Factors Creating an Educational Atmosphere in Cyberspace: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

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.

E-learning educational atmosphere measure (EEAM): a new instrument for assessing e-students’ perception of educational environment

“…We considered the above-mentioned study in which factors creating educational atmosphere in an e-learning setting were determined (Mojtahedzadeh 2017) as the theoretical framework of this applied research. The reasons for selecting this study were as follows:…”

“…Interviews' content and analysis led to six themes, including status of virtual education, learner support (including systemic, cognitive and emotional ones), teaching skills (including cyberspace teaching and content preparing skills), evaluation (including students' evaluation methods and evaluation of educational system by students), professionalism and professional ethics (respecting intellectual property rights, and observing cultural issues and etiquette norms), and self-efficacy (strengthening problem-solving, learning and meta skills). These themes were considered as factors that comprised educational atmosphere in e-learning setting (Mojtahedzadeh 2017).…”

“…Besides, recent studies have demonstrated that learning environments, into which advanced technologies are integrated, facilitate acquiring knowledge, skill and attitude (Chang et al 2015). Different factors, namely university, student, admission, registration and environmental or physical elements constitute educational atmosphere (Genn 2001), although factors creating educational atmosphere specifically in an e-learning setting were extracted in a study published in 2017 (Mojtahedzadeh 2017).…”

Understanding the Functional Components of Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment in Medical Education: A Scoping Review

“…The second subtheme of content curation is online content deliverance. It is recommended that creative content material in the form of enjoyable, attractive, and engaging designs should be used, for example, humour animation in anatomy [ 18 , 28 ]. A variety of content can help accommodate learners’ individual preferences [ 29 , 30 ].…”

“…Emotional engagement can build confidence in learners, leading to self-efficacy which is another important feature in online learning environments [ 13 , 24 , 41 ]. In order to have emotional engagement, the learner should feel supported and valued in online learning environments [ 25 , 26 , 28 ]. It is also important to establish strategies for effective stress management in online learning environments to avoid online fatigue and burnout [ 17 , 27 , 42 , 43 ].…”