the state of e-learning during covid-19 outbreak: a look intoiranian official documents

The emergence and spread of covid-19 led to fundamental changes in the world as well as in iranian higher education programs. these changes, which initially began with the temporary closure of educational institutions, continued with the migration of academia to the realm of e-learning. following these changes, many studies were conducted on the effectiveness of e-learning platforms in various contexts, yet none of them studied enacted laws in this regard. hence, the present study aimed to have a look at the status quo of e-learning in iran by law versus in reality. using content analysis, the enacted laws and regulations related to virtual education by the msrt and a number of iranian leading universities were reviewed and evaluated by the researchers. then, a set of semi-structured interviews based on convenience sampling were conducted with a number of instructors and students (n=47) in the mentioned institutions. the results revealed that most of the existing laws and correspondences have dealt with regulations to facilitate educational affairs and purchase of the pieces of equipment and infrastructures for universities, and only a part of them was related to the formation of a specialized working group on e-learning. to be more specific, the existing laws do not refer to the teaching, learning, and assessment process of educational programs, nor to e-learning training of learners and educational staff. the findings of this study suggest the need to modify the objectives, syllabi, learning resources, student activities, and evaluating methods of learners’ performance in the post-covidian era, and upgrade the adaptability of the iranian educational system to distance learning methods for urgent cases.

The State of E-Learning During Covid-19 Outbreak: A Look intoIranian Official Documents

The emergence and spread of Covid-19 led to fundamental changes in the world as well as in Iranian higher education programs. These changes, which initially began with the temporary closure of educational institutions, continued with the migration of academia to the realm of e-learning. Following these changes, many studies were conducted on the effectiveness of e-learning platforms in various contexts, yet none of them studied enacted laws in this regard. Hence, the present study aimed to have a look at the status quo of e-learning in Iran by law versus in reality. Using content analysis, the enacted laws and regulations related to virtual education by the MSRT and a number of Iranian leading universities were reviewed and evaluated by the researchers. Then, a set of semi-structured interviews based on convenience sampling were conducted with a number of instructors and students (n=47) in the mentioned institutions. The results revealed that most of the existing laws and correspondences have dealt with regulations to facilitate educational affairs and purchase of the pieces of equipment and infrastructures for universities, and only a part of them was related to the formation of a specialized working group on e-learning. To be more specific, the existing laws do not refer to the teaching, learning, and assessment process of educational programs, nor to e-learning training of learners and educational staff. The findings of this study suggest the need to modify the objectives, syllabi, learning resources, student activities, and evaluating methods of learners’ performance in the post-Covidian era, and upgrade the adaptability of the Iranian educational system to distance learning methods for urgent cases.