Information Technology Tools Analysis in Quantitative Courses of IT-Management (Case Study: M.Sc. - Tehran University)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the most suitable ICT-based education and define the most suitable e-content creation tools for quantitative courses in the IT-management Masters program. ICT-based tools and technologies are divided in to three categories: the creation of e-content, the offering of e-content, and access to e-content. In this study the first two categories are considered for on-campus education and virtual education (both synchronous and asynchronous). In the comparisons, eight modes of delivery styles were verified using two methods; first they were compared two by two in an ordinal questionnaire measured by an Eigenvector technique. Next they were compared by a single-weighted method. The results were then agreed upon by experts using a personal approach in group decision making. The most effective ICT-based education was defined as on-campus education and the Collaborative Learning Environment with Virtual Reality (CLE-VR) received the highest level for virtual education because it highlighted the social presence, and then synchronous and asynchronous virtual education. Slides of Microsoft PowerPoint ranked in the upper-level for smart boards for on-campus education but they ranked in the same level for virtual education. E-content creation tools were measured by an interval questionnaire using a semi-metric scale of [0-100] by the single-weighted method. The results of second section found that the most suitable tool for creating e-content are Microsoft Office PowerPoint. Questionnaire analysis revealed a preference for social interaction in studying quantitative courses, creating, and customizing e-content as soon as possible.