فصلنامه فناوری آموزش
سال شانزدهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 64، پاییز 1401)

Integrating technology in the classroom is one of the essential competencies of teachers in the age of information and communication technology. Achieving new learning standards and meeting the learners’ needs in the present century depends on this competence. One of the most important issues and challenges in this field is the low knowledge, skills and attitudes of teachers in achieving the desired level of technology integration in the classroom. This prevents the use of technological capabilities in order to increase the quality of the teaching-learning process and also to meet the needs of the global community. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the methods and strategies for empowering teachers in this field and improving their level of technology integration in the classroom. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the impact of the learning community as a learning strategy on improving the competence of high school teachers in integrating technology in their classroom.

The research method was mixed with an explanatory plan. In the quantitative part, the quasi-experimental method and the use of pre-test/ post-test with experimental and control groups, and in the qualitative part, the content analysis method were used. In conducting the research, knowledge and skills related to technology integration were discussed and shared in the classroom in the experimental group through the learning community, and the control group received the knowledge and skills related to technology integration separately. The statistical population of the study included all male teachers working in the first secondary school of District 2 of Kermanshah in the academic year of 1997-98, accounting for 310, of whom 30 teachers were selected from the statistical population via random sampling procedures and 15  via random placement in the experimental group and 15 others were included in the control group. In the qualitative section, all 15 teachers in the experimental group were considered as participants. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview in the qualitative part and a researcher-made questionnaire in the quantitative part, compiled of 50 items. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and its reliability was 0.97 using Cronbach's alpha. In the research, Momeni Rad’s (2020) learning community design model was used. Data analysis was performed using analysis of covariance using SPSS software and open coding was performed using MAXQDA software.

The results showed that teachers' learning community had a positive effect on their integrated technology knowledge (p= 0.002 <0.01 and F= 3.465), teachers' attitude towards technology integration (p = 0.0166 and F = 6.698) and also, the application of technology in the classroom by teachers (p=0.012 <0.05 and F=7.358) leading to increased teachers' knowledge, attitude, and skills in integrating technology in the classroom. Also, the analysis of qualitative data through open coding led to the extraction of six main categories, including search, support, self-assessment, cognition development, daring to learn, and synergy identified as an influential factor in the learning community on the integration of technology from teachers` view.

The learning community can be a supportive and effective factor in increasing the knowledge, attitude, and skills of teachers' technology integration in the classroom. Therefore, by forming and supporting teacher learning communities, the growth and development of teachers' professional competencies is increased in technology integration in the curriculum.

stage requires invoking interest and motivation among them. In this regard their proper level of motivation can only be achieved through the right educational approach. This motivation is more important in elementary school because in this period, the educational infrastructure of students is formed and it has a great impact on higher education levels. The purpose of this study was to present a model to strengthen the academic motivation of elementary school students with emphasis on educational technologies.

The present study is an applied study in terms of purpose; in terms of nature and research method, it is considered as qualitative. The statistical population of the study consisted of university professors and experts in the field of education who were selected by purposive sampling. Experts in this study were people who had at least 15 years of studying or teaching experience in providing educational models. Sampling continued until the theoretical saturation was obtained. Finally, 20 university professors and experts from Isfahan province answered the research questions. To check the validity of the measurement tool, content validity was used and interview questions were given to the professors and experts to be checked in terms of their accuracy. Also, to determine the reliability of the measuring instrument, the value of interclass correlation coefficient in terms of compatibility and absolute agreement was confirmed. Interviews with experts were in the form of four main questions related to general factors affecting the motivation of elementary school students, factors affecting the motivation of elementary school students in relation to information and communication technology, factors affecting the motivation of elementary school students in relation to the teacher and factors affecting the motivation of primary school students were related to the students themselves. Interpretive structural modeling approach using MATLAB software was used to analyze the data.

The findings of Mick Mac analysis showed that eight factors were related to strengthening the academic motivation of elementary school students with emphasis on educational technologies which are divided into two categories of influential and linking factors with regard to permeability and dependence. The factors including students’ attitudes, knowledge of information and communication technology, teachers' attitudes, quality of content and the need for technical and telecommunication infrastructures in relation to the subject were highly guided and highly dependent. In addition, the factors of perceived ease, perceived usefulness and system quality had the highest impact and the least impact in the current model compared to that of other components, respectively.

The results of this study showed that such factors as students’ attitudes, information and communication technology knowledge, teachers' attitudes, content quality and the need for technical and telecommunication infrastructure had a prominent role in motivating students so that they could predict their motivational trajectory. In addition, perceived ease, perceived usefulness, and quality of the educational system based on interpretive structural modeling resulted in both having motivated students to learn more and increasing their motivation to learn. Increasing teachers’ familiarity with up-to-date information and technological knowledge and correcting students' attitudes towards academic motivation were some of the practical suggestions in this article.

The new situation caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus imposed unprecedented conditions on the education system of the countries. Although, prior to this situation, teachers mostly would appear in their classrooms and use classical methods like lectures to teach, now the new situation they are faced with demands continuing their teaching only with the use of distance communication tools and teachers are forced to turn to online teaching and change their teaching styles according to this space. Therefore, in these circumstances and due to the importance of teachers' efficient use of this space and due to the large amount of unreliable information in the digital space and the need to have a critical and evaluative view of this space, teachers must have the required skills appropriate to these conditions. We call this skill digital literacy. In Iran, the Ministry of Education has made decisions to compensate for the effects of school closures, one of which is the launch of a "student education network" abbreviated as "SHAD". From the very beginning, there has been a lot of discussion about its efficiency from the users' point of view. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the level of digital literacy of teachers and their views on the usability of the student educational network (SHAD).

The method of the present research was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of data collection. The statistical population of this study includeed all primary teachers in Torbat-e Heydarieh in the academic year 1399-1400; they were about 585 people. Statistical sample was determined using Cochran's formula of 232 people and also simple random sampling method was used. In order to collect the required data and information related to digital literacy, the standard digital literacy questionnaire of Ng (2012) was used. Regarding usability, Bangor et al.’s (2009) system usability scale was used. This test consisted of 10 items. Odd test questions were direct questions and even questions were indirect ones.

After analyzing the data using SPSS software, the results obtained in descriptive statistics showed that the average of digital literacy and its dimensions (technical, attitudinal, emotional-social and cognitive) as well as usability were all above the average. The results of correlation test, which examined the relationship between two variables, showed that the relationship between digital literacy and its dimensions with usability was significant and the highest value was related to the relationship between digital literacy and usability, which was 0.49. The results of regression test with the aim of predicting usability based on digital literacy also showed that digital literacy could predict 24% of the usability variable. The results of regression test with the aim of predicting usability based on the dimensions of digital literacy showed that the effect of technical and attitudinal dimensions on usability was confirmed and could predict almost 26% of the usability variable and the effect of cognitive and emotional-social dimensions was rejected.

The results of the study indicated that there was a significant relationship between digital literacy and its technical and attitudinal dimensions with usability and the relationship between cognitive and emotional-social dimensions with usability was rejected. The benefits of using e-learning led to a positive attitude in people, and on the other hand, those who were technically skilled in working with software found it practical. According to the results obtained in this study, the importance of teachers' digital literacy is clear because teachers with higher digital literacy will not have much difficulty in teaching in digital space and using educational software, and this would improve their performance in this field.

The aim of this study was surevying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Corona virus outbreak in higher education from the perspective of students of the faculty of educational sciences and psychology.

The present study was an applied one in terms of its purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of the nature of the research. The statistical population of the present study consisted of students of educational sciences and psychology of university of Tabriz; according to the statistics received from the university, therer were 882 students. The Krejcie and Morgan table was used to determine the statistical sample size, based on which 268 participants were included in the sample using the available sampling method. A 79-item researcher-made questionnaire was given to the participants to gather the required data. To this end, after studying the relevant sources and background and interviewing several professors and students, the questionnaire items were extracted and divided into four sections: strengths (S), weaknesses (W), and opportunities (O) and threats (T). The content and face validity of the questionnaire were confirmed drawing on the experts’ opinions, especially the supervisors and advisors. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. The reliability of each of the four components of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats was higher than 0.9, which was considered as an excellent level of reliability. To analyze the data, the proposed SWOT methods of Hossein, Adnan and Hossein (2014) were used.

The results showed that considering the strengths, the item of informing higher education institutions of their virtual infrastructure deficiencies was ranked as the first with a percentage of normalized weight of 6.83; flexibility in training places with normalized weight percentage of 6.68 was put in the second place; the item related to facilitating access to the content with a percentage of normalized weight of 6.58 was in the third place. Considering the weaknesses, the impossibility of students’ access to the physical facilities of the university with a percentage of normalized weight of 5.35 was ranked as the first; the item of not being able to gain newer and different experiences that can only be acquired by attending universities was the second one with a normalized weight percentage of 5.29. third rank; moreover, lack of affective bonds among between the students and the instructirs was considered as the third item with a normalized weight percentage of 4.92. As regards the opportunities, the possibility of education for employees with a percentage of normalized weight of 5.71 was put in the first place; global learning opportunities for the new generation with a normalized weight percentage of 5.23 was ranked as the second item; the item related to creating integrated e-learning systems in the form of virtual learning environments with a percentage of normalized weight of 5.21 in was considered as the third item. With regard to the threats, the item of physical injuries (eye injury, backache, etc.) with a normalized weight percentage of 5.42 was ranked as the first one; The item related to the decrease of the relationship between the instructors and the students was the second one with a percentage of normalized weight of 5.26; and the item related to a decrease in the student-student interaction with a percentage of normalized weight of 5.21 was ranked as the third one. Finally, internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) factors were examined and strategies related to strengths-opportunities (SO), strengths-threats (ST), weaknesses-opportunities (WO) and weaknesses-threats (WT) were presented.

According to the results, it is necessary to make the best use of the opportunities provided for e-learning and to develop e-learning infrastructure and expand the interactive learning environments to take advantage of the strengths and opportunities, in order to move education towards a growing and desired direction. In this regard, weaknesses and threats can be reduced by grouping students in accordance with the health protocols, utilizing project-based evaluations, as well as attracting financial resources to strengthen the required infrastructure.

Teaching English as a second language has grown exponentially in the world over the last two decades with mobile or computer-assisted approaches. New learning technologies have increased their popularity through interactive language learning content in listening, speaking, writing, and comprehension skills and paved the way to increase the learner's control over the learning process, the time and place of learning, or even choosing instructional media and learning activities so that the learner should have the freedom to act, which has led to more personalization of instruction to welcome learning through more technologies. This type of learning may be among their preferences in which the basics of language learning skills are vocabulary learning which can be of significant consideration. In contrast, word-learning in language learning is a dull, boring, and monotonous activity that learners face constantly. At the same time, it is essential and fundamental because other language skills highly depend on vocabulary learning. New learning technologies have also been effective in this area by gamification of the vocabulary learning process and adding elements such as competition, leaderboard, reinforcement and reward programs, feedback, challenges, and the like. They have made learning vocabulary an engaging and enjoyable activity through the instructional design of the learning environment. Vocabulary learning, is a repetitive and tedious activity, the learner must pronounce the word well, understand the explicit and implicit meaning of the word, recognize its usage and function well, write the word correctly, discriminate the root of the word to form different words for the intended functions. All of these add to the complexity and difficulty of vocabulary learning because the number of variables involved is high, and they are interrelated. Vocabulary learning is crucial because its traces in learning other language skills are well recognizable. On the other hand, as the circle of linguistic vocabulary expands, it sometimes becomes difficult for an individual to understand the semantic subtleties of words required to internalize the words; otherwise, they are forgotten. Therefore, based on understanding such problems and difficulties in learners' language learning, educational technology has been considered a helpful solution in this field. Most studies have shown that educational technology is also valuable in terms of emotional and motivational dimensions for cognitive effectiveness and can play an irreplaceable role in gamifying vocabulary learning. With this in mind, this study aimed to investigate the effect of gamification on English vocabulary learning among the fifth-grade Iranian students.

The method in this study was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design and an experimental and a control group. The study population included all fifth-grade elementary school students in Hamadan in the academic year of 2020-2021 (N=8431), of whom a sample size of 40 people was chosen. Convenience sampling method was used and the participants were chosen from the schools whose students had access to a laptop, tablet, smartphone, or personal computer to run the gamification (games developed for vocabulary learning). They were assigned randomly to the experiment group (20) and control (20) one. The data collection tool in this study was the teacher-developed academic test for both pretest and posttest (including 30 four-point questions) and was the same in both groups. The experts` views were used to determine their validity, and also their reliability was calculated based on Cronbach's alpha as 0.78. Descriptive and inferential statistics (covariance test) were used to analyze the data using SPSS software version 22.0.

Based on the analysis of the data, the ratio of f for the independent variable was equal to 5.956, the significance level was 0.02; for the covariate, the f ratio was equal to 0.687, and the significance level was 0.41. It can be said that the effect of intervention in the experimental group was significant, but the impact of covariate was insignificant.

Based on the findings of this study, the pretest scores as covariates had no significant effect on posttest scores, but the impact of the intervention on posttest scores was significant. So, it can be concluded that gamification improved English vocabulary learning (as a second language) among the fifth-grade Iranian students.

Thesedays, people all over the world are faced down with the public media as new communication technologies in societies. A phenomenon that has been able to cover a large part of their daily lives and as the most important communication way with the world, affect on all private and public areas such as religion, ethics, politics, society and culture. Media literacy creates the opportunity to achieve a framework of criticism view in this field by educating and raising the audience knowledge level. Therefore, media literacy could be introduced as the ability of the audience to analyze the message of various media with a criticism view of the content of these messages. Therefore, teaching media literacy to students, as individuals who will play the most important role in the future of any society, can have a significant impact on creating a correct and efficient understanding of the atmosphere of today's societies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the effect of teaching thinking and media literacy book on the ability of optimal media consumption and criticism analysis of its messages in the tenth grade students in the Khomein city.

The present study is an applied research and quasi-experimental in terms of data collection method. In the present study, the pre-test & post-test designs has been used by performing four steps. The statistical population included 1173 students in the tenth grade of Khomein city in the 1398-99 academic year. Sampling method used in this research is available sampling. The sample size of this study in the experimental group is a class by 30 student. To evaluate the criticism analysis of media messages and its components, two standard media literacy questionnaires Azizi & Falsafi with 59 and 20 items were used, respectively. The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by expert authors in this field and Their reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient 0.89 For Azizi questionnary & 0.79 for Falsafi questionnary. Then, during the academic year, students were taught a book on thinking and media literacy. At the end, the post-test was taken from the experimental group. Data analysis in the descriptive statistics section includes plenty, percentage, mean and standard deviation and in the inferential section correlation or paired t-test; Data analysis was also performed with SPSS 25 software.

The findings of this study show that the mean scores of the ability of optimal media consumption, criticism message analysis, message properties and the message criticism in the post-test compared to the pre-test has increased significantly. Also, the difference between the variables pair are at the 95% meaningfulness. In the other words, it can be claimed that there is a significant difference in all components of these two variables.

According to this research findings, it can be concluded that teaching the book of thinking and media literacy in the tenth grade of high school in the Khomein city can improve the ability of optimal media consumption and the criticism message analysis in the students.

The present age is called the age of communication and the most prominent symbol of that is the media. Today, educators, especially teachers, strive to use a variety of media to improve teaching and learning so that they can provide students with most information in an effective way in the shortest possible time. In many domestic and foreign studies, infographics have been introduced as one of the most effective media in the field of education and researchers in many studies have found that infographics can improve academic performance in normal students and facilitate learning in students with disabilities.  In this study, we try to  examine the  effect of using an infographic in the learning environment based on the Glasersfeld model on the level of motivation, learning, and retention in the fifth grade of the social studies course. This research is practical in terms of purpose.

This study was quasi-experimental in terms of research method, using pre-test and post-test design with separate experimental and control groups. The sample was comprised of 30 fifth-grade students randomly divided into two groups of 15, i.e., the control group and the experimental group. Researcher-made tests as that were used as the main methodological instruments administered for eliciting data in this study  were validated by the comments of the experts in this field, the educational technology professors, and the thesis supervisor. Moreover, the Cronbach alpha and scholars’ assessment methods were employed to measure the reliability of multiple choice tests and open-ended question types, respectively. In addition, to analyze the data collected in the study, both descriptive statistics (that is, mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis) and inferential statistics (that is, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, T test, Analysis of Covariance( were used by applying the SPSS software.

The results of this study revealed that the amount of learning and retention of the students who were trained with the help of an infographic in the learning environment based on the Glasersfeld model was statistically significant as compared to  that of those students who have not used infographics in the social studies course (p<0.05). But with respect to motivation,  since P = 0.87 and F = 0.02, no significant difference was observed between the two groups and the hypothesis was not confirmed (P> 0.05).

An effective education is one that can attract the attention of students and keep them involved and active in the learning process. Infographics are tools that provide information in the forms of both text and image, enabling learners to use their full capacity for cognition  which actually leads to more and better teaching-learning. An infographic is the visualization of information or ideas that convey complex information to the audience in a way that is too fast and easily comprehensible and, therefore, easily retrievable. Since infographics simplify difficult materials, they are very helpful in learning and memorizing complex and difficult lessons. In the teaching method with infographics in a learning environment based on the Glasersfeld model, conditions are provided for the learners to be involved in education and actively build knowledge and be able to visualize complex and difficult content in a simple, concise, and structured way in their minds.

Online education is done on a virtual platform and through the Internet and its purpose is to provide opportunities for learning, and students' personal autonomy in the teaching-learning process is one of the contributing factors to achieve this goal. Therefore, one of the missions of universities is to educate students with personal autonomy to live in harmony with the values they have accepted and if they are not successful in educating such students, they will not achieve much success in the two fields of education and research. On the other hand, online education technology is not a neutral tool and can grow and develop some other dimensions in exchange for weakening some aspects of students' experience. The expansion of online education in universities can create emerging educational and upbringing opportunities for students, which requires philosophical study. There is no consensus on the role of online education in fostering personal autonomy. Some argue that the development of individual personal autonomy in online education has been neglected and they basically do not find online education suitable for simulating educational activities. Contrarily, the proponents believe that through the abundant equipment, facilities and capabilities of online education, the growth of students' individual self-government is possible. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the role of online education in deeloping students' personal autonomy with an emphasis on social constructivism.

The present study is philosophical and of the type of conceptual and linguistic analysis and logical analysis. In the first step to answer the research question, our method is conceptual and linguistic analysis, which includes the analysis, interpretation and clarification of the concepts of online education on the one hand and the analysis of the concept of individual self-government and social constructivism on the other hand. In the second step, using the method of transcendental logical analysis, we examine the logical condition of using a concept. In the third step, the inferential method and the type of theoretical analogy are used to infer constructive and non-constructive evidence of online education in cultivating personal autonomy. The community of research resources included all documents, credential and resources related to online education, personal autonomy and social constructivism and sample sources included documents and evidences in Persian and Latin, print and electronic, valid and related to the subject and concepts of the research. Due to the nature of the research, the tools and methods of data collection included Fish sheets and using the Fishing method from the mentioned sources and the method of analyzing the collected data was qualitative and based on philosophical and logical analysis.

Based on social constructivism, online education, on the one hand, with the development of lifelong learning, changing the teaching- learning process, the growth of the dimensions of personal autonomy and Flexibility in learning and the possibility of anonymity and concealment of students' identity has provided the ground for individual self-regulation. On the other hand, Online education due to the extreme trust in student ethical judgment, promoting student-centeredness, the prevalence of eclectic choice instead of conscious and free choice, students' pursuit of personal desires and the extreme growth of self-centeredness have played a non-constructive role in fostering individual self-government.

Based on social constructivism and the simultaneous agency of technology and human beings, online education through changing the nature, interests and intentions of students can play a constructive or non-constructive role in cultivating their personal autonomy. But online education is not read in a specific compulsory format and can be read by different actors in different ways. Thus, it is possible for its actors to intervene, modify and direct the development process of online education in cultivating individual self-government. As a result, the non-constructive role of online education in fostering personal autonomy can be reduced and turned into opportunities by making more use of multimedia technologies and making the online learning environment more interactive.

Making developmental changes in a society requires systematic modifications. Education is a powerful driving force behind it. Due to the limitation of budget and space in most Iranian schools and time-consuming nature of fundamental changes in teaching methods, the capacity of non-formal education should be considered to compensate for these shortcomings in order to achieve the educational goals of students. Museums and science centers are part of these opportunities. Iranian Museum of Science and Technology (INMOST) was established as an institution in the science and innovation system of the country and can play an important role in non-formal education by adopting different methods in representing science, and by communicating science and society, it can nurture and promote the students’ understanding of the nature of science along with the institution of formal education. To understand how this function is performed, the relationship between science museums and the concepts of science and science education must be studied from different perspectives. Due to the novelty of scientific studies in this field, the present study analyzes INMOST from the perspective of the nature of science and how it represents by museum exhibits. In this regard, the purpose of this research is to understand the status of representation of the nature of science in the Mechanics Gallery of the INMOST to clarify how educational visits to this museum help formal education.

For this purpose, the concept of "nature of science" is described and the classification of Chiappetta, Fillman and Sethna (1991) is used as a conceptual framework. In this classification, the nature of science includes four categories: Science as a body of knowledge, Science as investigative nature of science, Science as a way of thinking, Science as interaction of science, technology and society. To understand the presence of features of the nature of science in museum exhibitions, deductive qualitative content analysis is conducted so, the statistical sample of the research are (1) all the labels explaining the displays and objects that are in the Mechanics Gallery of the National Museum of Science and Technology and (2) all the oral explanations of the museum guides to the visitors which were collected and analyzed. Therefore, purposive sampling was utilized.

Analysis of the content of 14 devices in the Mechanics Gallery of the INMOST shows that each device has some components and lacks some other components, and there are fewer devices in this gallery that have all four components of the nature of science. This also is true for the descriptions of the guides. Comparison of the data shows that both in the description of the guide and in the labels, the level of attention to the dimension of "interaction of science with society and technology" is less than other dimensions. The highest extent of attention is paid to “Science as a research method” and “Science as a set of knowledge” in the labels and the guides’ descriptions, respectively.

Science museums as a non-formal education institution can play a vital role in increasing scientific literacy, scientific understanding and improving the process of non-formal science education in society and contributing to the formal education. The INMOST can meet this expectation when museum exhibits, labels, and oral explanations are represented, designed and compiled based on communication principles, museum exhibits, and informal design instruction.

Canonical correlation deals with two series of variables, each of which can be given a theoretical meaning. The purpose of this study was Canonical analysis of online self-regulatory collectivity (online interaction) and components of cognitive flexibility during cyber teaching (during Corona virus pandemics) among students of junior high school.

The statistical society included all male and female junior high school students in Ardabil numerated as 43098 (23239 boys and 19859 girls) in the academic year 2020-2021 so that 381 ones (205 boys and 176 girls) were selected via proportional stratified sampling method. For collecting the required data, online self-regulation questionnaire (OSRQ) and the content of cognitive flexibility Inventory (CFI) were used. The collected data was analyzed using Pearson Product-moment correlation and canonical correlation analysis in SPSS 26.00.

The obtained results pointed to a significant relationship between the predictor and criterion variable components (p<0.01). Also, the canonical correlation identified that the components of online self-regulation collectivity including learner-content interaction, learner-Instructor interaction and learner-learner interaction can predict changes of components of cognitive flexibility collectivity including alternatives and control subscales among junior high school students (p<0.01).

The results of the study identified that the more the students interact in online teaching and in cyber space with content, as well as the teacher and the other students, the more power of cognitive complexity they would have to deal with difficulties in problems in learning and teaching issues. Using cognitive strategies could assist the students in accessing vague teaching concepts and enable them to access higher levels of learning. At the present time, virtual training provides the students with ample opportunities to make some changes in themselves in terms of motivational aspects, skills, and operational learning steps for reaching teaching purposes. The learner-content interaction is a channel that reconciles the cognitive structure and the mental content of the learner with their macro-cognitive, motivational, and behavioral aspects. These changes in cognition can empower the learners in self-regulation and turn them from passive and strict receivers into active and flexible learners. Accordingly, this perception of ability and internal power assists the learner to reach the belief of self-controllability in solving problems and facing with challenging circumstances.

One of the areas related to information and communication technology that can play an effective role in the transfer of human knowledge is web-based virtual education. Accordingly, and especially since March 2019 and due to the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the use of virtual education along with face-to-face education in the higher education system has become a very tangible necessity. As a result, many universities have entered the field of virtual education for their students. In the present study, researchers sought to use a qualitative method to explain the experiences and views of stakeholders to extract the challenges of e-learning in the university. Therefore, the present study investigated the challenges and threats of e-learning in higher education during the pandemic from the perspective of the faculty members.

The method of the present study was content analysis in terms of applied objectives’ it was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Participants in this study included professors of Allameh Tabatabai University who had experience of teaching virtual courses. The sampling method was purposeful and the sample size was completed till the theoretical saturation limit was obtained and accordingly, 18 professors of Allameh Tabatabai University were included in the sample. The research tool was a semi-structured interview form; content analysis was used to analyze the findings. In this method of analysis, according to the nature of the main research question, the threats of the implemented curricula were causally investigated and explained, and finally the challenges and harms of e-learning in universities during the Covid-19 pandemic were presented in the form of six main categories .

Based on the findings, the challenges of e-learning were classified into six main ones including 1) "Insufficient skills of the faculty members ‌ in selecting and using appropriate media", 2) "Faculty members’ weakness in the relative use of the virtual resources, web-based technologies, online consulting services, and technical support ", 3)" Faculty members’ weakness in the relative use of cyberspace to produce educational content ", 4)" Inadequate bandwidth in universities ", 5 "Insufficient speed of advances in updating digital content" and 6) "Inconsistency of the existing curriculum dimensions with virtual education".

Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 and the importance of using virtual methods in higher education, it is necessary for professors in the virtual education and learning system to benefit from a variety of skills of the curriculum including objectives, content, teaching methods, teaching tools and tools and evaluation. Also, in explaining these findings, it should be noted that due to the serious challenges facing professors, it was suggested that familiarity with various e-learning software and their capacities for e-learning must be considered in the special training programs for teachers. Paying attention to infrastructures such as bandwidth, electronic resources and digital content, as well as the issue of keeping communication tools and equipment up-to-date and using new technologies of virtual education, including virtual social networks along with virtual education systems in universities, are some suggestions.

Metaphors are powerful tools, which are used to present teachers' attitudes about mathematics and reflect their experiences. Teachers' metaphorical perception can make many educational events more tangible in order to examine the current status of education. Previous studies asked provident teachers to provide metaphors for teaching mathematics and to use these metaphors to understand their attitudes about mathematics. On the other hand, these days, educational technologies have rapidly created new opportunities for meaningful education of mathematics. Therefore, the role of teachers in integrating education and technology is getting more and more important. Frequent use of technology, in almost every aspect of our lives, requires a change in the content and nature of school math programs, and it is important for students to use computers to increase their understanding of math concepts as they change. The use of computers in educational programs should be supported. Since the interpretation and explanation of teachers' attitudes toward the field of technology is important in teaching-learning, metaphors are used to compare mere and common interpretation. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematicshas stated that the use of technology is an appropriate method in mathematical reasoning, expression, problem solving, and effective communication. Moreover, the use of computers in educational programs should also be supported. Therefore, the main purpose of the current study based on the instrumentation method was to standardize the metaphorical perception scale of the effectiveness of mathematics education software in the teaching-learning process from the perspective of mathematics teachers.

The research method was descriptive and the method entailed instrumentation and standardization. Using two-stage cluster sampling method and Morgan table, 198 male and female math teachers working in all primary and secondary state and non-state secondary schools in 1, 2, 3, 4 education districts of Tehranwere selected as the participants. Researchers prepared and designed a questionnaire with 44 items based on theoretical basics and related technologies in the field of mathematics education. In the first stage, CVI and CVR content validity indices were examined.

After two stages of distributing questionnaires among eight experts in the field of education and technology of mathematics, the results showed that some items were removed due to not reaching the standard level. Finally, 28 items according to the components in the questionnaire were approved.The questionnaire was then distributed among math teachers in virtual networks.The results of reliability and exploratory factor analysis confirmed four factors with 26 items and the reliability value of each factor was proved and recordedbetween 0.78 and 0.94.Four main factors were identifiedincluding a metaphorical understanding of access and acquaintance, skill and mastery, interest, attitude, impact and application in the use of mathematical software.

The results of this survey and tooling based on the views of math teachers showed that the four mentioned factors were very important in the efficiency and application of math education technologies and software in middle school teaching. Determining and explaining such factors can lead to a more detailed examination of the challenges and resources available in the preparation and distribution of mathematics education technologies in schools.

The biggest challenge posed by the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) to educational institutions was the force to make an unexpected transition from face-to-face to online learning. The abrupt closure of face-to-face education led academics towards experiencing "unfamiliar areas" due to the need to adapt quickly to e-learning environments. In advance, the benefits of these environments increased the demand for their usage in higher education. But today, given the special circumstances of the outbreak of the Coronavirus, this sudden change has undoubtedly posed challenges for educational institutions Although these environments provide numerous opportunities for learning, they require the readiness to become familiar with a wide range of technologies, the lack of which, both for teachers and learners and at the organizational level, poses some challenges in the implementation of online learning. In this regard, the present study was conducted to explore the challenges of faculty members in teaching and managing online learning environments.

The present study was conducted adopting a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach. The target population of the study included the faculty members of Kharazmi University. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The data collection process continued until the theoretical saturation was reached, based on which 19 interviews were conducted. The final reliability and validity criteria were used to confirm the validity and reliability of the data.

The results of the study led to the identification of the following categories: communication and interaction, presence and engagement, technical issues, quality, skill, evaluation, economic issues, time, and organizational challenges. As an important result, data analysis referred to the synergy and interrelationship of categories and the effects that they had on the quality of online learning. The most common codes were related to the categories of communication and interaction and presence and engagement, which were related to the category of skills and influenceed other categories

The analysis of the interviews showed that, it is possible to reach high-quality online learning by prioritizing these challenges and paying attention to key components. The emergence or consideration of these challenges, as well as their impact on each other, leads us to map the relationship among these challenges. The results of the analysis emphasize the need to pay attention to the sudden changes in the category of time, the emergence of related challenges, and the division of challenges into faculty members-related items individually or in relation to organizational challenges that include skill and quality. Now that the Coronavirus pandemic resulted in the rapid digitalization of higher education around the world, identifying and overcoming the challenges of entering or adapting to online environments is essential to guarantee the quality of the future of higher education.

Critical thinking skill is one of the important mental assets that a person needs to be able to develop as an independent individual. Critical thinking skill is important because it assists individuals to analyze situations before taking actions, instead of acting impulsively. The possession of critical thinking skill is important not only to the individual but to those around him or her as well as the society. This is because people who lack critical thinking skills very likely get engaged in actions that are not based on a deep analysis of the situation at hand, and thus expose themselves and others to danger. Therefore, developing critical thinking skills in agricultural technical and vocational students -due to the nature and purpose of their disciplines- is vital to deal with wicked problems in the agricultural sector. Based on this, many efforts have been done to embed critical thinking skills in agricultural students at the technical and vocational schools. However, these attempts have not achieved the desired goals and agricultural sector still faces many challenges. We believe that this is due to the extensive attention allocated to educational issues and as well as micro-environments within the school by researchers who are interested in this field of study; while according to Bandura’s social cognitive theory and Luhmann’s Autopoietic Systems Theory, critical thinking skills are significantly affected by outside school environment and students’ demographic characteristics. Accordingly, the study identified students’ the most important demographic characteristics which affect theirs critical thinking skills.

For the purpose of this study, a quantitative research method was used. The statistical population of the study consisted of Iranian technical and vocational students (N= 5720). Altogether, 282 students were included in the statistical sample using multi-stage stratified sampling method. A researcher-made questionnaire was used for data collection and its reliability and validity were confirmed by content validity ratio (CVR ≥ 0.75) and Coronbach's alpha coefficient (α ≥ 0.71), respectively. The included a help section on how to answer the items, demographic characteristics of the respondents, and latent variables of research (critical thinking skills). Respondents were asked to express their degree of agreement with each item by giving a score from 1 to 10 (minimum agreement = 1 & maximum agreement = 10). Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS software.

Findings showed that there were significant differences between students’ critical thinking skills in relation to critical evaluation of issues and application of theories and ideas to real world context. However, no significant differences were observed in terms of the educational inequality condition of students. Among the demographic characteristics, gender (male of female) and lodging (rural area or city) were not significant ones for students critical thinking skills. In contrast, farming filed experiences significantly led to differences among the students’ critical thinking skills.

The findings showed that one of the weaknesses of previous research on students' critical thinking skills was the use of the same tools and indicators to assess critical thinking skills for all disciplines, despite differences in the content and nature of their disciplines. Therefore, based on Calma and Cotronei-Baird’s (2021) research, four skills were identified as critical thinking skills for agricultural students: 1) critical evaluation of issues; 2) development and presentation of arguments; 3) application of theories and ideas to real world context; and 4) synthesis of idea, theories and/or data. Finally, the results of the study indicated that students’ critical thinking skills were not only subject to educational issues or limited to the school environments, but also various demographic characteristics that significantly affected them. Therefore, it is important for the educational planners to consider these characteristics in their planning for developing and enhancing students’ critical thinking skills.

Due to the growing need of learners for new digital technologies in education, especially augmented reality technology, which has significant potential, the inadequacy of common electronic content, their lack of educational principles and standards and the lack of a suitable model for producing augmented reality content in education with a constructivism approach necessitate conducting research and finding a solution. The current study aimed to design and validate the model of production of augmented reality content with an emphasis on the constructivism approach.

The present study was an applied one according to the purpose and based on the method, it was a mixture or combination of consecutive exploratory type. Inductive qualitative content analysis was used to extract the template components. In reviewing texts and articles, the systematic review method was used and to determine the internal validity, the survey method was utilized. The statistical population for content analysis included scientific sources, books, articles, treatises and valid scientific documents in the field of augmented reality between 2000-2022. By selecting related keywords, the search was conducted in local and international citation databases. The statistical sample was selected via purposive method and included 232 cases. The statistical population for the interview included professors, specialists and producers of augmented reality and the statistical sample of the target population was formed via purposive sampling consisting of 21 people. Also, the statistical population for model validation included augmented reality specialists and university professors, from which a statistical sample of 33 people were selected via purposive sampling method. Data collection tools included a researcher-made questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. To check the inter-coder reliability, two methods of decoding and second coding were used. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts. In order to determine the reliability coefficient of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha test and to determine the internal validity of the model, frequency, mean, standard deviation, mean standard error and one-sample t-test were used.

In the first and second method, the inter-coder reliability was 91% and 87%, respectively. And the content validity ratio index was 93% and 96%, respectively. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was 96% through Cronbach's alpha test. The value of t-test was positive for all questions and according to the significance level (Sig= 0.001), the difference between the mean of the questions and the theoretical mean was significant. The results of content analysis showed that 13 main categories and 55 subcategories were extracted for the augmented reality content production model. The main categories of augmented reality content production model included management, instructional design, design of constructivism learning environments, multimedia design principles, cognitive load control, technical design, production, execution, rendering, publication, development, program evaluation and academic achievement.

By identifying the categories and their subcategories, first a conceptual model and then a process model were designed. The innovation of the designed comprehensive model in instructional and technical design requires the simultaneous attention to instructional and technical dimensions. In the presented model, the categories related to the instructional dimensions were environmentally located and the categories related to the technical dimensions were centrally located. The results of statistical analysis showed that from the perspective of experts, the designed model had a high validity and its validity was confirmed. Therefore, it is suggested that this model be used to produce electronic augmented reality content, especially for position-based training, based on a constructivism approach and designed with augmented reality content.