Designing an Effectiveness Assessment Model for Distance Education System in Payame Noor University

The main purpose of the present study was to design an effectiveness assessment model for distance education at higher education section in Payame Noor Universities in Iran. This is a descriptive and survey-based study. The sample population of this study consisted of 45 university instructors and 1129 PhD students; 115 of them were selected through stratified sampling method. They answered the researcher-made questionnaire. Three experts determined the validity of the questionnaire and its reliability was determined by using Cronbach α. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics by performing SPSS & LISREL. The findings showed that the effectiveness of the services provided at the post graduate section of Payame Noor University for the student support index was average and about 12, but for the curriculum development index 11.32, for the faculty support index 7.58 which was weak (lower than expected). The results also displayed that the quality indexes were appropriate. In other words, this model can be used for assessing the effectiveness of services offered in the universities and centers of higher education based on ICT.