purpose of the curriculum, it is necessary to act according to the needs of the society and move the Purpose to a path that can strengthen the technological skills of professors and students. In addition, by formulating appropriate goals, he took an effective step in achieving the skills of the 21st century.

The current research was conducted with the aim of presenting a quality teaching model of university professors in the distance education environment based on curriculum approaches. This study is applied in terms of purpose and qualitative in terms of method. The statistical population of the research included the administrators of higher learning centers, specialists and experts who had experience in distance education from among whom 15 people were selected as the statistical sample using the purposeful sampling method. In the quantitative part, the statistical population included faculty members of higher education centers in the western provinces of Iran (Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Hamadan and Ilam). In the current research, 335 people were selected as the statistical sample using Morgan and Krejci’s Table and via random cluster sampling method. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. In the qualitative part, data coding was done using MAXQDA software and model fitting was done using confirmatory factor analysis and PLS software. The findings indicated that the quality teaching model of university professors in the distance education environment is based on curriculum approaches including five specialized, managerial, required qualifications, environment and teaching-learning processes and 12 components of knowledge, skill, behavior, expertise, general, teacher qualifications, comprehensive qualifications, educational equipment, national, transnational, needs assessment, enrichment, educational strategy and evaluation and 68 indicators. Therefore, distance education, as a new part of the current educational systems, must have a desirable and acceptable quality in order to meet the needs of learners and society

This article analyzes the role of cloud technologies in the development of online and distance learning systems, examining their impact on the quality, accessibility, and cost of education. By reviewing the history of these technologies and various models of their application in educational environments, the paper addresses the technical, organizational, and cultural challenges associated with the adoption of cloud technologies. The findings suggest that cloud technologies, by providing scalable and flexible infrastructures, significantly enhance the quality of online education and broaden access to educational resources. Moreover, these technologies can reduce the costs associated with education. However, challenges such as security issues and organizational resistance may limit the acceptance and use of these technologies. Finally, the paper offers recommendations for improving the use of cloud technologies in education and suggests areas for future research.

Universities have experienced different generations in during their lives. The first generation of universities had a purely educational function. The second generation of universities also had a research function. In the third generation, the application of research was considered. The third generation of universities is called the: Entrepreneur University. Third generation universities must be able to be independent and Prepare your graduates to enter in the job market. The purpose of this study is to design a conceptual model for third generation universities in the distance education system.

The method used in this research is Grounded theory. By using a purposeful sampling method, 46 faculty members of Payame Noor University were select. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Then the data were coded by the three-step method in Grounded theory.

Execution of the open coding step identified 114 concepts. In axial coding stage, concepts were summarized into 23 sub-categories and 8 main categories. Then a paradigm model was drawn with causal conditions (organizational space of university), contextual conditions (organizational infrastructure), intervening conditions (autonomy, globalization and effective interactions), central phenomenon (third generation university), strategies (administrative and executive review) and outcome (development-oriented society). Finally, conceptual model of the third generation university was created.

Based on the conceptual model obtained, the university should be reviewed. This review should be done in the field of university hardware and software. Therefore, changes in strategies, perspectives, facilities and equipment are necessary for the third generation. In this case, the university can be a factor in the comprehensive development of society. To achieve this, the university must support from the new ideas and creativity of its staff. Also, creative beliefs in the workplace should replace routine beliefs. In the field of hardware, the necessary equipment to develop the talents of employees should be provided to them. In addition, the university must have a good relationship with other universities and other sections of society. To become a third-generation university, administrative approaches must become more flexible and educational policies must change. The new needs for educational and research should be known and based on those needs, educational and research goals should be set. By making these changes, the university will be on the path of economic and social development which creates innovative products and creative services. Finally, the establishment of this type of university leads to sustainable development in society.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factor validity of the "Establishment of distance education system in rural areas" questionnaire with emphasis on confirmatory factor analysis. The research method was a series of exploratory explorations. In the qualitative part of the study, content analysis with inductive approach was used. Research environment in this section, 84 documents including 67 articles and books, 17 texts of interviews in the field of distance education that were selected as a sample, the components obtained in this research include 7 main components including management and leadership infrastructure, Economic infrastructure, technical infrastructure, educational infrastructure, socio-cultural and value infrastructure, organizational infrastructure and human infrastructure and 25 sub-components. The relative content validity coefficient was used to assess the validity and the Holsti coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the themes. The extracted reliability coefficient was 0.98 which indicated the high reliability of the themes. In the quantitative part, 290 members of the sample were selected by Cochran method and stratified random sampling method. The research tool was a 70-item researcher-made questionnaire. To evaluate the validity of the questionnaire, face, content and structural validity were used, and to assess its reliability, Cronbach's alpha with a value of 0.90 was used. According to the relative chi-square fit indices, adaptive fit, adaptive fitting and barbell, the model had a good fit. Finally, the factor validity of the "Establishment of distance education system in rural areas" questionnaire was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis.

Distance education developed due to the growing needs of societies for education. Delivery of this type of education was originally done via mail services and later through multi-medias, such as radio, television and recently cell-phone and internet. The first formal distance education in Iran began in 1972 with establishment of the Free University of Iran. This university started its activity with two under graduate programs: teacher training and health sciences. Teacher training focused on interdisciplinary teaching and health sciences were designed to educate individuals in order to offer crucial health services in remote areas. Skill-based training was the prominent feature of these educational programs. The Free University of Iran registered the first group of students in 1977, and stopped working soon after the Cultural Revolution of 1979. This paper presents the vast experiences gained from this short lived educational activity. Soon after the revolution, Payam-e Noor University started the second generation of distance education.