Higher Education
Z. Maher
Abstract
Education field experts believe that effects and consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic on education in general and on higher education in particular are not only less than the other social institutions, but are much more comprehensive. In this study, an attempt is being made to represent lived experiences ...
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Education field experts believe that effects and consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic on education in general and on higher education in particular are not only less than the other social institutions, but are much more comprehensive. In this study, an attempt is being made to represent lived experiences and perceptions of students and teachers in the virtual education system. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to assess the same among professors and students of the University of Isfahan during the Covid-19 pandemic in order to identify the most important challenges of this type of education in universities and by relying on the findings of the study, effective solutions and approaches are presented for improving virtual education in universities. In the course of study, “phenomenology” has been used as a qualitative method whereas the research population includes all students and professors in the University of Isfahan in the academic year of 2020-2021. Total participants in the qualitative part of research were 32 people consisting of 14 professors and 18 students. Based on the purposive sampling, a mixture was selected and interviewed. The data was evaluated using Colaizzi’s seven step method (1978). Findings showed that the damages incurred by virtual education damage are: “educational damage”, “damages related to university culture”, damages related to social-economic infrastructures” and “damage from reduced sense of presence”.
Higher Education
F. Azizi; Z. Mohammadi Bolbanabad; H. Bagheri
Abstract
Conducted as a phenomenological qualitative research, the present study aims to explore the lived experiences of university professors and students with online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic. The statistical population consists of all the professors and students of the University of Kurdistan who ...
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Conducted as a phenomenological qualitative research, the present study aims to explore the lived experiences of university professors and students with online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic. The statistical population consists of all the professors and students of the University of Kurdistan who either had taught/taken online classes before the coronavirus outbreak or experienced them for the first time during the pandemic. The theoretical saturation was reached after interviewing 31 students and professors. The findings suggest that, as opposed to traditional education, online classes led to the decline and loss of various academic opportunities, functions, and roles. According to most of the students surveyed, in the absence of physical classes, interaction and dialog among and between both sides (student–student, student–professor, and professor–professor) diminished dramatically. And, they were rather replaced by a form of mechanical, one-dimensional transfer of knowledge from a “transmitter” to a “receiver,” negatively affecting the learning, creativity, productivity, and skills of students. According to the professors, the rise in online classes in Iran has changed their role from “keepers of information” to, at best, “protectors of knowledge.” Most of the professors also believed that another unwanted outcome of the spread of online education had been the loss of interaction and dialog among the university’s faculty members.
