Matching Teaching/Learning Styles and Students’ Satisfaction

Part of the theoretical literature and researches conducted in the western countries especially in the USA, concerning learning styles and teaching styles, hypothesize that: a) students’ learning styles are different based on their gender, college degree, and major, b) teachers’ teaching style is consistent with their learning style, and c) matching teaching style/learning style would result in better outcomes, including student satisfaction. The major purpose of the study, reported in this paper, was to investigate these postulates about the students and the faculty members of the School ofEducation and Psychology at Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran, Iran.The Learning Style Questionnaire (Peter Honey, 2006) and The Trainer Style Questionnaire (Peter Honey, 2007), which have identical categorization for teaching/learning styles, were used to identify styles, and for identifying students’ satisfaction, Siddharthan’s questionnaire (1999) was employed. The results of the study showed that there were significant differences in the students’ learning styles, based on their gender, college degree and major. The data also revealed that instructor’s teaching styles, whether indicated by themselves—considered as ‘intended teaching style’— or by their students—considered as ‘actualized teaching style’—were consistent with their learning styles, also significant differences were found in teaching styles of the instructors, based on gender and no differences based on academic discipline. The results also indicated that students whoselearning styles were congruent with the instructor’s teaching style were more satisfied than those who did not enjoy this congruity

Assessing professional qualifications of primary school teachers

The purpose of this research was to study elementary teachers’ professional competence. The research method was descriptive-correlation with emphasis to structural equation. The population of this research was consisted of elementary teachers(160persons) that based on the morgans table the samples was 113 persons which were selected at random and stratified. a standard questionnaire (which title evaluation of teachers’ professional competence was used to collected the data with %87 Cronbach’s alpha. its face and content validity confirmed with the professors’ comments. The data analyze done with spss software and factor analysis. The results showed that the overall average of the 11 criteria (4.38) was higher than the average and teachers had relatively good professional competence. and all the criteria presented with scores higher than the overall average of 3 are the criteria of their professional competence.and the two factors of activity for professional development (with an average of 7.73) and educational designing and planning (with an average of 7.26) are the most important and effective Factors and 2 factors of measuring and communicating with learning outcomes (with an average of 4.39) and participation in administrative and managerial affairs (with an average of 4.35) have been the least important factors in the professional competence of teachers.Keywords: professional qualifications; primary school teacher

Designing a Competency Model to select the senior managers in the Ministry of Education: Qualitative Approach

Present study aimed to identify the main components of competency of senior managers in the Ministry of Education to introduce a desirable competency model at the request of Ministry of Education of Iran. This study is applied research due to the purpose, Descriptive-Exploratory Research due to the method of data collection and Qualitative Research due to the implementation method. Statistical population in present study were included all organizational experts and university professors who have worked in the field of managerial competencies. Purposeful sampling method was used for sampling the statistical population. Research tool was semi-structured interview and the analysis method was thematic analysis. The Research performed in field of competency and conducting semi-structured interviews with 16 experts in this field showed that 15 competencies were approved for senior education managers. 15 important competencies were identified and categorized in orientation-three axes of task, cognitive and interactive. The first identified dimension, task orientation and importance including 6 competencies, interactive orientation in 5 competencies and cognitive orientation in 4 competencies were summarized and categorized. Proposed final model can be used in the competency-based human resource management system, in the Ministry of Education for training, employment, performance appraisal and assessment centers

Strategic Analysis of International Scientific Collaboration of Iranian Top Universities from their Faculty perspective, Using FBWM

Background and Objective: Asymmetric distribution of knowledge and technology in globalization era, and the necessity of global interactions for universities have led them to enter into international scientific collaboration (ISC) and strategic evaluation of status quo is required for effective participation in it. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the ISC of top Iranian universities using SWOT analysis. Materials and Methods: This was an applied descriptive survey. 432 faculty members of the top 12 universities were selected through a stratified sampling. The data-collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose content validity was confirmed by experts and counterparts and its reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha equal to 0.816. Data analyzed through Fuzzy BWM. Result: The most important strengths included increasing presence of researchers at international conferences, and the existence of suitable international development platforms in universities; weaknesses included inadequacy of faculty annual grants, and university administrators' lack of knowledge about ISC; opportunities included the youthfulness of Iran's population, the lifting of some sanctions against Iran and international community's new appetence to acceptance of Iran in international academic consortia and finally important threats included the economic downturn in most countries; lack of political platform for ISC and the spread of Islam and Iran phobia around the world. Conclusion: International Scientific Collaboration is required for meeting many objectives of the Iran development plans, and is strongly influenced by the specific cultural, political, religious and international conditions of Iran. Top universities must meet the international academic standards and audit the requirements of international community

A model for the quality analysis of Iranian State Universities on the basis of current quality models(systematic approach)

Regarding educational and research missions and aims of universities for professional development require a comprehensive planning and quality management. In spite of many efforts which have been made in this regard, various shortcomings can be seen from quality perspective. In this research: first, the researchers’ aims are compared with current quality management standards in the state universities (universities affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology). These are approved international standards and current quality models recommended by international standard organization. Second, a model for the development of standard and quality management of universities affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology is proposed. This model should be approved by Industrial Research and Standard Institute and Iranian Education Evaluation Organization. The results should be and published as a national standard for quality management of state universities of Iran