Investigation of the adaptation of E-Learning system curriculum with concepts of the constructivist approach from viewpoints of Payme Noor university lecturers and Students

Subject Areas : Research in Curriculum Planning

Tayebeh Dastanpoor ¹ , Hasan Karamalian ² , Mohammad reza Sarmadi ³ , Mehran Farajolahi ⁴

1 - PhD student , Planning distance education, University of Payam Noor, Tehran, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Education , University of Payam Noor, Isfahan, Iran
3 - professor ,Department of Educational Science, Payam Noor University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
4 - professor ,Department of Educational Science, Payam Noor University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2016-12-09 Accepted : 2018-03-13 Published : 2018-02-20

Keywords: Curriculum, e-learning, PNU, Constructivism,

Abstract :

The present study is to investigate the adaptation of the e-learning system curriculum with the principles of constructivist approach from the perspectives of faculty members and undergraduate at PNU. The research method was descriptive-survey. The population consisted of 1987 faculty members and 19882 students of the PNU e-poles in academic years of 2016-2017. Based on the Cochran's sample size formula, 320 faculty members and 375 students were randomly selected using the simple random method. The data were collected using a researcher-developed questionnaire, designed to adapt the curriculum of e-learning system with the constructivist approach in four elements (goal, content, teaching-learning strategies, and evaluation). The face and content validates were measured to find the adaptation level of the e-learning system curriculum with the principles of the constructivist approach. In addition, the reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 0.86). The data were analyzed by a quantitative method using the one sample t-test and the multivariate analysis of variance. Accordting on the one sample t-test results, however, in all four elements related to the curriculum of the e-learning system, the mean of students and faculty members’ responses was less than average and pronounced as insignificant. Thus, the curriculum of the PNU e-learning system was not proposed to be adopted with the constructivist principles. In addition, the results from the multivariate analysis illustrated that there is no significant difference in all four curriculum principles between the viewpoints of the faculty members and the students at PNU.

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