محمدرضا سرمدی

Purpose: Epistemology as one of the philosophical foundations in the field of education can play an important role in blended learning, ie using more than one method, strategy and technique for learning. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of designing and validation the epistemological model in blended learning Methodology: The present study was applied from type of qualitative-quantitative. The population of the qualitative section was the documents related to epistemology and blended learning in the years 1990 to 2020 which 80 books, 60 dissertations and 60 articles were selected by purposive sampling method and in addition, included experts in the field of philosophy of education and distance learning which based on the principle of theoretical saturation number of 10 people of them were selected by purposive sampling method. The population of the quantitative section were faculty members and doctoral students of the department of philosophy of education and distance learning of Payame Noor University in 2020-2021 years which based on Krejcie and Morgan's table number of 200 people of them were selected by stratified random sampling method with using the teacher and student ratio. The tool of the qualitative section was the recording of books, dissertations and articles and interviews with experts, and the tool of the quantitative section was a researcher-made questionnaire whose psychometric indicators were confirmed. Data were analyzed by coding method in MAXQDA software and exploratory factor analysis and one-sample t-test in SPSS software. Findings: Findings showed that the epistemological model in blended learning had 60 subcategories in 9 categories including purpose, evaluation, educational correction, content, teaching method, teacher, learner, media and cognitive presence that its model was drawn. Also, validation of model indicated that the factor load of all 6 questions related to validation of model was higher than 0.30, their validity was higher than 0.50 and their reliability was higher than 0.70. In addition, the mean of all 6 questions was higher than the hypothetical mean of the population (P<0.001). Conclusion: The findings showed that the designed model for epistemology in blended learning had good validity. Therefore, curriculum specialists and planners can use this model along with other models to improve blended learning

Purpose: The purpose of the present research is to review the effectiveness of philosophy education program for children on critical thinking and its components in elementary fourth-grader girl students. Material and method: This was a semi-experimental study with designing pretest and posttest and the control group with following-up phase. Findings: This statistical population consists of elementary fourth-grader girl students in Arak, district 2. The sample of this research consists of 50 students that were selected by convenience sampling method and divided to two control and test groups. Shabani (1999) critical thinking questionnaire was used for data collection. Discussion: The results of covariance analysis showed that execution of the philosophy education program for children improves critical thinking, recognition ability, analogizing, and judgments in children (P<0.05). Furthermore, the effectiveness of philosophy education program for children was durable in fallowing-up test.

Purpose: The objective of the present study was to validate the evaluation model of the quality of combined education in higher education based on the CIPP evaluation approach. Methodology: The present study was applied in terms of objective, and cross-sectional in terms of method and data collection. The statistical population included students of the Islamic Azad University of Tehran in 2020 and 140 students participated in this study by power analysis sampling method. A researcher-made questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale including 9 main categories, 20 sub-categories and 83 items was used for data collection. Convergent validity, divergent validity and Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT) were used to validate the questionnaire and a value greater than 0.7 was obtained from all categories. The reliability of the questionnaire was investigated using Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability and Rho coefficient and calculated greater than 0.7 in all categories. Also, the total Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was 0.891. In order to investigate the conceptual model of the research, the partial least squares and Smart PLS software version 2 have been used. Findings: The results showed that the use of appropriate evaluation methods leads to students' increasing knowledge and skills. Finally, this growth will lead to satisfaction with the quality of education, practicality and field of study. Conclusion: According to the study results, it was found that the appropriate selection of managers by increasing the capability and utility of their role will pave the way for appropriate methods of evaluation.

According to the purpose of the research, this article analyzes educational systems based on open education: challenges and opportunities in the field of learning. This method of teaching and learning is one of the new educational methods used in open university. Due to the use of electronic tools, higher education is moving away from its traditional form and moving towards distance learning and education. This research was descriptive and qualitative method was used to collect information. In this research, the researcher introduces educational systems based on open education, and the search and collection of information was done by studying documents, libraries, and searching for various written and digital sources. It was analyzed by software. The obtained results show that this education started under the name of correspondence education in the first decade of 1700 AD and has passed through five generations until today. In addition to its advantages, open education has many challenges. These challenges were summarized in eight and 80 features. Undoubtedly, in order to achieve an open and favorable higher education system, one should try to examine the challenges in this field and then by removing the limitations and turning them into opportunities, he took a big step in the direction of the higher development of open education.

Learning of students. This study, in terms of purpose, applied, and in the manner and method of implementation, is an integral part of empirical studies. In this research, a four-group Solomon design with pre-test and post-test, and control group were used. The statistical population consisted of all undergraduate students at Kermanshah Payam Noor University, who had specialized  language lessons during the semester. Among them, 60 people were selected as the statistical sample using available sampling. To test the students' learning, a researcher-made test was used. The validity of the test using the Kooder Richardson method was 82. announced. SPSS software was used to perform statistical calculations, and multivariate analysis of variance analysis was used to investigate the hypotheses of the research. The results of the data analysis showed that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups in the visual, written, audio, and oral components, but the effect of the pre-test, as well as the interaction of pretest and group is not meaningful. The results also showed that the participation of learners in training exercises, while paved the way for activating knowledge of learners' resources, helps them to associate past and future. These findings ultimately confirm the impact of multimedia education on the level of learning the student's English language vocabulary, and can be used in conjunction with other intervening methods. 

Textbooks are the most important forms of media in open and distance universities. As a result, they should have features that enable the distance learners to attain in-depth learning without the presence of an instructor. This study aims to design a comprehensive model for open and distance university textbooks through analyzing the textbook concept using the hybrid model. In the initial stage, a review of literature up to 2011 was done (119 cases) using several databases.  Then, a field study was carried out by assessing 2 textbooks from open universities of England. Finally, data collected from the two previous stages were analyzed and evaluated, using Strauss and Corbin's method, and a proper model was proposed for open and distance university textbooks.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of philosophic mindedness training on the effectiveness of students’ virtual training components. The present study was a quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of this study includes all student’s master’s degree of curriculum in Payame Noor University, south Tehran branch in 1399-1400 academic year. The sample consisted of 32 students who were selected by goal-based random sampling method and randomly assigned into two experimental (n=16) and control (n=16) groups. After conducting pre-test on both groups, the experimental group received Smith's philosophical mentality dimensions (Comprehensiveness, Penetration, Flexibility) (1956) in six sessions of sixty minutes and within six consecutive weeks by e-learning method, but the control group received no intervention. The research tool was a 34-item researcher-made questionnaire. The content validity confirmed by judgment of experts and professors, and its reliability was calculated and at an acceptable level. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance (Ancova). The results showed that there is a significant difference between the two groups of experimental and control in the effect of philosophic mindedness training on the effectiveness of virtual training. Therefore, it can be concluded that by training and enhancing the dimensions of philosophic mindedness of students of the target community, it can be increased the effectiveness of virtual training courses.