Design and validation of a social capital development curriculum model for higher education in Iran

This research was aimed at designing and validating a curriculum model based on the development of social capital for higher education in Iran. Research is an applied & analytic-exploratory method. The statistical population of the study consisted of faculty members of 5 Islamic Azad University branches with the number of 2,468 people and the total number of members of its executive and educational experts is 3049 people. For sampling, the purposeful sample was stratified randomly and using Cochran formula. The sample size of the faculty members was 179 and the number of samples of executive and educational experts were 221 individuals who were totally 400 individuals. The study tools included interview and questionnaire. to analyze the data Chi-square and Wilcoxon tests and confirmatory factor analysis were used. In the designing and validating of the curriculum pattern (goals, content, materials and methods of training, evaluation) and dimensions of social capital (structural, cognitive, and communicative) were considered. The results showed that the factor load of the goals was 0.92 and the evaluation of 0.77 in the components of social capital in the order of sociological and communicational and structural load and the content load factor was 0.91 in terms of cognitive and structural relation and factor load of the materials and methods of training 0.82 is a sequence of cognitive, structural and communication. As a result, designing and validating a curriculum model based on the development of social capital in Iran's higher education is meaningful