اسماعیل جعفری

The present research was conducted with the aim of measuring the effectiveness of face to face and virtual in-service training of elementary school teachers in Birjand city based on the Kirkpatrick model and comparing them. The current research method is a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test type. The statistical population of this research includes all primary school teachers of Birjand city who have participated in in-service and virtual courses in the academic year 2023-2024. Using available sampling, 45 teachers participating in face-to-face courses and 45 teachers participating in virtual courses were selected. In the first level, i.e. reaction, participants' opinions were collected in two stages (the beginning of the courses and the end of the courses). The tool used at this level was a researcher-made questionnaire. The second level, i.e. learning, was conducted using a researcher-made test of 19 questions and was performed as a pre-test and post-test. In the third level, i.e. behavior, data was collected 5 months after the end of the courses using the teachers' self-evaluation form and the teachers' evaluation form by their managers. The results of the inter-subject effects test to compare the reaction level components in the post-test stage and the f value obtained for all components are significant at the alpha level of 0.05. The F value obtained in the results of covariance analysis for comparing learning scores in the post-test stage is 26.563. The value of the t statistic and the value of the significance level for comparing the scores of the behavior level show that there is no difference in the variance between the two groups of face-to-face and virtual education The findings of the research show that face-to-face and virtual in-service courses are effective in the levels of reaction, learning and behavior, and there is a significant difference between the effectiveness of face-to-face and virtual courses; So that the obtained averages show that face-to-face training can have a significant effect compared to virtual training in these three levels.

Purpose: Examining the factors affecting the social role of the higher education system can help in its improvement. Thus, this research aimed to identify and rate the factors affecting the social role of the academic system based on interpretive structural equations. Methodology: Regarding aim, this study was of applied type and considering method of implementation, it was cross-sectional. The research population consisted of the qualitative section of documents and texts related to the research and experts of this field. Fifty documents and texts were chosen via purposive sampling method, and 10 experts were selected via purposive sampling method as the sample. The data were collected through taking notes from the documents and texts as well as surveying experts about a researcher-made questionnaire, and analyzed further via interpretive structural equations method in PLS software. Findings: The results indicated that the factors affecting the social role of the higher education system include 11 factors including making the academic curricula challenging, promoting social participation forms, preparing students for public jobs, active civic curriculum, training and learning social responsibility, research-orientedness, social projects, training qualified individuals, attention to the views of social beneficiaries in the academic system, and training social sensitivity. The results of interpretive structural equations indicated that the factor of promoting social participation problem claimed the first rank, followed by research-orientedness and training qualified individuals at the second level, training and learning social responsibility at the third level, factors of making academic curricula challenging and preparing students for public jobs at the fourth level, factors of active civic curriculum factors, attention to the views of social beneficiaries in the academic system and training social sensitivity at the fifth level, factor of developing eligible citizens at the sixth level, and factor of social projects at the seventh level. Based on that, the interpretive structural model of factors affecting the social role of the academic system was designed. Conclusion: Based on the present study results, planners and experts of higher education can benefit from the present study results, and use the identified factors affecting the social role of the academic system for improving the status of university and acquiring competitive advantage.