virtualeducation

The present study aimed to determine the relationship between organizational agility and organizational climate with the innovative behaviors of teachers in virtual education. The research method was descriptive correlational. The statistical population included all teachers in Mahalat city during the academic year 2023-2024 (700 individuals). A sample size of 248 was calculated using Cochran's formula and selected through random sampling. The instruments used in the study included the Counter Innovative Behavior Questionnaire, Sharifi and Zhang's Organizational Agility Questionnaire, and Halpin and Croft's Organizational Climate Questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 26. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that approximately 39% of the variance in innovative behaviors could be predicted by components of organizational agility (flexibility, speed, responsiveness, and competence) and components of organizational climate (inclusive behavior, unsuccessful behavior, cordial behavior, supportive behavior, and directive behavior). Flexibility and speed had a significant positive relationship with innovative behaviors, while responsiveness and competence showed no significant relationship. Inclusive behavior, unsuccessful behavior, cordial behavior, and directive behavior had a significant positive relationship with innovative behaviors. Supportive behavior did not have a significant relationship with innovative behaviors. Among the variables studied, unsuccessful behavior ranked first in predicting innovative behaviors.

Background and Purpose: 

The present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the lived experience of teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder from virtual education during the Corona era.

This research was conducted in the interpretive paradigm and in a qualitative manner with a phenomenological approach. The statistical population of this research included all the teachers of the 6th district of autism schools in Tehran in the academic year of 1402-1401 who had the experience of teaching students with autism spectrum disorder during the Corona era. To select the sample size, the purposeful and standard sampling method was used. For this purpose, in the first stage, interviews were conducted with 20 teachers of District 6 and theoretical saturation was achieved. In the following, the data was collected through semi-structured interviews and according to the conditions of the people, in three formats: face-to-face, telephone, and online, in the form of open-ended questions. In this research, thematic analysis method was used to identify, analyze and report the results of the qualitative data obtained from the interview.

The findings of the research showed that from the perspective of the participants in the research, the lived experience of virtual education had 4 subcategories, including teaching, job stress, technological problems, and communication style. Also, the opportunities of virtual education in the Corona era had 5 categories, including the development of technological skills, the development of online teaching skills, the spread of virtual education, the strengthening of virtual education infrastructure, and cost-effectiveness. Also, the challenges of virtual education in the Corona era had 5 categories: communication problems, educational and teaching problems, parents' inattention, poor equipment and students' attention loss.

virtual education has suitable opportunities for students with autism spectrum disorder. Since these people have a visual learning style and virtual education can support this type of style. It is suggested to strengthen the infrastructure of holding virtual education for these people and to use technological capacities in teaching to enrich the learning process of students.

Given the global experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational systems worldwide have transformed in recent years with the emergence and expansion of hybrid learning alongside traditional and virtual learning. Accordingly, this study aimed to qualitatively elucidate the aspects of expanding virtual education in primary education and to design a hybrid learning model, seeking answers to the following questions: According to teachers, parents, and primary school principals and vice-principals, what factors affect the quality retention of virtual education opportunities and the transition to hybrid education? What factors play contextual and intervening roles? What are the strategies and consequences of implementing these strategies to achieve the central phenomenon of developing hybrid education? Research

This qualitative study used a grounded theory approach based on the causal paradigm model. Data were collected using structured interviews and focus group discussions and were analyzed using Corbin and Strauss's systematic approach. Participants included two groups: teachers, school staff, and parents, who had at least one year of virtual teaching and activity in the second stage of primary school during the COVID-19 era. From the volunteer parents, contact was made with 22 parents, of whom 12 were unable to participate in the study due to their or their family's illness with COVID-19 or due to life and work commitments. Ultimately, eight parents participated in focus group sessions, and two parents were interviewed semistructurally by phone. Parent focus group sessions were held in two 90-minute sessions, one in person and one virtual. The researchers then formed a focus group of teachers, in March 2021 to gather new experiences from teachers and parents in the second year of virtual education, six months into the academic year. Both sessions were held in person and virtually. The in-person session lasted 180 minutes, while the virtual session lasted 75 minutes, with education experts and teachers in attendance. The organization of focus groups and interviews continued until theoretical data saturation was achieved after four focus group sessions with teachers and mothers and eight qualitative interviews, which took nine months to reach theoretical saturation.

The data collected from the interview texts were analyzed using the MaxQDA software for greater accuracy and speed of data analysis. Initially, open coding was performed, then primary concepts and core codes were extracted by aligning the initial codes, and finally, the main categories were formed in selective coding from the relationship between the core codes of the previous stage. From the systematic analysis of the interview data, 833 open codes and 192 primary concepts (core codes) were extracted. Of these, six main categories were identified as causal factors that participants considered to affect the retention of virtual education opportunities and the transition toward hybrid education. According to the study's participant groups, professional, skill, organizational, human-communication, and family factors were identified as intervening conditions in maintaining and expanding virtual education opportunities toward hybrid education. Infrastructure and socioeconomic factors formed the contextual conditions. The central phenomenon in this study is the retention and expansion of virtual education opportunities towards hybrid education in primary school. Strategies, actions, or counteractions taken to control, manage, confront, and respond to the central phenomenon were also identifed.

This research aimed to design and present a developmental model for maintaining and expanding virtual education opportunities toward hybrid education in primary school. In this study, five key strategies were mentioned by participants for expanding and utilizing hybrid education while preserving the advantages of traditional and virtual education: 1- Infrastructural and technological development; 2- Training of hybrid teachers; 3- Proficiency enhancement in class management and hybrid education design; 4- Improving technological and media literacy of parents and students; and 5- Enriching hybrid education with human communication. Practical suggestions from this study include designing and implementing special educational programs and packages for teachers and school staff that help improve their communication, educational, and technological competencies. The primary goal of these programs is to encourage teachers not to limit themselves to reproducing the traditional face-to-face instructional model in virtual and hybrid education and to apply educational innovations in line with the new educational scenario based on their acquired competencies. Additionally, designing and implementing programs, educational packages, courses, and group sessions specifically for parents can help improve their communication, educational, and technological competencies. These actions aim to create opportunities for active and effective parental involvement in their children's academic progress and constructive interaction with schools and teachers in the new hybrid education scenario.