درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Website is the first interaction tool between user and organization in every online business. The basic goal of every website is to provide information through its content. Nowadays, website content is considered to be a strategic issue for online businesses which will contribute to user attraction and retention. In this paper a soft decision making approach is taken towards the website content selection problem. To tackle this problem, a multi criteria decision making algorithm is proposed based on PROMETHEE outranking methodology. To overcome the shortening of this methodology facing the inherent uncertainty in decision problems, a new method is developed, where the characteristics of the alternatives are represented by intuitionistic fuzzy sets. Finally, a numerical example for content selection of Iranian universities’ website is given to illustrate application of the intuitionistic fuzzy PROMETHEE method. The outcome shows the effectiveness of intuitionistic fuzzy PROMETHEE in accommodating the imprecise information in comparison with fuzzy PROMETHEE and original PROMETHEE.

The main purpose of this research is to explore various countries experiences about developing blended learning system in distance education universities. Blended learning, as a third wave in developing learning environment, has become commonplace after the resident and e-learning environments in universities. The goal of this movement is improving learning qualities, extending the boundaries of education and decreasing educational costs. In this study, a qualitative approach and a comparative method were used. The qualitative method was used to understand the social contexts of distance education universities and comparative approach was applied to compare universities in terms of observable categories. Among 17 distance mega universities in the world, four universities, including Indirah Gandhi National Open University in India, Anadulu Open University in Turkey, Open University of China ( OUC) , and Alberta Open University in Canada were selected using purposeful sampling. The data collecting tool consisted of a checklist that was prepared with emphasis on 10 categories of social and cultural features of the countries including general situation of public and higher education, distance education, policies related to blended learning, learning management system, content development and presenting method, learning activities and resources, support system, interaction systems, teaching and assessment method, and evaluation system of learning quality. The required data were also collected through note taking procedure from sites of universities and related articles and books. For data collection and analysis, George Brody's four-step method ( Description, Interpretation, Proximity, and Comparison) was used . At first, required data was gathered from articles, university web sites, and interaction with informed people through note taking. Next, data were interpreted after continuous review with regard to university social and cultural contexts. In the third stage, data was organized and categorized based on similarity and differences and then were compared. Results showed that each four universities uses British open university framework in organizational structure. Each university included blending learning in their system based on their polices. Along with self-learning textual content, the universities started providing electronic content and designing learning activates with using ICT possibilities, while the Athabasca University emphasizes on individual and group learning activities. In each four universities, using educational TV as a learning aid is common place. Support services system in each university is Commensurate with social and cultural conditions. Online synchronous and asynchronous teaching is part of teaching activities in each university, but its quality is different. Learning assessment in different in four universities, but formative and summative evaluations are emphasized in all universities. Quality assurance system in Athabasca and OUC is based on PLAR, in Anadolu University based on the Bologna scheme, and in Indirah Gandhi, based on Council of Higher Education. In this research, for developing blended learning in Payame Noor University, a framework is provided at the end.

Social media is an interactive technology, that came into reality out of fun for  interaction,  but it has advanced towards a powerful tool for instruction globally. However, despite its use and relevance, the utilization and  its self-efficacy to learning have not been significantly be aware of. Therefore, this study investigate social media in the context of area of study for learning and its self-efficacy. Descriptive research of cross-sectional survey method and purposive sampling was used to sample 2,458 postgraduate students across the universities in South-west, Nigeria.  Through administering the instrument of study questionnaire. The findings revealed that there were no significant differences between postgraduate students to use social media for learning based on their area of study  t(2,2456)=5.93;p>0.05. Self-Efficacy, t(2,2454)=0.56;p>0.57. The study concluded that postgraduate students’ have positive perception towards social media. It was however recommended that the use of social media should be encouraged in facilitating learning.

The present study aims at investigating the efficacy of blended learning in distance education on educational performance of 7th grade secondary school students in the lesson of art in Gonabad city. The research method is quasi experimental with post-test, pre-test and control group design. The statistical population consists of all female students in the 7th grad secondary school in Gonabad city who were studying in the academic year of 2016-2017. The research sample was 58 participants selected through available sampling and assigned into two experimental and control groups who were homogeneous based on educational achievement. The experimental group was given instruction based on blended learning system and the control group was under traditional teaching style. The pre-test of educational performance of the lesson of art was performed on both experimental and control groups and after 12 instruction sessions in blended learning to experimental group, the post-test of educational performance in art was administered among both groups. The results were analyzed using Covariance Analysis in SPSS software. The findings indicated that the educational performance of experimental group in Iranian painting, designing applicable objects based on fruit and flower patterns, new ideas and new pattern of objects, and educational performance in regular design textures have been enhanced and there was a significant difference between educational performance of experimental and control groups in art lessons with a higher achievement of experimental group.