احمدرضا نصر اصفهانی

The present study is aimed towards Identification the Indices of Desirable Students performance evaluations regarding the Humanity Courses for Universities and the Extent of attention them. In the present study, we have made use of the consecutive mixed-method exploratory research which is of instrument-making type. In the quantitative section, a qualitative case study method and in the quantitative section, a descriptive-survey method was employed. For the qualitative section, we underwent quasi-structured interviews with 20 distinguished and qualified experts and faculty members of universities having their expertise in evaluation. Also, 360 of the students of universities comprised the quantitative statistical population. This number of participants was selected using multistage cluster sampling method. The results indicated that the interviewees outlined fourteen indices as the salient indices of evaluation and it can be argued that the recognized indices can be recruited to evaluation and revise the evaluation of courses in different majors of the humanities.

The fourth industrial revolution with its unique characteristics will transform the way we teach, learn, and think. Therefore, the aim of this research was to identify the driving forces influential on the primary school curriculum and analyze their implications. The study was conducted using a future studies approach and a combination of environmental scanning, qualitative content analysis, and Delphi method. Ultimately, six drivers were identified in this area: 1) the growth of digital and biological technologies, 2) childhood and learner-orienting discourse, 3) the structure of educational system, 4) changing the concept and approach to the knowledge, 5) globalization, and 6) the economic situation of the country. The results showed that most of the drivers are observing the global trends which are more inclusive. Analyzing them can play an important role in challenging the assumptions of planners and rethinking on the new models of education and learning in the future world. Finally, this research presents suggestions and strategies for institutionalizing the futures studies discourse in the educational system and taking advantage of the current research results.

In an increasingly complex and uncertain world of the future, exploring alternative paths for future of education and the curricula in terms of fulfilling the mission of educational systems is necessary. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the foresight of the primary school curriculum in 2035. The study was conducted using a foresight approach and a scenario-planning tool, which resulted in four alternative scenarios. The first scenario, called "The magic school bus" represents "curriculum as a personal roadmap". The second scenario, entitled "The pursuit of happyness", describes "the curriculum revival". The third scenario, named "The Ice age", represents the "curriculum collapse". The fourth scenario, entitled "Dead poets society", narrates the situation of the "curriculum in limbo". The findings showed that innovation comes from agency rather than structures, and requires a transformation in perspectives about the education aims in the digital age, as well as an increase in the authority and empowerment of schools.

This study seeks to analyze the most important obstacles to the successful implementation of the formal technical and vocational education curriculum based on the lived experiences of technical teachers with a background in vocational school training. According to its purpose and nature, this study was a qualitative research with phenomenological design. Data was collected according to the principle of theoretical saturation through semi-structured interview with 18 technical teachers in vocational schools who were selected by purposive sampling. Colaizzi's seven-step method was used to analyze the data. Data analysis indicated that the most important obstacles to the successful implementation of formal technical and vocational education curriculum are in three general themes: technical barriers (inadequate academic guidance, lack of specialized personnel, lack of technical teachers' empowerment, unbalanced distribution of courses, old vocational school space and equipment, and lack of support from technical teachers), political barriers (legal barriers, lack of financial resources, unprofessional decision-making, lack of connection to the labor market, and lack of support from the other organizations), and cultural barriers (lack of cultural contextualization and the presence of a negative attitude).

Recently there have been a focus on the development of faculty members with the aim of meeting the challenging needs of society, university, faculty members and students. In this regard, technology includes the potential to create new opportunities in this field. The current research was conducted with the purpose of identifying the elements and designing a model for the development programs for faculty members based on FAVA. The research method was applied and with the approach of qualitative data collection and analysis, which was done with the comparative, inductive, and qualitative content analysis method. The method involved semi-structured interviews with 20 experts in the field of education and technology with a snowball method until theoretical saturation was reached. According to the findings 6 main concepts and 42 subcategories were extracted. The research results emphasize the design of the 6 elements of goal, content, time, space, interactions and evaluation, considering the capacities and challenges of adding FAVA to these elements. Finally, a pattern of programs was presented based on FAVA for developing the capacities of faculty members. In addition, some recommendations were offered based on the findings of the study such as designing an integrated system including various educational and research systems based on individual and organizational needs; active, experimental, personalization, informal and transferable approaches in a safe environment in accordance with the rules; considering simulation of face-to-face situations in a flexible and optimal time with active interaction of the audience, instructor and content with a clear and selective approach along with a growing and valid assessment.

Implementing any educational curriculum depends on factors that ensure the success of it. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting the implementation of the technical and vocational education curriculum in Australian schools; it has two stages.

The research method is qualitative and has been done in two stages: In the first one, inductive qualitative content analysis method was used to identify the success factors of technical and vocational curriculum in Australia, and in the second stage, Delphi method was used to validate the identified components. The study population in the first stage were research articles, dissertations and documents of the Australian Technical and Vocational Education System, in which 28 selected documents were considered as purposefully samples and in the second stage, 11 elites were purposefully selected for the Delphi group from among the faculty members of the Department of Educational Sciences in Iranian and Australian universities with a background in research on technical and vocational education. In this study, first the selected documents were analyzed and in three coding stages, the main components were extracted by the researcher using Maxqda software and then these components were validated by the members of the Delphi group using an online questionnaire.

The findings showed that in the most important factors affecting the implementation of technical and vocational education curriculum were identified in three main themes: technical factors (access and participation, quality, curriculum elements, employee commitment, information and equipment), political factors (goal setting, relationship with industry, budget, support, inter-organizational interaction and relationship with higher education) and cultural factors (community awareness, positive attitude, parent recognition, incentive schemes and alternative paths to higher education). Recognizing the success factors of Australia in the implementation of technical and vocational education curriculum in secondary schools, for the Iranian education system to improve the quality of formal technical and vocational curricula contains valuable points.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the rationale of offering Islamic thought courses at the undergraduate. One of the main elements of curriculum planning is explaining the logic and necessity of each lesson. This article, while examining the necessities of presenting Islamic thought courses with a qualitative approach and descriptive method, achieved the following results during a semi-open interview with 34 instructors of education and 32 students. Teachers and students agree on the need to provide education courses in the following cases:1- Enhancing insights, education and strengthening of intellectual and doctrinal foundations. 2- Training to improve the superior style and standard of living. 3- Communicating with teachers and religious scholars and following their example. The next two categories were considered only by instructors of thought. 1- The need to be in harmony with the world education system. 2- Implementation of upstream documents and Islamization of universities. Proposal: The institution and the department of education, a group composed of representatives of the institution, the department of education, students and one of the professors related to the subject; Under the supervision of a curriculum specialist, review and re-plan education courses based on research findings.

This study aims at identifying major challenges in teaching research methods in the fields of education and psychology. The research followed a qualitative approach where semi-structured interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis. Based on purposeful sampling, twenty experts who had several years of experience in teaching research methods in the fields of education and psychology were interviewed. The data were then analyzed through the thematic analysis method based on the six steps suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006), namely acquainting researcher with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the report. With regard to challenges of teaching research methods, three main themes have emerged from interviews: curriculum, commonplace and structural problems. The curriculum challenges include issues pertaining to the course and number of units, content and resources, teaching and evaluation. The commonplace challenges include the student and the instructor-related issues, and the structural challenges include unprecedented expansion of higher education, requirements and infrastructure.

Tour guides are the key players in the tourism industry. They should acquire the necessary training and skills to meet the expectations of this sector. Besides, one way to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the education sector is to assessing its curriculum. The present study aimed to assess the curriculum inputs of the tour guide field of technical-vocational branch with an outcome-based curriculum approach. This research was conducted by an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design. The statistical population consisted of 13 teachers,171 students and 63 graduates of the tour guide in the technical-vocational branch in Isfahan. In this research used two proportional stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Data were collected using semi-structured interview and researcher-made questionnaire. The interview questions' validity and the questionnaire were confirmed using content validity, and the reliability of the questionnaire questions was confirmed using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.79≤ α ≤0.89). The qualitative findings were analyzed via the content analysis technique and the quantitative findings via SPSS 23 software. The results showed that the teachers assessed the content of the curriculum, facilities and equipment and the characteristics of the inputs as undesirable and the teachers’ characteristics and abilities as moderate. There was also a significant difference between the views of students and graduates in terms of inputs. The general conclusion is that the inputs in the curriculum of the tour guide in the technical-vocational branch regarding teachers’ characteristics and abilities are moderately outcome-based and in other components are not outcome- based.

The goal of professional development centers is to enhance the skills and knowledge of faculty members. Therefore, the professional development center offers a range of services. Purpose of this article was to study activities of the professional development center in the top world's universities.

The Brady model used in this comparative study. Fifteen world top universities, based on the Shanghai ranking, was selected by targeted sampling method on five continents of the world, and studied the activities and services in professional development centers. In this method, the needed information for the research is collected by using existing documents and then, they were categorized into separate categories and analyzed and compared.

In addition to workshops and seminars, the most important activities and services of professional development centers in selected universities are studying and researching in teaching and learning, teaching grant, teaching awards , evaluation of teaching, materials and educational environment

Although the services provided by the centers of professional development are different, depending on the conditions and facilities of the universities , But by studying the centers of the top universities, it is possible to achieve common points and use their successful experience.

The purpose of the present study, Identify effective actions of curriculum stakeholders in higher education (educational policy makers, university managers, professors and students) and offered a Model for this purpose. This research is applied and mixed in terms of purpose,thus,in the first part, the method of themic analysis was used,and in the second part, the descriptive-survey method was used. The statistical area of the research in the qualitative section includes experienced curriculum and subject specialists who have conducted research in this field using the purposeful sampling method, and the quantitative section is made up of curriculum specialists across the country. Which were selected by available sampling method. The number of interviewees was 13, and their number was determined according to data saturation, and in the quantitative part, the number of samples was 83, which was estamated using Cochran’s formula. The data collection tool is a semi-structured interview that was conducted over the phone and a researcher’s questionnaire that was prepared electronically and its link was provided to the practicipants. The validity of the interviws and the questionnaire was determined by the content validity method and the reliability of the questionnaire was determined whith Cronbach’s alpha(0.82). Data analysis in the qualitative part of interpretivism paradigm and in the quantitative part (descriptive statistics, Bartlett test, KMO, chi square, t-test, EFA and CFA  has taken. After analyzig the data in the qualitative section and extracting the effective actions of curriculum stakeholders, 12 items ewre identified in the field of pilicy makers, 11 items in university administrators, 9 items in professors and 9 items in students. In addition, the analysis of quantitative data led to the presentation of a factor analysis model that has a good fit(Rmsea=0/82). From this sstudy, it can be concluded that most measures should be taken in order to create justice and equality in access to technology and increase media literacy.

Internship is an important approach in connecting the theoretical world of the university and the practical world of students to complete their knowledge and skills. The purpose of the research is to investigate the Obstacles and challenges for the Implementation of Internship in undergraduate psychology.

This study adopted a mixed approach. In the qualitative section, interviews were conducted with 28 experts, faculty members, psychologists and graduate students who were selected using a purposive random sampling method. The statistical population of the quantitative section of this study was 5th-8th grade students in 2017-2018 and graduates of 2014-2017 in psychology, 150 of them were selected by stratified random sampling method. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and researcher-made questionnaires. Content validity was used to determine the validity of the interview and the questionnaire, and to determine the reliability of the questionnaire, Cranach’s alpha coefficient was used.

The results of a Quantitative part of the research showed that the most important obstacle in the successful implementation of internship is the lack of attention of academic authorities to the practical lessons and the lack of cooperation between universities and non-academic centers for conducting internships. Participants in the interview also emphasized on the lack of seriousness of internship and inconsistency between the university and society as the most important barrier.

Identifying the barriers and challenges of implementing internships can help design and develop appropriate programs, solve the problems, and ultimately lead to better student achievement in professional capacities.

This study seeks to provide a model for teaching media literacy for teachers. This research was conducted qualitatively with the data method of the foundation. To collect the data, 28 semi-structured interviews were conducted with communication science specialists, educational sciences and media activists. To this aim, the purposeful sampling continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. The data obtained from interviews were analyzed based on data theory coding. The results showed that due to job requirements, social developments and media risks (causal factors), media literacy in the dimensions of knowledge, attitude and skills (pivotal phenomenon) should be provided to teachers in the form of primary and secondary education (strategies). Policymaking, program development, and funding (platforms) along with motivational factors, teacher competence, content, and equipment (intervening factors) affect program success and have individual, occupational, and social consequences. The developed model could facilitate planning for teacher literacy education in Farhangian University and education in the form of a scientific framework.

The purpose of this study is to develop framework for the media literacy curriculum at Farhangian University. This research was conducted with a qualitative approach through interviews with 28 experts in three groups: communication science specialists, educational sciences and media literacy activists. Sampling was performed purposefully. Content validity was used to determine the validity of the interview and the data were analyzed by categorization method. According to experts, the goals of the media literacy curriculum include media studies, media management, critique and analysis skills, user ethics and media use. Content also includes concepts and generalities, media techniques, message critique, consumption pattern modification, ethics, and media usage. For this purpose, explanatory, problem-oriented, participatory-oriented, critical and workshop methods should be used for teaching, and observational, functional, project, test, self-assessment and self-evaluation methods should be used. The obtained framework can be the basis for designing a media literacy curriculum at Farhangian University.

The present study aimed to develop and validate the evaluation of a course scale for humanity courses for universities. In the present study, an exploratory mixed-methods approach was used. The qualitative case study method was used in the qualitative part of the study. The research population included curriculum experts in the field of evaluation. The data was collected through a semi-structured interview, which was conducted with 20 people using the purposeful sampling approach and focal person's method. The thematic analysis method was employed in the qualitative section to analyze the data. A descriptive survey method was used in the quantitative section of the study. The statistical population, including 360 people, was a small part of university undergraduate students selected through the multi-stage cluster sampling method. In the quantitative part, confirmatory factor analysis was employed to analyze the data. The findings of the qualitative section indicated that the evaluation of a course scale consists of seven main categories, including goals (with ten components), content (with 12 components), teaching-learning methods (with 14 components), evaluation (with ten components), teaching and learning activities (with ten components), learning environment (with nine components), and time (with eight components). The quantitative section also revealed that based on the results of the Second Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the category and related items correctly measure the evaluation of a course model. To sum up, it can be stated that the scale designed in seven main categories and 73 components is a valid and reliable scale for evaluating humanities courses in universities, which can be the basis for policy-making and revision in the curriculum of courses and evaluation of courses by Students.

The purpose of this study was to identify the essential components of employability of civil engineering graduates, which is applied in terms of purpose and field type in terms of data collection, and according to purpose of the research, a qualitative phenomenological method has been used. The statistical population includes professional civil engineers under the title of employers in field of civil engineering and the method of targeted sampling by snowball method has been used to collect samples of 20 people. The interview data collection method was semi-structured and categorization was used to analyze the findings. The method of validating the interview data was of internal validity type. The results showed that according to civil engineering employers, the most important components of employability in the field of civil engineering included 6 components, which are theoretical and specialized knowledge, interdisciplinary knowledge, practical and technical knowledge, , job skills and engineering insight.

The present study is aimed towards identification the indices of desirable Training time in regard with the Humanity Courses for universities and the extent to which these indices are attention. In the present study, exploratory mixed-methods research was used. In the quantitative section, Phenomenology method and in the quantitative section, a descriptive-survey method was employed. For the qualitative section, we underwent quasi-structured interviews with 20 distinguished and qualified experts and faculty members of universities having their expertise in curriculum and Training time. Also, 360 of the students of universities comprised the quantitative statistical population. This number of participants was selected using multistage cluster sampling method. To examine the reliability of interview questions and questionnaires, we recruited formal and content reliability. And, we used Cronbach's alpha coefficients to evaluate the validity of our questionnaires. We also employed in the qualitative part, Content analysis method was opened and in the quantitative part, T-sample and Manova tests to wage on analyzing the data. The results indicated that the Eight indicators including the appropriateness of class time with the volume of teaching activities, the appropriateness of theoretical and practical unit time, the reasonableness of the time allotted for homework, the appropriateness of course presentation time with the length of the semester, the possibility of communicating with the teacher at announced times Giving students enough time to reflect on the topics of the lesson and the appropriateness of the time allotted for solving the problems of the lesson from the point of view of the interviewees were the most important indicators of the teaching time The quantitative findings also indicated that the range and degree of attention and corresponding to the indices Training time seem to be less than desirable. Therefore, it necessarily requires far more significant attention.

The importance of professional competencies as a developer in higher education continuous review and evaluation according to the existing conditions and needs of individuals. Lack of attention to this issue in the higher education system of Iran handicrafts and also the application of a fixed curriculum with the same approach since 1987, caused the present study to address this issue with the aim of identifying the professional competencies required by graduates of handicrafts. The research questions are also as followed: What are the professional competencies required for the bachelor course in handicrafts from the point of view of experts? What is the validity and priority of the identified competencies from the experts’ point of view? Addressing the educational system, expressing the domains and boundaries of knowledge and skills, as well as identifying competencies determine the general boundaries, perspective and educational approach of each discipline. It can be inferred that a large part of the development of Iran handicrafts is the responsibility of graduates of this field in higher education. Therefore, it is necessary to review and evaluate a set of professional competencies required by graduates of this field in order to properly cultivate it and present it as a solution in the development of handicrafts. When competencies are applied in a specialty and professional context, conditions arise that distinguish competencies from other disciplines. In other words, quality and competence in each profession has its own definition that distinguishes a profession from another and shapes its essence and nature. This characteristic, which gives rise to specific knowledge, skills and attitudes in a particular ground, field, job and organization, can be interpreted as professional competence. The present study is applied in terms of developmental aim and was carried out by exploratory mixed method. In this type of research, qualitative data is more important and in the data collection sequence, first qualitative data and then quantitative data are collected. For this purpose, in the first step of the research, using the qualitative method of interviews and their analysis by the method of content analysis, the required professional competencies were identified; then, using the Delphi method and quantitative binomial tests and the mean of the answers, as well as using the tools of a researcher-made questionnaire, validation and prioritization of competencies were performed. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews and virtual offline and online, which was the most important tool used in the interview form. The statistical population of the research consists of members of the faculty of handicrafts of Iranian universities. Theoretical sampling method was used to select the participants, the two main features of which are purposefulness and theoretical saturation. The sampling and interviewing process continued until theoretical saturation of the data was achieved. Thus, after interviewing 24 experts, data saturation was obtained and sampling and interviewing were stopped. Text content analysis method was used to analyze the interviews. After implementing the interviews in MAXQDA software and re-adapting them to the interview text, the analysis operation began. In performing the content analysis of the text, in order to access the themes and categories, it is necessary to use a meaningful and encryptable unit. In the present study, the “theme” recording unit was considered. Selecting the appropriate sections of the interview sentences, considering the common theme between them, led to the extraction of the initial themes of the research. The initial themes were then placed in a conceptual network of common meanings, ideas, and sentences, and sub-themes (competency components) were derived from them. The main themes (competency dimensions), which are the most abstract part of the content analysis, were expressed in a few words. The selected words in this section are comprehensive in that they express all the current conceptual dimensions in the sub-themes. Then, in order to validate and prioritize the identified competencies, Delphi method was used. The researcher-made questionnaire was based on the main topics of the research, with a five-point Likert scale. Twenty scientific experts (interviewees) answered the questions and agreed with each of the competency dimensions on a scale from very high to very low. In order to validate the binomial test and to prioritize the indicators, the mean of the answers was used. It should be noted that the questionnaire related to accreditation and prioritization has content validity due to the fact that it has been completed by experts. On the other hand, in preparing and constructing the questionnaire, the designer is not able to provide a specific orientation and all the criteria and components are evaluated and therefore there is no need to measure reliability. The research findings, in other words, the professional competencies of handicraft graduates was obtained in three areas of knowledge, skills and attitude. In general, most of the theories that were proposed, consider these three as important areas of competency, and it is from the combination of these cases that competencies become operational. In the field of knowledge, competencies such as “environmental knowledge and concepts of sustainable development”, “understanding the current social and cultural conditions”, “improving product quality and branding”, “linking theoretical and practical knowledge”, “aesthetics”, “safety and professional health” were obtained from experts’ views; in the field of skills: “communication skills”, “communication with the market and product sales”, “customer orientation”, “entrepreneurship and teamwork”, “presentation and display of works”, “knowledge of digital technologies”, “professional abilities” were obtained from experts views; and in the field of attitude: “Belief in the cultural development of the country”, “promotion of professional life” were obtained from the experts’ views. In continue, the result of the binomial test was significant for all dimensions of competencies (p <0.05) and all the indicators were approved and according to the mean of the answers, their priority was determined. It can be inferred that what has been achieved in this research has a good generality in relation to various fields of handicrafts in line with the development of education in this field. Paying attention to the promotion of handicrafts competencies in the fields of knowledge, skills and attitudes, various aspects of which were explained in this research, can lead to appropriate achievements. This modification will be effective in the development and expansion of specialized and interdisciplinary knowledge of handicrafts, promotion of technical and essential skills, change of attitudes and professional values, promotion of the position of learned knowledge in society and in other words in eliminating many professional needs of the graduates of this field and ultimately the growth of the country’s handicrafts. Accordingly, it is suggested that the acquired competencies for their operational application be studied in more detail. In other words, it is necessary to study the practical aspects of each of these indicators from the perspective of curriculum components (purpose, content, teaching methods, evaluation) and to be considered in the curriculum of this field. In general, after the research that is done on the competencies, it is necessary to pay attention to its additional dimensions and examine its specialized and operational areas in the curriculum of the field in detail.

Given that the use of the dimensions of a situation is very effective in the growth and formation of ideas, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the views of religious and educational experts, and teachers' lived experiences about the role of religious education situations in second elementary school. The approach of the present study is qualitative and phenomenological. To this end, we have used semi-structured interviews with experts and teachers. The data were analyzed using coding and categorization methods. Cognitive and emotional in situations, and the attractiveness and development of situations. Based on teachers' experiences, dimensions of the situation that should be used in the implementation of religious education curriculum are divided into eight categories: Disruptive situations of habits and natural order, stimulating situations of emotions and feelings, stimulating situations of thought and reason, collective situations and activities, informal situations, time of moral issues and challenges, occurrence of natural phenomena, places and historical monuments.

The field of civil engineering is one of the most popular fields today, the graduates of which have many responsibilities in the construction and development of the country, and therefore it is necessary to consider the curriculum of the field leading to the results. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study was to identify the desired results of the undergraduate curriculum in the field of civil engineering and to evaluate the current status of the undergraduate curriculum in the field of results.

 

The results of the civil engineering curriculum at three levels of product, output and outcome have been examined. The results showed that the results of the curriculum at the product level include mastery of basic knowledge, principles and foundations of civil engineering, ability to design, monitor and Execution of construction projects, ability to analyze engineering, Ability to work with applications in the field of civil engineering and development of innovation and entrepreneurship skills at the output level are: finding a job related to the field of study, employers' satisfaction and tendency to continue education and later The consequences are: improving the quality of public life and social welfare, managing energy consumption, managing and controlling man-made disasters and natural disasters, sustainable development, and creating peace and security. According to the graduates, the results of the civil engineering curriculum in the field of familiarity with the knowledge of the principles and foundations of civil engineering, the ability to analyze engineering and create engineering views and attitudes at the intermediate level and in other areas are lower than the average level. The results of the civil engineering curriculum in all three levels of product, output and outcome are far from the desired situation

Thesis and dissertation is one of the most important components of the higher education system and its accurate implementation leads to the increase and development of scientific production in any country. The doctoral dissertation can be examined from various aspects, one of which is to pay attention to the guidance approach and do it. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the approaches to doctoral dissertation guidance and its study among students in the current and favorable situation at the University of Isfahan, as one of the parent universities in Iran. The research method is hybrid and exploratory. In the qualitative section, research data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 27 managers, deputies and faculty members. In the quantitative part of the researcher-made questionnaire, among 97 PhD students who are writing their dissertations, it was administered in three educational groups: humanities, technical-engineering and basic sciences. The sampling method is targeted in the qualitative part and in the quantitative part the stratified random method proportional to the volume is used. The validity of the research tool was assessed with the opinion of experts and CVR validity analysis was performed. Findings showed that in dissertation guidance, there are a total of two individual and group approaches, each of which is implemented in three ways. Individual approaches: 1- Student with a supervisor and consultant; 2- Student with more than one supervisor and consultant; 3- Forming the dissertation committee. Group approaches also include: 1- Research groups including: research group of two or more professors and research clusters; 2- Research laboratory; 3- Master-centered research pyramid and research pyramid of the educational group. Analysis of the results in the quantitative section showed that the individual approach is more widely used and is also favored by students. The biggest difference between the current and favorable situation regarding membership in pyramid research groups, which indicates the tendencies of students towards the group approach. The results of analysis of variance and post hoc tests also show a significant difference between the humanities and engineering groups with the basic sciences in terms of individual approaches to the current and desired situation. One of the research suggestions is to provide the necessary infrastructure by university officials to apply group approaches in universities.

This paper aimed to evaluate a project entitled “Enhancing Knowledge and Skills of Mathematics Teachers in Developing Mathematics Textbooks Content.” The research was fulfilled through a design-based research method, in which mathematics teachers and curriculum developers collaborated in groups to develop a mathematics course pack. The statistical population of this study was 284 official mathematics teachers of the Secondary schools of Isfahan. Among them, 21 teachers were selected in a targeted sampling method, criterion-based type, to participate in content development workshops. The produced content for the student and the teacher's guide was evaluated by two researcher-made questionnaires. The validity of the instruments was confirmed by three experts and their reliability was obtained based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.89 and 0.79, respectively. The findings revealed that the teachers’ knowledge of the curriculum content was enhanced, and their beliefs about the role of teachers in curriculum development have been changed

Undoubtedly, research can play an important role in the development and growth of societies. Today, such criteria as the number of research workers, the number of publications in scholarly journals, and research budget are applied for assessing the development of any society. Thus producing well educated and skilled researchers is an important characteristic of any successful higher education system. Consequently, research methods are taught at all levels of higher education and across a wide range of disciplinary fields. Despite the importance of teaching research methods, however, the literature on education and curriculum elements of research methods courses is not extensive and there is a need for more scientific works on the pedagogy of research methods. This study, therefore, was an attempt to evaluate curriculum elements of research methods graduate courses in the field of psychology at the top universities of the world. In line with this, the goals, contents, teaching methods, learning activities and assessment methods of the research methods syllabuses in Psychology at top universities of the world were examined. A qualitative approach and a content analysis method was used in order to conduct this study. Data was collected from several syllabuses of research methods graduate courses at the world's top universities. Accordingly, purposive sampling was used to select 13 universities from among 200 top universities of the world. The syllabuses of the most recent courses of research methods in the field of psychology were then obtained from the universities' websites. Then, five main curriculum elements of the syllabuses were evaluated, namely curriculums' goals, contents, teaching methods, learning activities, and assessment methods. Based on the findings, the primary goals of teaching research methods at the selected universities in their order of importance were teaching students how to design and conduct research in psychology, making students familiar with various scientific research methods to understand psychological phenomena, enhancing students' critical thinking and search skills, and making students study scientific research in Psychology. As with content, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were considered in the relevant syllabuses. Considering the content of quantitative research methods, the syllabuses focused on such elements as qualitative research questions and hypotheses, design, variables, methods, measures and measurement, sampling, data collection and analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics, interpretation of results and research report writing. The most frequently discussed types of research designs were experimental and quasi-experimental designs, including repeated measures, interactions, and factorial design, two-group and multi-group designs, within-group designs, regression design, correlational design, and survey design. With regard to the content of the qualitative research methods, the specified syllabuses had focused on epistemological foundations and applications of qualitative methods, different types of qualitative research methods, and qualitative research questions,sampling, instruments, data collection and analysis, and research report writing. The most frequently discussed types of qualitative methods were phenomenology, ethnography, thematic analysis, grounded theory, and narrative inquiry. Furthermore, in presenting both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research, the syllabuses focused on the same subjects as various research methods in psychology, the nature of science, the philosophical foundations of research, research ethics, and reading of psychological research reports. The selected universities used a combination of various teaching methods for presenting the relevant subject matters. Most of the selected universities used lecturing, problem-based, project-based, and lecture-based methods and students were highly encouraged to actively participate in classroom discussions. Moreover, the related curriculums involved such learning activities as writing research proposal, carrying out both individual and group research projects, writing a scientific article using APA style, reviewing literature, participating in psychological studies, critically thinking about the way scientific information is presented in public media, carrying out weekly assignments, and doing practices. Although the specified syllabuses focused on different methods of assessment, the most common methods of evaluation were done based on the assignments give during the semester and written exams. The results of these studies revealed that both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research should be considered in teaching the research methods course, as this is the case at top universities in the world. Furthermore, curriculum developers need to pay more attention to such subject matters as philosophical and theoretical foundations of research and research ethics when designing research methods curriculums. In addition, research methods syllabuses should pay more attention to the improvement of students' scientific writing skills. Moreover, active learning activities are required to make students involved in real world experiences. Finally, process-oriented and performance-based assessments should replace merely memory-based assessments.

The world of the future will coincide with dramatic and unprecedented developments in the fields of science, technology and information transmission. Living in such a world creates a large gap between the emerging generation of learners called the "Generation Alpha" and previous generations, making conventional learning methods inefficient. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of the emerging generation of learners and design appropriate teaching and learning strategies in elementary education. This research is based on the qualitative meta- analysis method using conventional content analysis by Atlas.ti8 software. In the results section, in the first step, the characteristics of the generation alpha were identified and explained through nine categories. In the second step, concepts and propositions related to teaching and learning were inferred in the form of seven categories. These categories were then used to develop appropriate teaching and learning strategies for the generation alpha. The findings showed that the alphas tend to take the lead in their learning, blur the boundaries between formal and informal learning, and replace traditional one-way methods with interactive ones.