A Study of Characteristics of Curriculum Design in Iranian Virtual Universities and its Comparison with the Model of Virtual University Curriculum Development

The present research aims to identify and study characteristics of curriculum design in Iranian virtual universities and to compare it with the directive model of virtual university curriculum development. Three Iranian virtual universities, Olum-e-Hadith Virtual College, Center of Electronic Education of Elm va San’at University and Center of Open and Electronic Learning of Khajeh Nasiroddin Tusi University were selected through purposive and accessible sampling. Two methods, i.e. interview with key informants and analysis of the learning management system, were implemented to collect the related data. The gathered data were examined and analyzed using qualitative approach. Findings of the research showed that in curriculum design of these three universities, factors, which influence in the virtual university curriculum have been neglected. Some curricular elements of these universities, such as formulation of objectives, form of content presentation, determination of learning activities and assessment methods have not been designed according to the model. Other characteristics such as learning material and resources, selection of teaching strategies, time and location have been designed regardless of principals and examples provided by the model.