Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Ph.D. Student, Department of Educational Management, Kish International Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kish Island, Iran.
2 Faculty member, Department of Educational Management, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 Faculty member, Department of Management, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran-Iran.
4 Faculty member, Department of Educational Management, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Purpose: The increasing demand for remote education programs has turned the concern of their quality into one of the most important issues and has made it necessary to pay attention to the quality of these educations. The aim of the research was to identify the dimensions and components of increasing the quality of educational services in the virtual education system of the Islamic Azad University of Bushehr province.
Method: The qualitative research method was thematic analysis. In order to collect and compile data, in the first phase of the document review method (library method) and in the second phase, a semi-structured interview tool was used with 10 experienced professors. The sampling method was targeted and accessible. In the qualitative phase, data analysis was done using MAXQDA 2020 and Excel 2019 software.
Findings: The findings showed that process requirements include interacting with other virtual training groups, dedicating more hours of online training, etc.; Aesthetic requirements include technological factors and online restriction reduction capabilities; The content requirements include two components of the electronic learning management system and appropriate course content; The requirements of external organizational participation include the infrastructure component of the virtual education system, the quality of the service delivery system; process requirements including the quality of behavior of virtual education supervisors and the application of virtual education standards; Educational requirements include index of continuous discussion groups, simultaneous audio and video interaction.
Conclusion: Strengthening and implementing quality educational services in the virtual education system of the Islamic Azad University of Bushehr province can help universities in various fields of study and learning processes.
Dimensions and Components Increasing the Quality of Educational Services in Virtual Educational System of Boushehr Islamic Azad University
Introduction: Universities are considered important educational, research and social service organizations in every society and as well their purpose is to cultivate expert human resources to meet the needs of the society; so, todays, quality in higher education is very vital.
Students are the main customers of the higher educational system and their views can play a significant role in improving the quality of services. For this reason, determining the amount of difference between the current and expected situation from the perspective of students provides the basis for developing programs to improve the quality of educational services which is considered as one of the method often used in evaluating the quality of higher education and universities.
On the other hand, one of the issues that need attention is increasing the quality of educational services in the virtual education system, to what extent these principles and standards are used in practice. In order to increase the quality of educational services, several issues should be considered. Quality in higher education is a multidimensional concept that should include all functions and activities including: education, research, staff, students, facilities and equipment, services to the society and the university. Conflicting meanings of education quality have led to the use of different methods to measure quality in higher education. Over the past years, academic researchers measured service quality using unidimensional scales, while unidimensional scales have not been suitable for measuring a multidimensional concept such as quality.
It can also be said that increasing the quality of educational services is closely related to virtual education systems in universities. Virtual education was a new educational method that was done in order to provide easy and cheap access to educational resources and services for everyone at any time and in any place using technology and communication. In other words, virtual education means teaching and learning through electronic tools. Normally, the content of the training course is presented using audio, video and text transmission, which can reach its highest level by using the two-way communication between the learners and the professor. The use of more advanced equipment and facilities provides the possibility of providing information and knowledge with better and higher quality. Although virtual education has taken advantage of the World Wide Web technology, it is by no means limited to it. In the field of virtual education, in addition to web-based education, non-attendance education, distance education, self-education and computer-based education can also be proposed.
Therefore, the purpose of this research was to see dimensions and components make increasing the quality of educational services in the virtual education system of the Islamic Azad University in Bushehr province.
Materials and methods: The research method was an exploratory type of thematic analysis categorization. In order to collect and compile data, in the first phase, the document review method (library method); and in the second phase, the semi-structured interview tool were done that 10 professors in the university who taught students through online training in the last 2 years were selected and interviewed. The sampling method was targeted and accessible, too. In the qualitative phase, data analysis was done using MAXQDA 2020 and Excel 2019 software. In order to validate the final research model, after identifying the key components and designing the research model, which was done using thematic analysis method, using the thematic method of reviewing texts, and interviewing (interviewees), the initial conceptual model was calculated and returned to the interviewees. Therefore, their level of agreement with the mentioned model was evaluated and along with it, their opinions and suggestions were applied in the processing of the final model.
Results and discussion: The results showed that the dimensions of the quality of educational services in the virtual education system included 5 dimensions of process requirements, aesthetic requirements, content requirements, extra-organizational participation requirements, and educational requirements. Also, process requirements including the component of interaction with other virtual training groups, allocating more hours of online training and flexibility; on the other hand, aesthetic requirements including the component of technological factors and the ability to reduce online restrictions; content requirements including two components of the electronic learning management system and course content. Proportionately, the requirements of extra-organizational participation also included the infrastructure component of the virtual education system, the quality of the service delivery system; and finally the process requirements included the quality of behavior of the virtual education supervisors and the application of virtual education standards.
Conclusion: Furthermore, educational requirements containing index of continuous discussion groups, simultaneous audio, and video interaction; aesthetic requirements including index of attractive and easy user environment, and easy communication by computer; content requirements including index of system content quality, system interaction quality, system response quality, the quality of the technical features of the system, and the good start of online courses; the requirements of extra-organizational participation including the index of reducing internet disturbances, appropriate technical infrastructure, power outages, and bandwidth optimization; and finally, the process requirements including the index of virtual consensus among professors and students were to conduct online evaluation.
In the discussion of the research proposals, it should be stated that the quality of educational services in the virtual education system was considered one of the most important things in the present era, which gives students, academic staff members and staff the ability to have a proper analysis of online education, hence it seems very necessary to pay attention to this issue in universities. Also, virtual literacy training in universities, like other teaching-learning processes, will be successful if it is designed, implemented and evaluated based on certain principles, therefore, in media literacy training, things such as goals, content, implementation methods, teaching mechanisms, and evaluation should focus on specific angles and be organized in a way that results in desired outcomes for students, academic staff members, and staff, too.
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