فصلنامه پژوهش و برنامه ریزی در آموزش عالی
سال بیست و نهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 107، بهار 1402)

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) within the context of the fourth industrial revolution has become a significant trend for societies worldwide.  Methods of university education, as a crucial social structure, has always been influenced by technological advancements. However, AI has revolutionized university education at a rapid pace, with profound and extensive implications. The main question of this article was how AI expansion will impact the future of university education in Iran. To address this inquiry, various related questions are addressed, including global trends of AI in university education, the perspectives of Iranian academics on the influence of AI in university education, uncertainties arising from AI integration in Iranian university education, and the potential scenarios for Iran's university education under the shadow of AI. To answer these questions, the research employed several methodologies, such as trend analysis, expert panel discussions, brainstorming sessions, structural-interpretive analysis, and scenario development. The findings revealed that a national consensus on AI has not been established in Iran, consequently hindering the development of adequate legal, software, and hardware infrastructure. There is a need for an in-depth review of AI, its functions, and its effectiveness in university education in order to foster a comprehensive understanding of its implications.

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of top universities in the field of blended education in different countries in order to develop and improve the quality of Blended education in Iran’s universities. Blended learning as the third wave of learning environments, afterwards face-to-face and electronic environments in universities and educational organizations to respond to changes in society (including and most importantly, the pandemic of Covid-19 virus) with the aim of enhancing the quality of learning, border on expanding the scope of coverage and cost reduction. In order to reach appropriate solutions in this field, the researcher has used the qualitative research approach and the comparative study method. The selection of top universities (Boston of USA, York of Canada, Manchester of England, Hong Kong education of China, Open University of Malaysia) in the field of blended education based on the official reports of the Times (2021), which considers teaching and learning in the Covid pandemic era and online education, and ranks universities. This approach is aligned with the purpose of the study and made the selection of universities possible for this study. In addition to the ranking of universities, geographical distribution and availability of data were considered in this regard. Count on theoretical foundations, specifically in the realm of the exploratory community, in addition to examining the concept and approach of the university to Blended education, categories such as the structure of the higher education system, the type of university, policies and strategies, management style, educational resources, educational and technological supports, teaching style, the tools and evaluation system were selected and then George Brody's four-stage model was used to analyze the collected data. The findings show that all five universities have officially presented a specific and systematic definition of Blended education and in this regard targeted activities such as the development of technological infrastructure, educational and technological supports, efficient teaching methods according to the nature of Blended education in this course have followed. As a result, a look at the structure and type of the higher education system of these universities illustrate that those who have enjoyed more independence have predicted a more creative planning and strategy in relation to the studied components. The support system in all five universities is prepared according to the cultural and social conditions of the audience. Teaching and face-to-face interactions between students and professors are carried out in regional units, and it is in this regard that students can benefit from professors' guidance in online classes and using software capacities during offline training. In all the studied universities, formative and final evaluation have been used to monitor the quality of the course. According to the results and these three strategies (educational changes, social changes, and cultural changes), and taking into account the existing infrastructure of virtual education in Iran, some lessons have been proposed for Blended education in Iran’s universities.

The present study aimed at designing a model for E-learning readiness of the University of Tehran in the face of Covid 19 disease. This study is applied and has been done by phenomenological method and answering an Open Answer Questionnaire from 603 faculty members among 36 faculties of the University of Tehran by sending e-mails and also by voice and video calls. Its validity was assessed by the participants through three measures and through review. A model consisting of 8 sub-elements with inductive content analysis and open coding and main categorization was introduced; Development of teaching-learning processes, time management, enrichment of educational content, continuity of education, establishment of educational justice, promotion of social responsibility of the university, continuation and development of e-learning and teaching, improving classroom supervision and evaluation. In other words, the development of e-learning as a new approach in higher education requires the creation of four socio-cultural readiness, pedagogical readiness, organizational readiness and technological readiness in conjunction with the revised Bloom model; The combination of these elements in the current situation of universities can be considered as a strategy for learning that is necessary for the continuous improvement of e-learning during the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic. Therefore, the suggestions of this research can be applied to universities.

The current research was conducted with the aim of analyzing the lived experiences of Farhangian University instructors on virtual education classes during the Covid time using a qualitative approach and phenomenological method. The participants of this research were faculty members teaching in ten regions of Farhangian University across the country, and they were closely involved in virtual education. The selection of the research sample was done using a "purposive" approach and the method of selecting "key" experts and using saturation criteria and in-depth interviews with 17 people. The obtained data were analyzed using thematic coding method and the findings were organized in the form of open, central and selective codes. From the total findings of this research, 102 open coding, 23 central coding and 6 selective coding were categorized in the context of Farhangian University instructors' lived experience of virtual education classes in the Corona situation. In general, the results of the research showed that based on the lived experiences of the instructors of virtual education classes during the Covid time, there were challenges in the components of the level of competence and technical skill of the instructors, the way of presenting the content, the management of the class, the way of evaluation and the emotional interactions between instructor and students.  Some of these challenges and obstacles were related to the Farhangian University, some were related to instructors and some were related to students. In general, it can be concluded that holding virtual education classes in the Corona time in Farhangian University was faced with such challenges as poor class management, seriousness and lack of real evaluation, lack of student participation, weak social interactions and weak infrastructure. In addition, the opportunities of holding virtual education classes can reduce stress, flexibility of time and place, saving time and money, more familiarity with technology and flexibility and dynamism in holding classes.

The Covid-19 crisis, surprisingly and in a short period of time, transformed the way of teaching in higher education and imposed virtual and technology-based education on universities.  This sudden change, in addition to opportunities and benefits, has brought short-term and long-term challenges to the higher education system that require profound study. The present research was applied in terms of purpose and phenomenological in terms of method. The scope of research included the directors of digital education of public universities affiliated with Ministry of Science and Technology. Using purposive sampling method, 15 of them were selected for in-depth interviews. Creswell data analysis cycle was used to analyze the data. Data analysis showed that technical-economic and education challenges were the most important challenges of transitioning to virtual education. Technical-economic challenges were extracted in a general category under the title of "infrastructure". Educational challenges were categorized into eight categories respectively: The educational challenges were categorized into eight categories, respectively: "teachers' lack of preparation and unfamiliarity with virtual learning", "content production", "assessment and examination", "conducting practical lessons", "lack of interaction", "faculty and student dissatisfaction with central control", "time" and "student teaching". Finally, it must be said that although this virus left the most negative consequences in the face-to-face, educational, scientific and research activities of the university for at least one year; however, its fundamental opportunities and benefits will cause a revolution in education, especially virtual learning.

This study aimed for making and validating of a scale to measure students' self- directed skills in E-learning courses during Corona virus. The research methodology was survey and cross-correlation research. The statistical population of the study consisted of students of the country's universities in the academic year of 2020-21. A random convenience sampling method was chosen for this study. The sample size was determined to be 620 people according to the Krejci-Morgan model (α=0.05). A researcher-made self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data.  The validity of the tool was calculated by using the opinion of expert professors, and the reliability of the instrument was calculated with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.95. The results of exploratory factor analysis, using the main elements factorization method and considering the factor load more than 0.40, showed that three factors of spontaneity, recognition of learning needs, and responsibility in learning can be extracted and explain 55.285% of the total variance. In general, the factors of the self-administrated questionnaire measure the independent and separate dimensions of the Self-directed learning scale to a large extent, and it is a valid and appropriate tool.

Higher education, in order to achieve its strategic goals in society, requires governance understanding in a sustainable trend so that it can correctly define and outline its mission and step towards it firmly. Research knowledge and experiences of the advanced countries in this field may certainly contain some considerable and –sometimes - valuable lessons gained in policies for higher education systems in other countries, especially for Iranian higher education system suffering from some ineffective traditional procedures and avoiding up-to-date governance methods. In this article, by applying the research method of document analysis and using the purposeful sampling method, the identification and qualitative analysis of good governance experiences in higher education of three selected countries - including Germany, England and Canada - has been addressed in the four measures of quality affairs, academic independence and financial management. Data gatherings were done by searching contents of universities’ websites, published articles, essays, reports, governmental and academic manuscripts. Data was qualitatively analyzed at two levels of open and axial coding. From the study and analysis of the experiences of good governance in higher education of selected countries, in the dimension of quality measures, including evaluation and quality assurance in the context of agreed frameworks, multiple use of the evaluation system, validation and quality assurance, transparency and accountability, and improvement were identified as the logic of evaluation and quality assurance of higher education. Systematic synergetic management and planning, and network management based on scientific reference were experiences that were represented in the dimension of university management and planning. Morover, in the financial planning measures, experiences such as contingency budgeting based on scientific indicators, and diversity of support in providing financial resources were identified. In the end, the article, by enumerating the findings obtained from its research in the experiences of the governance of the selected countries, has recommended to all the policy makers and officials of the country's higher education to study and review them as lessons that can be learned for awareness and to create a well-considered platform in order to use them effectively, in the framework of appropriate and updated action plans in the field of governance of higher education.

Considering the importance and role of training and internship courses in empowering students and graduates, the present study was conducted with the aim of designing an effective training and internship model in the curriculum. The research method was qualitative and the participants included faculty members of University of Tehran, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Isfahan University of Technology, Shahid Sadoughi University of Yazd, Mazandaran University, Valiasr University of Rafsanjan, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Sirjan University of Technology and Shiraz University, who have presented at least one internship course. Validity and reliability of the interview questions were confirmed by experts. After analyzing 30 interviews, the researchers could have limited themselves to the same number of interviews according to the principle of theoretical saturation, but since the variety of academic fields and universities was considerable, the interviews continued up to 80 people on a quota basis. By analyzing the interviews, the current status of the implementation of these courses showed that, according to faculty members, internships are not implemented effectively and 8 components of time, personal problems, organizational structure and organization, lack of allocation of necessary and sufficient resources, lack of proper understanding of the program by individuals, lack of commitment of individuals and organizations, lack of proper evaluation and monitoring system and lack of inter-organizational and interpersonal communication system were as the main obstacles to effective implementation of these courses. Considering that the main problem in the lack of effective implementation of internship courses is the lack of proper and sufficient coordination and communication between the circles of organizations (Ministries, university and work environments) and the circles of individuals (Faculty members, supervisor of internship center and student) with each other, a model was designed based on which it is appropriate to form minimum interactions between faculty member and student in training and internship courses, and the main emphasis should be on creating communication circles.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effects of drivers, macro trends and uncertainties related to them in the course of developing the future regulations for the promotion of university faculty members, and drawing alternative scenarios about the promotion regulations in the horizon of 2035. For this purpose, relying on qualitative methodology and using cross-effect analysis matrix tools and MicMac software, the main drivers of change in this field were identified and analyzed. Then, by using the Senario Wizard software and expert panel, the main uncertainties were determined and possible scenarios for the future of the regulations for the promotion of faculty members in the horizon of 2035 were explained and narrated. According to this, while analyzing the structural relationships of impact and effectiveness among key components, five dominant forces of discourse of higher education in Iran including society's expectation (industry, market and government) from higher education, economy of higher education, competitiveness and internationalization of higher education and emerging challenges and development of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary sciences were considered as drivers of change. Finally, the three scenarios of "Wisdom and Knowledge Think Tank", "Science and Technology University" and "Logic and Value School" as alternative futures for the promotion system of academic faculty members were explained and the conditions of the regulations in each of the mentioned scenarios were