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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) 2535 – 2537 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com 1877-0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 2nd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and Guidance. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.494 WCPCG2011 The Quality Indicators of Information Technology in Higher Education Fereydoon Azma a * a Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katoul Branch, Aliabad Katoul, Golestan, IRAN Abstract The development theories accentuate that development requires firstly science and technology, so no country can succeed without being listed as pioneers in using the technology. The purpose of this study is to identify the quality indicators of information technology in higher education. The method is descriptive and survey and the test "KMO" and factor analysis are used. Having studied the related literature, the researcher accumulated the quality indicators in IT perspective for the universities. The subjects are the managers and the faculty members of the universities that are selected randomly. A researcher-made questionnaire is used to gather the data whose internal reliability is calculated using Cronbach alpha. The findings showed some 10 quality indicators in IT perspective were identified for the universities including high speed internet, novel technologies in research and so on. Key words: quality indicators; Information Technology; Higher Education 1. Introduction Information technology has been playing such a vital role in every aspect of life in the third millennium particularly at universities in educational and research issues that its importance can not be over accentuated. Scholars have called the new era as information technology age and IT has turned to be the power tool in the world. The universities have been using information technology in all almost every aspect of their issues so that they do not lag behind. The purpose of this study is to find answers to the following questions: 1. What are the key performance indicators in ICT in Islamic Azad universities of Golestan province? 2. Which indicators in ICT can be presented to improve the quality of Islamic Azad universities of Golestan province? 2. Review of the Related Literature The advent of computer, internet and the information technology thereafter has been documented in the literature since the 1950s. Friedman (1953), for instance, finds that the managers would like to make use of IT more * Fereydoon Azma: [email protected] Tel: +989112709505; fax: +981736226405

The Quality Indicators of Information Technology in Higher Education

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Page 1: The Quality Indicators of Information Technology in Higher Education

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) 2535 – 2537

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

1877-0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 2nd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and Guidance.doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.494

Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2011) 000–000

www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

WCPCG2011

The Quality Indicators of Information Technology in Higher Education

Fereydoon Azma a* aIslamic Azad University, Aliabad Katoul Branch, Aliabad Katoul, Golestan, IRAN

Abstract

The development theories accentuate that development requires firstly science and technology, so no country can succeed without being listed as pioneers in using the technology. The purpose of this study is to identify the quality indicators of information technology in higher education. The method is descriptive and survey and the test "KMO" and factor analysis are used. Having studied the related literature, the researcher accumulated the quality indicators in IT perspective for the universities. The subjects are the managers and the faculty members of the universities that are selected randomly. A researcher-made questionnaire is used to gather the data whose internal reliability is calculated using Cronbach alpha. The findings showed some 10 quality indicators in IT perspective were identified for the universities including high speed internet, novel technologies in research and so on. Key words: quality indicators; Information Technology; Higher Education

1. Introduction Information technology has been playing such a vital role in every aspect of life in the third millennium particularly at universities in educational and research issues that its importance can not be over accentuated. Scholars have called the new era as information technology age and IT has turned to be the power tool in the world. The universities have been using information technology in all almost every aspect of their issues so that they do not lag behind. The purpose of this study is to find answers to the following questions:

1. What are the key performance indicators in ICT in Islamic Azad universities of Golestan province? 2. Which indicators in ICT can be presented to improve the quality of Islamic Azad universities of Golestan

province? 2. Review of the Related Literature The advent of computer, internet and the information technology thereafter has been documented in the literature since the 1950s. Friedman (1953), for instance, finds that the managers would like to make use of IT more

* Fereydoon Azma: [email protected] Tel: +989112709505; fax: +981736226405

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2536 Fereydoon Azma / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) 2535 – 2537 Fereydoon Azma/ Procedia Social and Behavioral Science 00 (2011) 000–000

and more to not only decrease the operational expenses but also cut down the physical reference of the students for their financial and other affairs to the university. The universities tried since then to equip even the dormitories with high speed internet. Green (2001) carried out a research on the internet plan at the universities and identified that one third of universities courses have email and the same have websites. He also asserted that this technology encourages other online technologies such as group chatting and students` group learning. He finally introduced 24 indicators to guarantee the internet-based teaching and learning that are categorized into 7 classes. There are countless studies in the literature regarding the paramount effect of information technology on the establishment and the success of the virtual universities. For instance, Levis and et al. (1999) had a detailed study on the virtual universities and concluded that using internet; these universities could cut down the expenses regarding the faculty members and the staffs. They also found that Information technology helped the students to improve terrifically in their scores. Having elaborated on "Information Communication systems and its role in students` activities and the university culture", Furhmann (2003) concluded that the tools such as email, message centers and chatting rooms give the students an opportunity to be of closer and better communication with their classmates, counselors and their professors. Lee et al. (2004) presented a suitable model of indicators for the electronic library performance of universities in Taiwan. 3. Method The research is descriptive in nature. Having reviewed the literature, the researchers found the KPI regarding the information technology. The subjects are all the managers of Islamic Azad universities of the province (39) and some of the faculty members randomly (95). A questionnaire was used to gather the data. The SPSS software was used to calculate the internal reliability and the alpha Cronbach is 0.938. To analyze the data, Bartlett Test, KMO test and factor analysis method were used. 4. Conclusion Concerning the first research question, the following factors are obtained: 1. Electronic educations; 2. The conditions to create virtual courses; 3. The implementation of the new technologies in research; 4. Access to electronic journals; 5. The process of electrification of the bureaucratic affairs; 6. High speed internet access; 7. Digital library and 8. ICT support. Apropos to the second research question, the following factors can be used to increase the quality of Islamic Azad universities of Region 10: 1. The proportion of the number of classrooms equipped with the computer to all the classrooms in all the universities; 2. The proportion of the virtual courses to all the courses; 3. The proportion of the electronic journals to all the journals of the universities; 4. The proportion of the paperless bureaucracy to the all the writings of the universities; 5. The average speed of the internet in the universities; 6. The proportion of the digital libraries to the all libraries in the all universities; 7. The proportion of the light fiber Network in the universities; 8. The proportion of the number of universities with integrated automation system to the number of all universities in the region; 9. The proportion of the IT hardware facilities to all the facilities; 10. The proportion of the IT software facilities to all the facilities.

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2537Fereydoon Azma / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 30 (2011) 2535 – 2537 Fereydoon Azma / Procedia Social and Behavioral Science 00 (2011) 000–000

It is hoped that this study provides a better comprehensive understanding of how to increase the university qualities using IT. The application of IT will be continued in all aspects of human life faster and more. References

Borden & Banta (1994), Using Performance Indicators to Guide Strategic Decision Making. Sun Francisco, Jossy Bass Publishers. Cavem et al. (1997), The Use of Performance Indicators in Higher Education: a critical Analysis of Developing Practice (2nd).London: Jessica Kingsley. Green, K. C.( 2001), Campus computing (2000 ) Encino, CA : campus computing . Lee, F. C., et al (2004), Environmental Performance Indicator. envirowise gov.UK . Simon, T. (1987), Science and Technology Indicators, Country size and Economic Development an International comparison, world

Development, Vol. 15(9) p. 1225 – 1235 Furhmann, B. (2003); Philosophies of higher education; In James J. Forest and Kevin Kinser; Higher Education in The United States. Santa

Barbara: ABC-CL Friedman, M. (1953); Essays in positive Economics Chicago university of Chicago press. An Industrial Case Study of Ericson, Available at:

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