Design and validation a model for reinforcing ' critical thinking skills in online learning environments

Quality education depends heavily on committed, learned, and expert teachers. The most important way to ascertain the existence of teachers' competencies is to develop a system for evaluating them. The purpose of this research was to design and validate a conceptual model for evaluating the competencies of teachers' performance in Iran. In this research, scientific, practical, and applied views on designing a conceptual model for evaluating the professional qualifications of the teachers were collected from books, articles and scientific researches out of ninety nationally and internationally accredited textual resources, as well as through interviews with 25 expert teachers from three different education areas and 20 experts in the field of teacher evaluation and teacher training.

The method used in this qualitative research was the inductive method of content analysis.

The issues extracted from the opinions of the experts showed that the components of evaluation of the professional qualifications of teachers include six main components, twenty-six sub-components comprising sixty-three concepts and two hundred sixty-three minor concepts. The six main components include intellectual principles, strategic planning, evaluation indicators, systematic implementation plan, expected and achievable results and evaluation complexities of professional qualifications. Based on known components, the desired model was designed and then validated by experts.

The final model for the evaluation of professional qualifications consists of four facets and a fundamental center of gravity. The four aspects of this evaluation model include the rational basis of evaluation (home floor), the evaluation strategy (the right wall of the home), the systematic appraisal program (the left wall of the home), and the expected and achievable results of the evaluation (home roof), and its center of gravity is the evaluation culture (heart or interior of the home). This model can be called a "home-like model for evaluating professional competencies of teachers". According to the proposed model, the evaluation culture involves many complexities indicated by the fact that the evaluation of the competencies of the teacher's profession, at each stage, is influenced by the dominant complex culture. On the other hand the evaluation strategy and the systematic appraisal program both are influenced by the rational basis of evaluation and also they are influenced by the evaluation culture. Overall the more strategic and implementable the plans are, the more realistic and clear expected outcomes will be. This, it is believed, will result in the teachers improving their professional expertise and the strengthening the culture of accountability and evaluation.