Evaluating Executive Strategies (Management Strategies and Teaching-Learning Strategies) of Graduate Curriculum: Case Study in Isfahan University

Muhammad Rahmanpour,Mostafa Hatami,Hamzeh Mirzaee,Mojtaba Ahmadi

doi:10.5539/ies.v10n3p142

Muhammad Rahmanpour, Mostafa Hatami + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v10n3p142

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Abstract

The present study seeks to evaluate executive strategies in graduate Curriculum of Isfahan University from the point of view of management and teaching-learning strategies. This study is an applied survey. The population comprised BA students and faculty members of the University of Isfahan. In order to do so, 141 professors and 278 students were selected from among all professors and students of graduate programs in Isfahan University through stratified random sampling and proportional to the statistical population. The tool used for collecting data for this study was a researcher made questionnaire with 25 questions scored via Likert scale. Validity of the questionnaire was ensured through content and face validity. Reliability of the test was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient to be 0.94. The data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed via SPSS statistical analysis computer application in descriptive and inferential statistics level. In the descriptive statistics section, frequency, mean, standard deviation, and in the inferential statistics section, F test and single variable t test were used. Findings on teaching-learning strategies revealed that these strategies have been decently meeting the needs and expectations of students. However, they failed to meet the expectations of the students. Findings o management strategies, on the other hand, demonstrated that these strategies have not been able to meet the needs and expectations of neither professors nor students.

Highlights

Responsibility toward public inquiry through transparency in the results of the evaluations in higher education is dramatically increasing (Shavelson & Huang, 2003; Schneider, 2002; Allen & Bresciani, 2003; cited in Rachelle, 2005)
The quality of higher education could be premium in some cases, it could not be executed with one hundred percent satisfaction for executing a perfect curriculum is generally more difficult than compiling it (Lewy, translated by Mashayekh, 2010: 88)
Braak and Hermans (2009) did a research and concluded that considering the fact that centralized decision making does not help meet the needs of students, decentralization approaches should be taken and experts and scholars should be involved in these procedures. They justified their conclusion and stated that instructors and teachers govern curriculum designing; they should participate in designing them as well. Considering all these studies, and comments made by experts concerning the importance of strategies of executing curriculums, the present study aims to evaluate execution strategies of the higher education curriculums in Isfahan University

Summary

Introduction

Responsibility toward public inquiry through transparency in the results of the evaluations in higher education is dramatically increasing (Shavelson & Huang, 2003; Schneider, 2002; Allen & Bresciani, 2003; cited in Rachelle, 2005). One of the major factors affecting quality of higher education is the curriculum. According to Mehr-Mohammad (2010: 317), executing a curriculum consists of the process of a practical change. This change mandates conditions, indices, factors and strategies of various types in order to be executed properly. According to Campbell and Dickinson (2004: 167), teaching-learning strategies play a key role in realizing the purposes of a curriculum.

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