Electronic Non Formal Education: A Case Study of Tehran Municipality

Considering the emergence of brand-new educational needs, non-formal education as a prerequisite of a knowledge-based society is increasingly going popular among nations in view of its continual nature. However, life-long learning as a key concept of the modern education system stands clearly at odds with traditional learning in every way of philosophy, objectives, strategies and policy-making. This research aims to compare the efficiency of electronic non formal education with that of other types of education for Tehran Municipality employees in 2009. This quasi-experimental study is an instrumental-developmental research based on a pre-test/post-test plan for two groups. The sample of this research consists of (N= 114) voluntary people from the permanent employees of municipality. The nonelectronic learning group was provided with a pamphlet on verbal communication and four sessions and the other group trained electronically. The data-gathering instrument was a researcher`s questionnaire. The data gathered was analyzed through both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques using SPSS V.11 software. Findings suggest that both electronic and non-electronic methods have been effective in learning but electronic education would be more effective in citizenship and non formal education. Therefore, the electronic (web-based) method is recommended as an effective method, for designing and delivering some topics of non formal education programs for citizenships.