نشریه علوم تربیتی
سال نوزدهم شماره 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1391)

In our time, knowledge and university have developed so deeply that the traditional borders among theoretical and practical reason, and technology have been overridden and a very complicated relationship has emerged among the three realms. What is called ‘marketization of knowledge’ or ‘commercialization of knowledge’ is going to become a criterion for the evaluation of all human faculties including both theoretical and practical reason, creativity, and their outcomes. The phenomenon of commercialization of knowledge needs to be reflected upon since it is going to turn into the unique game that urges all universities throughout the world to follow its rules. Our society and its universities are no exceptions to this effect. Nevertheless, the challenges raised against the idea of commercialization of knowledge are valuable and need to be reflected upon. The appeal to the sublime in a postmodern interpretation which Lyotard (1982) is looking for, or taking refuge in practical reason and justice that Readings (1996) suggests or the university of beauty that Bearn (2000) talks of are all alarms echoing the rapid process of commercialization of knowledge and university. There is, however, a capacity in our society for challenging this idea and that is the longstanding tradition of truth-seeking knowledge and research which considers the essence of knowledge as truth and never reduces it to profit and workability. However, the interrogation of this tradition has not yet been undertaken seriously and this essay is an attempt to make this observable. The method used in this essay is concept analysis.

The main purpose of this research was to study the variables and factors that affect adaptation of university to external environment and to develop a model for assessment of Tehran public universities adaptation to external environment. A mixed method research approach involving a three-round Delphi study was used to record responses to the closed-questions and open-ended-questions. Other data were gathered through interview, and a questionnaire. Content analysis was used for assessing qualitative data based on scientific documents and interviews, and for the analysis of quantitative data, factor analysis, reflective and formative modeling based on SPSS, Smart PLS & LISREL were employed. The population of this research comprised Tehran Public Universities (Including: Medical universities, Industrial universities & Complex universities) and the sampling method adopted involved ratio and cluster sampling. 37 variables emerged from literature, Delphi survey and interviews. KMO of 0/82 and the results of Bartlett's test indicated that the data are adequate for factor analysis. Results of factor analysis pointed out that those 37 variables can be partitioned into nine factors.Detective factor analysis results showed that 70.53 of university adaptation variance can be explained by nine factors including: external environment management, learning, organizational culture, organizational communications, participation, strategy orientation, responsibility, self-organizing and goal orientation. T statistics showed that all factors are significant, the most important factor being environment management. Composite reliability of factors i exceeded 88% and the meaning of AVE (average variance explained) pointed out that a large amount of university adaptation variance is explained by those factors. Indices of Redundancy= 0/0024, AIC=353/06, BIC=227/48, GOF=0/98 R2=993 show that the model has goodness of fit with these data.

Globalization process and the ever-increasing eroding of the borders between countries and nations as well as the creation of international societies, require that in order to educate individuals with cross-cultural qualifications, higher education systems of the Globe should take a serious look at the internationalization of their curricula. Bearing this fact in mind this study, using a qualitative method, focuses on challenges and strategies of Internationalization of curricula in Iranian higher from the standpoint of Iranian administrators, faculty members and non-Iranian students. For this purpose, twelve personal interviews were arranged and two sessions of focus groups were conducted. The results have shown that Iran’s rising to the level of a scientific power requires taking steps toward globalization of its higher education system, paying due attention to language of instruction, qualification of professors, supporting services and seeking international cooperation among universities along with supply of financial and human resources, technology and benefiting from cultural potentials and attractions. These are challenges that have to be met should Iran achieve the above goals. The results have also indicated that strategies such as coming to know other higher education systems, synergy of internal universities, allowing for diversification for the enrichment of subject matters and employing efficient methodology, combining regular attendance learning with distance learning are among the most important strategies of Internationalization of the curriculum.

The present research intends to by way of comparing traditional and active methods of teaching demonstrate which of the following Team Effectiveness Design (TED), Team Member Teaching Design (TMTD), Performance Judging Design (PJD) & Clarifying Attitudes Design (CAD) is/are more effective in increasing reading literacy and comprehension of the pupils in the Tehran fourth grade elementary. The research population consisted of all girls and boy pupils in Tehran’s fourth grade elementary schools. The Sample consisted of 10 classes selected by cluster sampling method. A semi- experimental design with Pretest- posttest control group was used. Teachers received training in two sessions. Data were analyzed using the one way analysis of variance and two way analysis (2×5design) and Tukey's Honestly Significance Difference Test (HSD). The results show that differences between traditional and activity methods of teaching were not significant. Interaction effect between methods of teaching and gender was significant. In fact by controlling gender the difference between traditional and activity methods of teaching was not significant. Boy students who received traditional methods of teaching showed the best performance in boys groups; But in girls groups, those who were exposed to traditional methods exhibited the weakest performance. The highest amount of gender effect belongs to the Performance of Judging Design, thus girls in this group ranked exhibited the highest performance barely lower than their performanceon Team Effectiveness Design whereas in boys group the lowest performance pertains to this group, i.e. Performance Judging Design.

This paper is part of a qualitative study that has surveyed the goal element of curriculum in science education of Iran and some other countries of the world using both the comparative and descriptive– analytic methods. To meetthe goal of preparing a comprehensive picture, the documents relevant to this issue in the pioneer and selected countries in science and technology were gathered, described, interpreted, compared and contrasted. The present paper tries to survey and study the goal element of curriculum in science education of Iran and these selected countries. The obtained results of this study can help curriculum planners, text-book authors, teachers, and other interested people to act with a deeper insight when developing or changing/revising curricula, enabling them to select more appropriate objectives. The obtained results show considerable similarities and differences between science education goals of Iran and other countries studied. These similarities are visible mostly in curricular written documents or intended documents so that the objectives look very similar in all these countries. All the studied countries focus on four subjects including physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. Furthermore, the goals advanced in these documents address the three dimensions of knowledge, skills and attitudes. The most significant points common among the studied countries are the promotion of technological scientific literacy, ability of solving problems, reflecting, and nature discussions. However, there is a remarkable gap between our country and others which demands serious consideration: this gap portrays a flaw in curriculum implementation that reflects itself in achieved curriculum objectives by students. The results of TEEMS tests illustrate this issue. However, further research in this area is needed for more appropriate conclusions.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prediction of math learning by quality of teaching and classroom climate factors, while mediated by motivational beliefs and self regulating learning strategies. In this research, based on Creemers` model, a hierarchical model was proposed. In this model, 1- quality of teaching and classroom climate factors, 2- motivational beliefs and self regulated learning strategies and 3- math learning were respectively, introduced as exogenous, mediating, and endogenous variables. The sample consisted of 100 fifth grade elementary school girl-students from Shiraz city selected through randomized cluster sampling. The measuring instruments were Quality of Teaching Scale (Kyriakides, et al, 2000), Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (Wubbels et al, 1993), Teacher Expectancy Scale (Bulach, 1993), Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990) and Mathematics Achievement Test. The validities and reliabilities of all these instruments were confirmed. The results supported the mediating role of the motivational beliefs and self regulated learning strategies. It means that teachers` behavior and interactions of teacher and students indirectly predict math learning through motivational beliefs and self regulated learning strategies.

This study aimed at the pattern planning of an e-learning program for primary school Persian dictation and for investigating the characteristics of pattern elements. For pattern planning of e-learning program, Weston and colleagues educational planning pattern was selected, On the basis of this pattern the guiding model of e-learning program for primary school Persian dictation was designed. The plan includes three main sections: instructional planning element, presentation element, and communication, supporting and guidance elements. This study is a qualitative research. In this study for pattern planning and identifying the characteristics of program elements, domestic and international documents and available resources relevant to educational planning in e-learning and traditional environment were consulted. The results of this literature survey and also information gleaned from interviews with experts in related fields, planning was carried out. Findings are as follows: Goal-setting and the way of assigning content, should be considered in away compatible with the national curriculum Contents should be organized in the form of word based in the sentence form simple to difficult Teaching-learning methods should involve a variety of interactive learning and applied methods including the use of pictures group dictation, proofreading and correction The most appropriate assessment strategies should include multiple-choice and, t/f tests, accompanied by dragging and dropping tests, self-evaluation and evaluation by classmates. Observing the principle of simplicity in designing websites for primary schools using cheerful and talking animations, and colorful pictures along the lines of national curriculum, learning goals, with a view toward strengthening national identity, are recommended.

E-learning as new educational technology is rapidly developing, expanding and changing. This rapid expanding has prompted administrators to follow scientific and rational methods in implementing, managing and evaluating e-learning projects. Need assessment as a scientific and rational method is a way to follow prior to adopting e-learning projects. The goal of present research was to measure ShahidChamranUniversity’s readiness for adopting e-learning. The Population of the research consisted of all students and faculty members in the second semester of the academic year 1385-1386. The Samples comprised 351 students and 129 faculty members selected by stratified random sampling method. Two standard tests were administered; one to students and the other to faculty members. In order to analyze data, both descriptive and inferential statistics (ANOVA) were used. Findings revealed that the students and faculty members of ShahidChamranUniversity are relatively ready for e-learning. In addition, inferential analysis of data showed that there is a significant difference between humanities and basic sciences students in readiness for e-learning, but the no significant difference between academic achievement of students and readiness for e-learning was discovered. According to another finding there is no significant difference between rank of faculty members and their attitudes towards university readiness for e-learning.

The main goal of this research is the evaluation of the extent of match between achieved and expected goals of secondary education in AhwazCity. The research methodology involved a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative). As the important part of the evaluation models is concerned with preparing information for decision making, we used a CIPP model which was deemed to be relevant to this survey. The target Population included secondary schools principals, teachers and all girls studying in the third Grade of Ahwaz secondary schools and pre university program during the academic year of 2008-2009. Using cluster sampling first we selected an educational zone and subsequently selected 10 secondary schools and 3 pre university schools. From these schools, 40 teachers, 90 students and 90 pre-university students were randomly selected. Data were collected through a research made questionnaire, semi-structure interviews and check list indexes. Research results showed that there is a critical gap between achieved and expected goals in terms of context, input, process and product. Also, while there was some congruency among the views of secondary students group and pre university students about the results we observed differences among the teachers’ views based on their responses to the questionnaire and interview. However, we could not find differences among the respondents in relation to input variables but they were agreed that there is a gap with regard to context, process and product.

This research was intended to examine Teacher's knowledge and attitude towards descriptive evaluation (DE) and its different dimensions in Sanandaj's primary schools. Research samples included two groups of teachers. The first group consisted of 84 teachers who were involved in the DE pilot study. The second group included 13 highly qualified and informed teachers who were working in the urban primary schools. In order to collect data both a questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used. The content validity of questionnaire was checked by the field experts, using Cronbach's Alpha, its reliability was measured to be 0.95. In order to analyze the quantitative data, t-tests and measures of central tendency were used and qualitative data were interpreted via content analysis the findings showed that teacher's knowledge and information about DE is not adequate. Secondly although DE is a more effective and innovative evaluation model which improves mental health of learning environment, its implementation is not an easy task for teachers because of some shortcomings and dysfunctions in the country' educational system.

Job turnover is one of the most important challenges of human resources management in all organizations, especially in educational systems. Educators and teachers’ moving or leaving (job) causes many direct (reemploying, education and ...) and indirect costs into education systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to educators’ tendency to job turnover. A mixed research methodology was adopted in this study. The population included HAMEDAN province educators (N= 614) employed in high and guidance schools from whom a sample of 344 educators was randomly selected. Data collection tools, comprised a Likert style questionnaire with 97 close ended questions and 2 open ended questions at the end of the questionnaire. This study sought to answer four fundamental questions: 1- how many educators want to transfer to the field of teaching, 2- What are the educator's most important reasons to leave their job? 3- Which factor is the most important in predicting the amount of tendency to job turnover? 4- What suggestions do educators have for promoting a more effective managing of affairs and problems? The results indicated that 45 percent of educators opt for transfer to teaching positions. Given a second chance only 39 percent would choose this job. Research results showed job involvement, age, organizational commitment, job characteristics (job motivation), job satisfaction and school facilities have meaningful (negative) relations with educators’ tendency to changing their job. Job characteristics were shown to be the most valid independent variable in predicting tendency to job turnover among educators. Content Analysis of the open ended questions, confirmed the results of quantitative data.