Advanced principles for visual aesthetics in designing the contents of e-learning

Abstract Visual aesthetic is one of the major considerations in designing instructional contents. The influence of it in the process of learning leads the designers to borrow the classic and routine strategies of applying aesthetic knowledge and learners' experience in the designing phase of electronic instructional contents. The domain of knowledge in designing educational syllabi takes alignment, contrast, proximity, and repetition as the four factors of visual aesthetic into consideration. However, the current study attempts to review the other effective visual aesthetic factors in the process of educational design which are rarely ruminated. Some of these issues which are highly of interest in artistic aesthetics are symmetry, unity, center of emphasis, composition, and harmony. The ultimate goal of this paper is to persuade the instructional designers to consider the mentioned elements in designing the components of multimedia, electronic and virtual educational systems

Effectiveness of Flipped Classroom (FC) Method on the Development of English language learning of the High School Students in Ahwaz

Given its being international, English language teaching methods are very critical in non-English speaking countries. This study examined the effect of the FC method compared to traditional method on the English course of 9th grade using pre-test, post-test and follow-up. The study was done using two classes as control (39 subjects) and two classes as the experimental group (38 subjects) selected using multi-stage random cluster sampling from both male and female genders in a three-month period. The four basic communication skills - reading, writing, speaking and hearing - were examined. The results indicated that FC method developed the communication skills of the 9th grade students of Ahwaz regarding two skills of speaking and reading. Based on the research result, it is recommended to use flipped classroom method to develop students’ English learning in speaking and reading skills

Predicting Academic Achievement of the Students of Khuzestan Province Farhangian University Based on Kolb’s Learning Styles

Considering that the courses of study are different in universities, students' academic achievement, which is often measured in terms of their academic grade point average, has close relationship with the students' various learning styles. In this research, the relationship between learning styles of the students of Farhangian University of Khuzestan Province and Kolb’s learning styles was investigated and their future successes were predicted. The sample related to this research consisted of 234 people who participated in the study randomly. The measurement tool was the standard questionnaire of Kolb’s learning styles with 12 questions in the form of 4 components and with appropriate reliability (0.88) by Cronbach's alpha coefficient method. Data analysis with Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was a direct and significant relationship between students' learning style and students' academic achievement with grade point average criterion. On the other hand, using concurrent regression test, it was specified that both absorbing and divergent learning styles had the prediction capability of the academic achievement of the students of this university with the grade point average criterion

Predicting Academic Achievement of the Students of Khuzestan Province Farhangian University Based on Kolb’s Learning Styles

Considering that the courses of study are different in universities, students' academic achievement, which is often measured in terms of their academic grade point average, has close relationship with the students' various learning styles. In this research, the relationship between learning styles of the students of Farhangian University of Khuzestan Province and Kolb’s learning styles was investigated and their future successes were predicted. The sample related to this research consisted of 234 people who participated in the study randomly. The measurement tool was the standard questionnaire of Kolb’s learning styles with 12 questions in the form of 4 components and with appropriate reliability (0.88) by Cronbach's alpha coefficient method. Data analysis with Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was a direct and significant relationship between students' learning style and students' academic achievement with grade point average criterion. On the other hand, using concurrent regression test, it was specified that both absorbing and divergent learning styles had the prediction capability of the academic achievement of the students of this university with the grade point average criterion

Oral communication skills of engineering students of Pakistan in perspective of industrial internships

The purpose of this study was to determine impact of industrial internship training on oral communication skills of engineering students during this program. Fifty engineers from two engineering organizations participated in this study. Participants of this study had industrial internship training from different organizations. Purposive sampling method was used for data collection purpose. The results of the study revealed that industrial internship trainings contribute to develop oral communication skills of engineering students such as oral presentation skill, meeting skill, discussion skill, conversation skill, and project participation skill during this internship program. However, the results of this study are consistent with other literature review findings on industrial internship trainings for engineering students

Instructional design approaches, types and trends: a foundation for postmodernism instructional design

This study will examine the approaches toward instructional design that have been appliedto date. A summary of the diverse types of instructional models will be classified them into variouscategories of instructional design. The evidence from many researches and theoretical discussions showand supports the classification of these instructional design categories. This study also investigateswhich existing trends are present in current instructional models. The most recent models have beendesigned under constructivism, but some of these models are considered postmodernism philosophy.Due to these new and hidden considerations we have developed and would to suggest a new trendin this field. In addition, we mention some reasons for this new trend based on social movements. The mentioned movements have been effected by postmodern philosophy. We attempt to propose aninstructional design trend based on postmodernism orientation that named postmodern instructional design

A systematic research gap finding framework: case study of construction management

Researchers examine theories and crack the problem when they encounter issues in dealing with an area or activities. Nevertheless they refer to the journals to gain broader knowledge and updated insights of the research when they do not face a particular problem. The aim of this study was to examine reputable journals of construction management appearing in Scopus and ISI and to utilize content analysis to extract their major issues and approaches. The study introduced a systematic approach to find new issues as gaps in the field of construction management. This systematic approach can be used in other areas of study. Within this paper, current issues, the boundaries of knowledge and potential fields of study were recognized

Synthesis and investigation of thermal properties of vanadyl complexes with azo-containing Schiff-base dyes

Azo-Schiff base compounds (L1 and L2) have been synthesized from the reaction of m-hydroxy benzoic acid with 1,5-dimethyl-3-[2-(5-methyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-ethylimino]-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-ylamine and with 3-[2-(1H-indol-3-yl)-ethylimino]-1,5-dimethyl-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-ylamine. The free ligands and their complexes were characterized based on elemental analysis, determination of metal, molar conductivity, (1H, 13C) NMR, UV–vis, FT-IR, mass spectra and thermal analysis (TGA). The molar conductance data revealed that all the complexes are non-electrolytes. The study of complex formation via molar ratio in DMF solution has been investigated and results were consistent to those found in the solid complexes with a ratio of (M:L) as (1:1). Moreover, the thermodynamic activation parameters, such as ΔE∗, ΔH∗, ΔS∗, ΔG∗and K are calculated from the TGA curves using Coats–Redfern method. Hyper Chem-6 program has been used to predict the structural geometries of compounds in gas phase. The heat of formation (ΔHf°) and binding energy (ΔEb) at 298 K for the free ligands and their vanadyl complexes were calculated by PM3 method. The synthesized ligands and their metal complexes were screened for their biological activity against bacterial species, two Gram positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) and two Gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa)