Identifying and Ranking Virtual Learning Pathology in the Shad Network and its Relationship with Educational Quality

To ensure the continuity of education during closures and quarantines, various methods such as television education through the Education Network and content production by teachers were offered on social networks. However, to organize virtual education, the Ministry of Education designed and implemented the Student Educational Network Application (Shad), where, similar to the real structure of a school, the student enters a class and follow the educational process. In this system, monitoring virtual classes and students' attendance is the responsibility of the school principal and administrative staff. Teachers have the opportunity to use the online content available in this system, created by educational groups and course secretariats, alongside their teaching duties.

The present research was practical in purpose and exploratory in sequential asynchronous method. The statistical population in the qualitative part included all primary school teachers who were studying and had experience in virtual teaching with the Shad program. The statistical population in the quantitative part included all primary school teachers in Sistan and Baluchestan province, amounting to 14,230 individuals. Based on purposive sampling, 40 primary school teachers with experience were selected for the qualitative part based on theoretical saturation. The sample size in the quantitative section, according to the Krejcie Morgan table, was 374 individuals, who were selected using simple random sampling. A total of 219 questionnaires were collected. In the qualitative part, a semi-structured interview was used, and in the quantitative part, the Shad Network Virtual Education Questionnaire (taken from the analysis of interviews) and the educational quality questionnaire of Mousavi et al. (2016) were used to collect data. For data analysis in the qualitative part, Corbin and Strauss coding method (1998) was used. Descriptive analysis, Friedman test, and correlation coefficient were used for data analysis in the quantitative part. Calculations were performed using SPSS23 software.

Based on the interviews conducted, three Pathology were identified for the structural factor (including: technical performance, design and aesthetics, teaching capability). From the teachers' points of view, among the factors, the technical performance factor with an average of 2.45 and a rank average of 3.30 was the first priority, and the design and appearance factor with an average of 2.19 and a rank average of 1.97 was the last priority. Two types of Pathology were identified for the behavioral factor (including: supra-individual and individual). From the teachers' perspectives, among the factors, the supra-individual factor with an average of 2.69 and a rank average of 3.64 was the first priority, and the individual factor with an average of 2.55 and a rank average of 3.43 was the last priority. Two types of Pathology were identified for the contextual factor (including: economic and social). From the teachers' perspectives, among the factors, the social factor with an average of 2.42 and a rank average of 3.80 was the first priority, and the economic factor with an average of 2.12 and a rank average of 3.33 was the last priority. Furthermore, there was a significant negative relationship between the identified Pathology and educational quality.

According to the findings, which showed that the most damages were in the structural part of the Shad network, and there was a negative relationship between these damages and the quality of education, it is recommended to the creators of this network to take measures such as increasing the volume and speed of downloads in order to fix the structural problems and content, make the user environment more attractive and increase information security. It is also recommended to education managers to provide electronic education facilities in all schools and to hold educational workshops to develop and empower teachers in using education networks.