Journal of Educational Innovations

Journal of Educational Innovations

Investigating the dimensions and components of the faculty learning community, designing a model by mixed-methods (Case study: Campus of Farhangiān University of Tehran )

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Sāsān Rostami 1
Mohammad Ghahramāni 2
Mahmoud Abolghāsemi 2
1 , PhD in Educational Management, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
2 (PhD), Associate Professor of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jei.2024.295107.2015
Abstract
The current research, which was carried out with the aim of identifying the dimensions of the academic faculty learning community in order to provide a professional development model in the university, is applied in terms of purpose and exploratory mixed-methods in terms of the nature of data. In the qualitative section of the research, which was phenomenological in terms of the collected data, using a purposeful sampling method, 5 people were selected as sample. In the quantitative section of the study, the research population consisted of the faculty members (tenured and non-tenured) of Farhangiān University campuses in Tehran (522 people), from whom 220 people have been selected using stratified sampling method. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview in the qualitative section and a researcher-made questionnaire in the quantitative section. Cronbach's alpha and construct validity were used to determine the validity of the measurement tool, and in the qualitative part, frequent comparison of codes and experts' advices were used. Qualitative data analysis has been done using thematic analysis and quantitative data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and fit indices. Findings in the qualitative section of the study included 4 main dimensions (i.e., 1. common goals and vision, 2. collective learning, 3. common professional action, and 4. common professional reflection) and 9 sub-dimensions, based on which the final research model was presented. In the quantitative section of the study, the results of U Mann Whitney test showed that the current state of the components of the learning community among the professors is not desirable. Also, the results of the confirmatory factor analysis have shown that the dimensions have sufficient factor loadings to predict the learning community of academic staff members, and the fit indices of the model showed that the developed model has a good fit.
Keywords
Faculty Members
Professional Development
Learning Community
University
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  • Receive Date 14 July 2021
  • Revise Date 15 October 2023
  • Accept Date 18 October 2024