Universities assess their academic learning environment to improve students' learning. Students' experience in e-learning environment is different from faceto-face educational environment. So, in this study a specific valid and reliable instrument was devised for assessing perception of e-students from educational environment, that is, educational atmosphere. Firstly, we devised the primary instrument based on factors constituting educational atmosphere. Then Instrument's content and construct validity were assessed. Also, Cronbach's alpha and test-retest were used for studying the internal consistency and reliability of the instrument respectively. The final instrument named 'e-learning educational atmosphere measure' (EEAM) consisted of 40 items covering six factors, including programme effectiveness, teaching quality, ethics and professionalism, learner support, safety and convenience, and awareness of the rules, which accounted for 68.53% of variances. Content validity ratio was more than 0.51 and content validity index score of all questions was above 0.81. Test-retest reliability was 0.85 (p = 0.001) and Cronbach's alpha was 0.943. Assessing educational atmosphere in e-learning settings by EEAM could provide managers and investors with useful information to settle an effective education system by prioritising the necessary changes.

Background: Because of the developments and advancements in information technology (IT), unparalleled opportunities have been provided in electronic arenas; among them, electronic learning (e-learning) systems have brought attention to the facilitation of education. Since educational environment is a factor influencing the success of educational programs, the current study aims at evaluating the factors that create the educational atmosphere in cyberspace. Methods: The current study employed a qualitative content analysis approach and a targeted sampling method. A total of 11 students and 13 faculty members were recruited by a semi-structured interview in 2015. The interviews were continued separately for both students and lecturers up to the saturation of sample size. After the interview data were qualitatively analyzed. Results: After the data analysis, 685 codes were extracted out of the qualitative data, which were reevaluated in several stages and classified into 38 subcategories. Then, 13 categories and 6 domains (The status of virtual education, learner support, teaching skills, evaluation, professionalism and professional ethics, and self-efficacy) were created. Conclusions: Since the educational environment is an inseparable part of a curriculum, the factors creating an educational atmosphere in cyberspace are critically important and necessary for the qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the curriculum and prediction of educational outcomes.

Background: Nowadays, E-learning is considered as a hot topic in higher education. This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of virtual training of Islamic culture and civilization course on attitude, learning, and satisfaction of students in University of Medical Sciences in Tehran. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study with two groups, we studied 107 students who took the Islamic culture and civilization course in the second semester of academic year in 2014 -2015. 50.47% of them were Medical students (19.62% face to face, 30.84% virtual) and 49.53% of them were nursing students (21.50% face to face, 28.04% virtual). In the intervention group, 63 students received virtual training using university education system, and in the control group, 44 students received face to face training. In both of the groups, the degree of learning was examined using a written test. A questionnaire was used in order to investigate satisfaction with the teaching method and attitude. The reliability of the researcher-made attitude measurement questionnaire was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha (0.89) and its validity was confirmed through content validity. The Data was analyzed using SPSS software, version 16 and using T-tests. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results:The results showed that the two groups had a significant difference in terms of attitude (P < 0.001). The students were also more satisfied with the virtual training (P < 0.006). The rate of learning between the students of virtual and face to face training groups didn't show any significant difference (P < 0.199). Conclusions: Students were more satisfied with the virtual training method and they had a positive attitude towards the virtual training, but the rate of learning was similar in both of the methods. Therefore, it is recommended to use the virtual training courses as complementary courses in the face to face training methods.

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