Philosophy of Education
Hamid Ahmadi Hedayat; Mohsen Farmahini Farahani; Saeed Zarghami
Abstract
Introduction: The main purpose of current research is to explain the post-phenomenology in training and learning, with emphasis on the concepts of multistability and transparency. Phenomenology has faced different perspectives over time and Ihde in his later prespective has presented a new look at post-phenomenology ...
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Introduction: The main purpose of current research is to explain the post-phenomenology in training and learning, with emphasis on the concepts of multistability and transparency. Phenomenology has faced different perspectives over time and Ihde in his later prespective has presented a new look at post-phenomenology and has emphasized on the components of phenomenology. In his view, Phenomenology deals with the relationship among man, world and technology. The Post-phenomenology studies examine the relation of users with humans and technology, and this, according to Ihde, is a way of doing phenomenology rather than discussing it, and thus he introduces technological case studies. Method: To achieve this goal, conceptual analysis and inductive methods have been used. The method of answering the first question (what explanation of the post-phenomenology in technological studies can be presented?) is a kind of Conceptual analysis method called "concept interpretation" that seeks to provide an explicit explanation of the meaning of a concept by explicitly explaining the relation of this concept to other concepts and also describing that concept in terms of actions and human perceptions. In answering the second question, (the implications of post-phenomenology with emphasis on the concepts of multiplicity and transparency in teaching and learning), it is tried to use the inference method. "In this method, it is assumed that any philosophical system, can entail an educational theory, therefore, it provides necessities and prescriptions for proper adjustment of educational environments. Results: This approach can be useful if we want to deeply study how the experience and perception transformation of teachers and students in using educational technologies. Post-phenomenology has “different flavors” for all of the scholars who enter this field. Hence, the path to other researches in the field of modern educational technologies and philosophical scrutiny is open with this approach, and scholars can achieve valuable results with the help of developed concepts in this philosophical approach. Discussion: Many concepts have been formed in the field of post-phenomenology, in which the emphasis is on two major concepts of "multistability" and "transparency" and its implications for training and learning. In this regard, the most important implications of the concept of multistability can be the development of the correct technological habits, limiting the students to the prevalent use of technology, very short rest periods, and the implications of transparency for the enhancement of skills in the use of technology, repeat and practice for normalization, and use of automated training technologies.
Curriculum Development
seyed Ramezan Aghili; . Jamileh Alomalhoda; kourosh Fathi Vajargah
Abstract
Purpose:
Moral education as a serious content area of most educational systems has attracted more attention from educational philosophy perspective than from curriculum designers. Although such research studies have contributed to the growth of this field, but they have almost failed to yield any operational ...
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Purpose:
Moral education as a serious content area of most educational systems has attracted more attention from educational philosophy perspective than from curriculum designers. Although such research studies have contributed to the growth of this field, but they have almost failed to yield any operational insight for empowering educational authorities. On the other hand, a review of top-level policy documents in the field of education reveals that, despite the real emphasis on moral education in such documents, no moral education curriculum has ever been developed for general courses. Therefore, it seems that moral education has been neglected in formal educational system. To fill such a gap, this study aimed to identify the main principles governing moral education curriculum development.
Method:
This study used a qualitative approach and an inductive content analysis method. The participants consisted of experts in the field and experienced teachers of the primary school. The data was collected by semi-structured interviews.
Results:
According to the results, 9 general categories with their 25 related principles were extracted. The principles included core competency, comprehensive goal-setting, situationality, focus on habituation, universal responsibility of moral education, diversity of sources of data in assessments, and determination of learning situation based on time and place.
Discussion:
Generally the suggested principles governing moral education curriculum have been developed in response to shortcomings in moral education process and aim to shift away from the instruction of values to moral education. The limited definition of ethics in moral education process, the limitation of ethics to the level of cognition, and the limitation of moral content in the area of moral knowledge constitute the main shortcomings. The present curriculum made an attempt to fill in this gap by focusing on ethics as a competency as well as emphasizing other aspects of moral development such as attitude and moral deeds. On the other hand, to fulfill moral education goals, all the resources of the school should be used in harmony with each other. Therefore, learning should not be limited to classroom, and the responsibility of moral education should not fall on the teacher only. As a result, an effective moral education curriculum makes use of all the potential learning resources such as a discipline-based curriculum, integration into other courses at the micro level, and integration with the whole school at the macro-level. To do so, all those who are involved, directly or indirectly, in the process of moral education should understand the importance of this area of learning and its relationship with other areas and perform their respective duties.
Educational Planing
Fardin Mohammadi; Amir Hosain Mohammadpanah
Abstract
Introduction The condition of educational habitus of teachers in Iran, and how it is changed over the time, Or what conditions has shaped it, Are the main purposes of this study. Accordingly the main purpose of this study is to investigate the status and evolutions of teacher’s educational habitus ...
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Introduction The condition of educational habitus of teachers in Iran, and how it is changed over the time, Or what conditions has shaped it, Are the main purposes of this study. Accordingly the main purpose of this study is to investigate the status and evolutions of teacher’s educational habitus in the field of education.
Conceptual framework: In order to answer questions above, we built the conceptual framework based on the Bourdieu’s theories. Bourdieu perceived habitus as a relatively stable system of qualities (characteristics, values and desires) that is provided in the agent’s personality by experience and in interaction with others, while identifying life styles, manages to deal with different situations and finally governs the actions respectively (Bourdieu, 1995, 6). From Bourdieu’s point of view, habitus are the basis for action (Bourdieu, 2008, 100). If the habitus of social agents does not match the purposes of the field or is not logical, the field will not achieve its goals.
Method: To gather and analyze the data we used thematic analysis method. Participants were Mashhad high school teachers. In this study 31 teachers interviewed using purposeful sampling and theoretical saturations. For gathering data, choosing samples and determining samples size we used semi-deep interviewing method, purposeful sampling and theoretical saturation criterion respectively. For data analysis open and axial coding methods were used.
results: The results indicates that teachers educational habitus is influenced by some conditions such as: economic, discrimination problems, having other training careers, having non educational careers, loosing educational habitus and the anti-training procedures of the field, has been descended recently. Regarding the interaction between production and consumption fields, the formation of the decreasing trend of educational habitus phenomenon in the production field, educational habitus influenced social agents of the consumption field either and made it decreased.
Conclusion: Since teachers are the most important social agents in the field of education production and they must have provided high levels of educational habitus to fully implement the professional field of education, the results are not satisfactory. Therefore one of the key challenges in the field of education which is affected the efficiency either, is the weakness in the educational habitus of social agents in the field of production. The condition of educational habitus of teachers in Iran, and how it is changed over the time, Or what conditions has shaped it, Are the main purposes of this study. Accordingly the main purpose of this study is to investigate the status and evolutions of teacher’s educational habitus in the field of education. In order to answer questions above, we built the conceptual framework based on the Bourdieu’s theories. To gather and analyze the data we used thematic analysis method. Participants were Mashhad high school teachers. In this study 31 teachers interviewed using purposeful sampling and theoretical saturations. For gathering data, choosing samples and determining samples size we used semi-deep interviewing method, purposeful sampling and theoretical saturation criterion respectively. For data analysis open and axial coding methods were used.
Educational Management
Hamid Farhadi Rad; Sakineh Shahi; Amin Allah Khalili
Abstract
Abstract: In this research we assume that knowledge is recognized as a strategic and key asset for all organizations and education systems too. Therefore the appropriate use of knowledge is an effective factor in the success/failure of educational organizations and teachers are main people that could ...
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Abstract: In this research we assume that knowledge is recognized as a strategic and key asset for all organizations and education systems too. Therefore the appropriate use of knowledge is an effective factor in the success/failure of educational organizations and teachers are main people that could create, save and share knowledge in the school systems. In the other hand we know that teaching, learning and educating process are the core of any education system and are most important duties of teachers. Based on this assumption the best teachers are those who their work lead to the highest levels of learning in school especially students’ learnings. But what is teacher’s knowledge that guides his/her teaching and learning activities and other organizational behaviors? It should be said that performing the above activities without identifying teachers' knowledge and its dimensions is difficult. Therefore it is important to school as an organization that know about teacher’s knowledge component and how to manage it in order to provide proper context for, creating, saving, maintaining, developing, sharing and exchanging of knowledge at the school level. Based on theoretical foundations we found that teacher’s knowledge has a wide range including cognation knowledge, experiences, skills, perspectives and even the value and mentality system of the teachers. Studying in a real context could lead to better understanding of teacher’s knowledge so the main purpose of this study aimed to identify and introduce the components and dimensions of teachers’ knowledge in Ahvaz education system. By purpose this research is a “Theoretical-Applied” research and by method is mixed method (Sequential Exploratory). In the qualitative part, based on theoretical saturation 11 teachers who were convinced and satisfied selected and participated in this research. They were selected by purposeful and best intensity case sampling. Sample size in quantitative part based on Cochran formula 346 persons estimated and they selected by stratified random sampling method. Semi-structured interview with participants was used to collect qualitative data and quantitative data gathered by a questionnaire that made by researcher. For date analysis, interviews inductive content analysis was used and exploratory factor analysis was used for quantitative data analysis. The results showed that, teachers knowledge can be classified into 6 components consists of, cognitive knowledge (recognition of students, rules and regulations …), proficiency knowledge (Teaching skills, Assessment skills…), procedural knowledge (Practical teaching, knowledge assessment…), Interactive knowledge (Interaction with the manager, interaction with office…),managerial and planning knowledge (Leadership and management of class…), technological knowledge (Computer and Internet knowledge). Keywords: Cognitive knowledge, Proficiency knowledge, Procedural knowledge, Interactive knowledge, Managerial & Planning knowledge, Technological knowledge
Educational Management
Sakineh Jafari; Aliakbar Aminbeidokhti; Zahra Ghasemian Dastjerdi
Abstract
Introduction: Education means the development of all abilities and talents is the most complicated, difficult and effective social process. Serious attention to education is one of the key goals of governments. Effective educational system is a system that is compatible with the real ...
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Introduction: Education means the development of all abilities and talents is the most complicated, difficult and effective social process. Serious attention to education is one of the key goals of governments. Effective educational system is a system that is compatible with the real goals and needs of the community and has the ability to prepare the young generation and develop their competencies to achieve the desired goals. These competencies are one of the essential requirements in today’s sophisticated society. One of the factors contributing to the development of students’ competencies is the success in the scientific field and the academic achievement of schools and the most important factor in the school is the leader who organizes the organization for specific goals and organizes the teachers to coordinate a course for their realization.
Method: The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of managers’ professional leadership in students’ competency development by mediating professionalization of teachers, trust and collaboration between teachers in schools in Babol. This study is an applied research in terms of the purpose and is a type of descriptive-correlational researches in terms of data collection method. The statistical population of the study consisted of all the primary school first and second grade teachers and junior and senior high school teachers (3100 people) in Babol in the academic year 1397-98 that 200 people (85 men and 115 women) were selected as sample using stratified random sampling method. All the teachers of the study sample completed managers’ professional leadership, students’ competency development, professionalization of teachers (teacher professionalization), trust and collaboration between teachers' questionnaires. In order to test the reliability of these tools, Cronbach’s alpha was used. After calculating the reliability of the tools, data was analyzed via correlation and path analysis methods and SPSS and LISREL software.
Results: The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between students’ competency development with managers’ professional leadership, trust and collaboration between teachers and professionalization of teachers. Managers’ professional leadership has a direct and significant impact on professionalization of teachers. Also, managers’ professional leadership has a significant indirect effect on professionalization of teachers through mediation of trust and collaboration between teachers. Professionalization of teachers has a direct and significant influence on students’ competency development. Managers’ professional leadership has a significant indirect effect on students’ competency development through mediation of trust and collaboration between teachers and professionalization of teachers.
Discussion: In a general conclusion, we can say that there are many factors involved in the professionalization of teachers and professionalization of teachers indirectly developed the competency of students. Therefore, in order to increase the students’ competency development, it is necessary to improve the professionalization of teachers as an effective factor in this improvement and the effective factors in it will also be improved. Finally, the results of this study indicate the importance of the role of managers’ professional leadership in the professional development of teachers and consequently, increasing the competence of students.
Educational Management
Naghi Radi Afsouran; Seyed Ali Siadat; Reza Hoveida; Hamid Reza Oreyzi Samani; George. C. Thornton
Abstract
Introduction The aim of this study was to train and to develop the leadership competencies of transformation, team building, and strategic thinking using leader development assessment center (LDAC) at National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company. Method An experimental design with pre-test ...
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Introduction The aim of this study was to train and to develop the leadership competencies of transformation, team building, and strategic thinking using leader development assessment center (LDAC) at National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company. Method An experimental design with pre-test and post-test was used. We got 10 of managers using a simple random method. First, participants responded scales on leadership self-efficacy, leadership knowledge and leadership situational judgment in the pretest. Then, we applied LDAC method as our main intervention for two days. Within applying LDAC, all participants were assessed based on the target leadership competencies through simulation exercises and then, their developmental needs were determined. After, all participants received feedbacks from coaches. Finally, they covered posttest scales after two weeks. Result The results showed LDAC has enhanced the team building leadership competency in the dimension of affective and also transformation leadership competencies in the dimension of cognitive. However, it was found that LDAC has not been effective in enhancing the target leadership competencies in the dimension of behavior. Conclusion Developing leadership competencies is necessary for fostering competent leaders. Since LDAC applies principles of active/deep learning, we recommend future studies to use this method as a training approach in leadership development programs. Its implementation may be challenging and costly, but the payoffs will be worth it.
Educational Management
Mahdi Nadaf; Farajolah Rahimi; Zahra Gholami
Abstract
The objective of the research is developing a two-level model to investigate affecting factors on collaboration culture and personal creativity. The population of the research is trainers and trainees of TVTO that eight centers recognized and in sum 34 teams were selected through random sampling. The ...
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The objective of the research is developing a two-level model to investigate affecting factors on collaboration culture and personal creativity. The population of the research is trainers and trainees of TVTO that eight centers recognized and in sum 34 teams were selected through random sampling. The study is an applied one and by gathering data it is a descriptive-correlation research. The questionnaire was data gathering and measuring variables instrument and finally 319 questionnaires were obtained. The instrument reliability was measured by Cronbach’s Alpha and a pretest was done among the sample of 30 people of TVTO trainers and trainees and the quotients were above 0.7 for all variables. The validity of the instrument was also studies and verified through content validity. The research findings in personal level indicate that emotional intelligence on cognitive trust, emotional intelligence on affective trust, cognitive trust on collaborative culture, affective trust on collaborative culture, collaborative culture on personal creativity, team creativity on collaborative culture and team creativity on personal creativity with regression quotients respectfully are 0.733, 0.771, 0650, 0.198, 0.560, 0.298 and 3.370 theses quotients are meaningful and positive. The results show that in personal level emotional intelligence affects (cognitive and affective) trust and the constructs have impact on collaborative culture and personal creativity. So it is suggested to foster collaborative culture and institutionalize creativity among team members, emotional intelligence as a necessary skill promoted and trained. Moreover a social environment must form where the members encourage to share their ideas and shape creativity.
Educational Management
Hashem Mohammadi Chemardani; Mohamadnoor Rahmani
Abstract
Introduction Increasing advances in information and communication technology have affected all organizational activities including manpower training and have resulted in emergence and development of e-learning courses as a new educational technology. Success of e-learning courses depends on different ...
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Introduction Increasing advances in information and communication technology have affected all organizational activities including manpower training and have resulted in emergence and development of e-learning courses as a new educational technology. Success of e-learning courses depends on different factors and identifying these factors will significantly help in design and implementation of these courses. These factors can be related to the internal conditions of the courses or the external environment that influences it. This study aims to identify effective factors in success of e-learning courses.
Method We used exploratory mixed method design in this study. Qualitative part of the study was implemented using descriptive phenomenological method. The sample of study consisted of 16 experts selected by purposeful sampling. For data collection we used semi-structured interviews and for data analysis Colaizzi method was employed. Quantitative part of the study was carried out using survey method. Statistical population of the study were 212 employees of Hormozgan Province Gas Company and 136 individuals were selected through Morgan table. Research instrument was questionnaire and to test the research hypotheses we applied confirmatory factor analysis. Data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS.
Result Qualitative findings were obtained in 9 sub-categories and 3 main categories. The main categories of organizational factors included categories of management commitment and supportive laws and regulations, the main categories of technical factors included the categories of desirable hardware and appropriate software facilities, and the main categories of educational factors included primary user training, comprehensive course planning, appropriate educational content, effective implementation of courses and feedback. Quantitative findings demonstrated that regarding organizational factors, management commitment component, regarding technical factors, hardware facilities factor and regarding educational factors, comprehensive courses planning with factor load of 0.956, 0.912, and 0.914, respectively had the most impact on success of e-learning courses.
Discussion Qualitative results showed that effective factors in success of e-learning courses are three main categories of organizational, technical and educational factors. The main categories of organizational factors include sub-categories of management commitment and supportive rules and regulations, the main categories of Technical factors include sub-categories of appropriate hardware facilities and desirable software facilities and educational factors include sub-categories of primary user education, comprehensive courses planning, appropriate training content, effective implementation of courses, and feedback; In the quantitative section, the results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the identified factors affect the success of e-learning courses and quantitative results confirmed qualitative results. The results of previous research were consistent with the results of this study. In order to use the results of this study, it is suggested that all the identified factors in the success of the electronic courses be taken into account prior to designing and implementing electronic training courses at Gas Company.
educational technology
Nori Barari; Abasalt Khorasani; Morteza Rezaeizadeh; Farnoosh Alami
Abstract
Introduction Understanding and applying are the most common goals of learning. In the e-learning environments; the only way to ensure that goals are achieved is through feedback. Despite this, there is no comprehensive framework based on the science of education, so that how to create educational feedback ...
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Introduction Understanding and applying are the most common goals of learning. In the e-learning environments; the only way to ensure that goals are achieved is through feedback. Despite this, there is no comprehensive framework based on the science of education, so that how to create educational feedback based on learning objectives. Method The purpose of this study was to compilation the educational standards and their indicators for design effective feedback for the first three layers (remembering, understanding and applying) of the Bloom-Anderson’s taxonomy. The qualitative research approach is used and based on this approach, the phenomenological design strategy has been used. The population included 12 people of subject matter and faculty members in academic e-learning centers which were selected through purposeful sampling. Qualitative data generated from interviews were coded and analyzed by Corbin and Strauss method and Maxquda software. To ensure the consistency of the coding in the qualitative section, inter-coder reliability analysis was performed. To this end, initially, the transcribed data of the interview files (3 random interviews) was scrutinized by a fellow researcher with expertise and experience in research and emerging characteristics noted. Next, through matching the fellow researcher’s noted concepts with those observed by the author(s) of the present study, the percentages of the inter-coding agreement and discrepancy of the extracted concepts were reviewed and modified accordingly.
Results The results of the study led to the development of 4 educational standards and 21indicators based on Bloom-Anderson’s taxonomy to design comprehensive feedback in the field of e-learning. According to the results of this study, educational technologists and assessors can evaluate or design more effective E-learning environments. Developing standards and indicators for feedback methods in e-learning environments can provide a practical guide for instructors and explain the minimum requirements for implementing effective teaching. To ensure the comprehensiveness of these indicators and the ability to cover different learning objectives, these indicators were compared with the Bloom-Anderson taxonomy.
Discussion According to the analysis of interviews; Feedback based on action, Multichannel feedback, Feedback based on the future and Feedback based on obstacles of learning are the indicators for achievement situational learning. Also, Assist leveling feedback, feedback fits user level understanding, Transitional feedback and feedback with dual and delayed are the indicators for feedback based on scaffolding. Finally, it should be said that despite limitations such as the limited number of educators with experience in and expertise on e-learning, the limited number of universities that provide formal education through a learning management system, and the constraints in communication with overseas experts on e-learning, the results of the present study succeeded in developing important indicators of feedback methods in virtual learning environments (VLEs) based on the Bloom-Anderson taxonomy.
Educational Management
Uones Romiani; khodayar Abili; javad poorkarimi; Saeed Farahbakhsh
Abstract
Introduction Higher education system as a purposeful phenomenon has two quantitative and qualitative dimensions that balanced growth should be considered in both quantitative and qualitative dimensions in parallel. The three pillars of each higher education institution are faculty, infrastructure and ...
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Introduction Higher education system as a purposeful phenomenon has two quantitative and qualitative dimensions that balanced growth should be considered in both quantitative and qualitative dimensions in parallel. The three pillars of each higher education institution are faculty, infrastructure and learning environment. Among these three factors, it is more important to provide an appropriate context for attracting and retaining distinguished and diverse faculty members. Faculty members are one of the main factors in the structure of higher education, and their quantitative and qualitative decline has a direct impact on the performance of the higher education system. Also, The roles and responsibilities of college and university faculty members are closely tied to the central functions of higher education. The main purpose of this research is to explore Identification and Selection Mechanisms of Talented Faculty Members at Comprehensive Universities with Regional Performance level. Method This research was conducted base on framework of qualitative approach. To this purpose, 15 knowledgeable academic and executive experts were selected purposefully and with a theoretical sampling strategy and interviewed in a semi-structured way. To analyze the data, the thematic analysis technique was used. To ensure the validity of the research used of reviewed by members (interviewees) and the triangulation of the data sources methods. Also, to calculate reliability were used of the retest and the agreement between the two coder methods. After implementing the content of the interviews and their preliminary analysis, Codes or basic concepts were identified and In order to achieve the main categories, similar codes are placed on specific categories. Finally, for each of the categories, the title that contains the entire codes was select. Results As a result of this study, 16 mechanisms were identified for the Identification and Selection talented faculty members at Comprehensive Universities with regional performance level. According to experts, Identification and selection of faculty members based on the mission and goals of the University and Assign more time to the talent Identification and selection talent process of faculty members are more importance Discussion Analysis of research findings shows, the most important weakness of regional comprehensive universities is the debility of universities in defining mission and vision and planning to attract faculty members. Such that, in current conditions The purpose of attracting new faculty members at most universities and higher education institutions is to fill vacant positions without considering the type of activity of the group, the College and the university.
Educational Management
maryamsadat ghoraishikhorasgani; Mohammad Yamani Douzi Sorkhabi; gholamreza zakersalehi; Golnar Mehran
Abstract
Introduction:
Regarding the fact that higher education is one of the prominent social institutions whose functions and malfunctions have significant consequences on human societies, According to that since 2012, autonomous campuses are responsible for the mission and the function of higher education ...
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Introduction:
Regarding the fact that higher education is one of the prominent social institutions whose functions and malfunctions have significant consequences on human societies, According to that since 2012, autonomous campuses are responsible for the mission and the function of higher education and the importance of this issue, therefore this research have been done with the goal of investigation and functional pathology of campuses in three dimension of (instruction, research, expertise services) and the long-term consequences of these damages.
Method:
For this purpose with the targeted sampling method was done a semi-structured deep interview with 21 member of higher education experts and autonomous campuses managers of the Tehran’s state universities. This research is qualitative, a kind of inductive reasoning and in terms of method is descriptive-exploration, for data analyzing was used of thematic analysis and functional damage themes are extracted.
Results:
The result of the interview analysis was extraction of 97 codes in form of 3 main components and 6 subcomponents. 58 of the codes or 60 percent of them were related to function harms in education dimensions including decline in the quality of training process, decline in the quality of learning process and the lack of rapport between professor and student. 19 codes representing 20 percent of the extracted codes from the interviews were related to the function harms in research dimensions, including poor quality of research and the disregarding students’ projects. 9 codes accounting for 9 percent of the extracted codes were related to function harms in specific services, resulting from lack of communication among the campus, industry and other sectors of the society. 11 codes representing 11 percent of the extracted codes were related to the long-term consequences of function harms of the campuses including the drop in quality of academic level of students entering the campus, the epidemic orientation towards getting academic degree, the drop in research quality, sole attention to education product, giving priority to quantity over quality, the drop in quality of academic level of graduate students, the absence of science production, and lowered level of scientific and academic position.
Discussion:
it is expected that instead of accepting more and more students and prioritizing quantity over quality, the authorities should make an attempt to monitor and assess the educational and research function of these campuses meticulously and do their best to reduce and alleviate these harms. Ignoring such important issues can lead to irrecoverable harms to higher education in Iran nationally and internationally.
Educational Management
Behrooz Arbab Shirani; Ali Zeynal Hamadani; Seyed Hamidreza Shavaran
Abstract
Introduction Higher education provides the basis for the economic, social, cultural and scientific development of each country And one of the most important factors in the dynamics of the national economy. Therefore, planning to empowerment of higher education and How to transform higher education to ...
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Introduction Higher education provides the basis for the economic, social, cultural and scientific development of each country And one of the most important factors in the dynamics of the national economy. Therefore, planning to empowerment of higher education and How to transform higher education to meet and respond to the internal and external challenges of the university is one of the most important issues. strategic planning is one of the common methods of planning in higher education. It is used as a tool for managing decisions and activities that affect the long - term performance of a firm. Considering the importance of strategic planning in higher education, The purpose of this study was to improve the strategic planning process in determining the priorities of the governmental subsystem of higher education in Isfahan province, using the combined SWOT model and exploratory factor analysis. Method The research method was descriptive-survey and the statistical population was 130 faculty members of Isfahan University of Technology, University of Isfahan, Kashan University and Malek Ashtar Industrial Technology University, who participated in the process of compiling the Secretariat of Isfahan Higher Education Planning document (2015). The samples were selected, using the purposive sampling. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose costruct, face and content validity was confirmed in the second phase of the Secretariat of Isfahan Higher Education Planning document. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated 0.70 through Cronbach's alpha coefficient. 45 faculty members completed the questionnaires and returned them. The data analysis was performed using the Bartlett test (KMO), exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient, Pearson correlation coefficient through SPSS-17 software. Results By using this mixed model, (by reducing the dimensions of SWOT matrix to about one tenth points and through making a statistical relationship between internal and external factors ), seven valid strategies were discovered and defined without inquiring all the grids of SWOT matrix which had less complexity compared to the AHP and ANP methods. These strategies met the objectives of this sub-system and, by defining a new indicator, made the prioritization task through the use of linear allocation technique. Discussion Although the analysis technique of the SWOT matrix regulates the extraction of strategies, but according to Bryson & Roering (1987), this matrix does not provide a specific offer for how to extract strategies when comparing internal and external factors. Therefore, the development of WT, ST, WO and SO strategies are highly qualitative and is highly dependent on the expertise and creativity of strategists.
