Agricultural education
Reihaneh Shagholi; javad ghasemi; hosein nouri; ahmad sadeghi
Abstract
Agricultural Education Network is the educational network based on the website of the Institute of Agricultural Education and Extension, to improve the level of knowledge and job skills and professional behavior of agricultural stakeholders. The multiplicity of effective factors and variables in e-learning ...
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Agricultural Education Network is the educational network based on the website of the Institute of Agricultural Education and Extension, to improve the level of knowledge and job skills and professional behavior of agricultural stakeholders. The multiplicity of effective factors and variables in e-learning makes it necessary to pay attention to the quality of educational services in this system. Accordingly, the main purpose of this survey research was to analyzing components of service quality model of agricultural education network (SHAK) as perceived by learners. Statistical population of the study consisted of learners (N= 19310), out of whom 388 people determined as sample using Cochran's formula and stratified random sampling. Data were collected through a questionnaire; validity of questionnaire was approved by a panel of experts and construct validity (AVE≥0.96). Reliability of the questionnaire was approved by calculating the Ordinal Theta (θ≥0.93) and composite reliability (CR≥0.87). The collected data were analyzed by SPSSwin22 and LISREL software. The overall ranking of the SHAK service quality components showed that from the point of view of learners, the "educator" and "content" components were in the highest ranks and "planning and implementation" and "infrastructure - support" components were in the lowest ranks. Additionally, the results of the confirmatory factors analysis illustrated that the service quality model of the agricultural education network has six main components including: infrastructural-support, planning and implementation, content, educator, learners and results. Accordingly, it is recommended to improve the SHAK service quality through: improving the notification of courses, system upgrade, planning, adapt courses to the needs of the learners, updating the content, improving teaching skills and motivating learners.
Reihaneh Shagholi; Erfan Alimirzaei
Abstract
The main purpose of the current practical research which conducted based on a mixed research paradigm, was identifying the main educational requirements of human resources in the agricultural sector in order to improve designing both formal and informal agricultural education programs, through a demand-driven ...
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The main purpose of the current practical research which conducted based on a mixed research paradigm, was identifying the main educational requirements of human resources in the agricultural sector in order to improve designing both formal and informal agricultural education programs, through a demand-driven approach. Accordingly, 25 experts from the executive, academic and guild unions in the field of labor market and agricultural occupations were purposefully selected by snowball sampling method and studied until achieving saturation threshold. Data were collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews using a researcher-made protocol. Furthermore, the qualitative data were analyzed applying the Grounded Theory methodology by the Strauss method. Lawshe Content Validity Ratio was used to assess the consensus among experts and to evaluate the validity of qualitative findings. According to the findings, the educational needs of human resources were classified into four basic categories of professional requirements namely cognitive competencies consisting of 11 sub-categories with the priority of know how; skills competencies include 12 sub-categories with the priority of technical-specialized skills; attitudinal competencies include 7 sub-categories with the priority of professional commitment; and finally, personal characteristics consisting of 14 sub-categories with the priority of innovation. The aforementioned competency categories and the related priorities can be considered and used in order to synchronize the outputs of formal and informal agricultural education system with the actual needs of the working world as much as possible, through a systematic and holistic approach in content selection processes of agricultural education programs.
