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This paper presents the results of a virtual ethnographic study developed in an online classroom in a public university in Brazil. The online activities aimed to help 70 students to develop English oral skills in a 60-hour course taught along 15 weeks using the Moodle Language Management System (LMS). After the initial weeks, and some dropouts, there were 63 participants in this study. The course was planned and managed by the authors of this article and some modifications were made along the experience in face of unexpected changes in the learning environment. Having as theoretical support complexity, connectivism, and learning ecology, we assessed digital tools for oral communication and verified that they had a positive impact on language learning and increased learners’ opportunities for language practice. The tools not only contributed to the development of the students’ oral skills but also decreased their anxiety when speaking English.
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Background and Objectives: Health needs assessment can improve the quality of service delivery. The aim of This study was to compare the effect of Elearning and workshop training methods on the performance of experts.
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Data mining as a science is a search process for finding new, valuable, and unknown information among a wealth of data. This approach is among the top 10 developing knowledge that will face the next decade with a technological revolution and has been expanding rapidly in recent years. The purpose of this research is to explore learners' behavior in interactive educational environments using data mining algorithms. Exploration and extraction of meaningful relationships among different factors with the help of data mining algorithms can be used to provide solutions to improve learners' performance. The research instrument was a questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was obtained through content analysis and its reliability was measured through re-testing. The data collection discussed in this study relates to the activities and interactions of 200 active students in a university social network. After gathering information about learners' interactions, the Apriori algorithm of data mining is used to analyze the behavior of learners through the use of rules. The main goal is to facilitate the education along with obtaining the proficiency of the courses. Improved interactive content is obtained from feedback information based on the data mining techniques of the data management system. Therefore, the results of this research can help educational system managers to plan their education and optimize educational processes in the interactive environment.
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The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of problem solving training on entrepreneurship and its dimensions and problem solving in distance learning students. The research method was quasi-experimental with control and experimental groups with pre- and posttest design.The statistical population of this research included distance education students of Payam Noor University and through the available sampling, 20 of them were in the experimental group and 20 in the control group. The research tool was the Entrepreneurship Questionnaire of Kordnaich et al (2008) and the Hepner problem solving questionnaire (1982). For data analysis, Manova test and covariance analysis were used. The Research results showed that problem solving training had an impact on entrepreneurship and problem solving in experimental group students. The greatest impact of this training on entrepreneurship dimensions on the challenge dimension was 0.54 and also on the problem solving ability of students was 0.67. Because challenge is the capability of individuals to cope with daily problems and face challenges and based on the research results, problem solving training can increase this ability in students;it is recommended that problem solving instruction be developed to enhance students' skills and educated through academic and educational programs.
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The human development index is a combined index for measuring the basic dimension of life, which is to have access to required facilities to gain knowledge, taking benefit of a long-time and healthy life and achievement to standard living level. The main objective of this study is to identify the economic factors affecting the growth of academic population in open and distance universities of Iran. The method applied in this study was documentary-analytical method and time series and ordinary least square (OLS) regression model were also used. Statistical population in this study consists of 500 PNU (Payame Noor University) centers. The data of the statistical population included number of applicants of BA of academic year 2001-2014 in PNU and the reliability of independent variables was confirmed using Dickey Fuller Test. Effective variables for distance education were firstly derived using Delphi method. The results obtained from this study show that total Customer Price Index (CPI), earning per master's degree, scholarship and student loan, Gross National Production (GNP),average household income, agriculture field tuition, human science tuition and national income have had positive effect on number of PNU applicants.
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By growth of technology in the field of education, many virtual universities have been established and at a same time, using e-learning has been increased in the universities. In the present study, a mixed method was used as a methodology. In the quantitative phase it initially sought to empirically examine the students' attitudes toward e-learning in Ferdowsi university of Mashhad, virtual campus. Then, the attitudes of MA students' majoring in English translation and English teaching (English group) were compared to M.Sc. students' attitudes majoring in four engineering majors (Engineering group). A total 80 virtual students (37.5% English language group and 62.5% Engineering group) who were using e-learning and were in the last year of education participated in the study. A valid and reliable questionnaire which was adopted from Vatanparast, Royani and Ghasemi in 2009, was used to investigate students' overall attitude toward e-learning. In the qualitative phase, two open ended questions were added at the end to investigate students' views and experiences in using e-learning. According to statistics, the overall attitudes of students toward e-learning was positive and there was no significant difference between students' attitude majoring in English language and students' attitude majoring in Engineering. However, in qualitative section the students mentioned essential difficulties and gave challenging comments for more effective learning based on their experiences during these years.
