Designing and Validation of A Tool to Assess the Curriculum Quality of Universities in Iran

Introduction: Curriculum plays a central role in effective teaching and educational change in higher education. The present study was conducted to design and validate a tool for assessing the curriculum quality of universities in Iran. Methods: This study was performed using a mixed method of explorative plan-tool development model. First, in qualitative part of this study, questionnaire consisted of 14 scales and 107 sub-scale‌s were designed by using the method of Grounded Theory and interview with 25 experts. Then, in the quantitative section, designed questionnaires were conducted on 180 experts in different cities of Iran. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and its reliability was calculated by Cronbach's alpha which was equal to (0/944). Non-probability purposive sampling method was used in the qualitative part of the study whereas random classified sampling method was applied in the quantitative part. In addition, analysis of Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used for testing mentioned tool. Results: By doing first-order confirmatory factor analysis, mentioned tool were confirmed with 14 scales and 107 sub-scale‌s. Results of second-order confirmatory factor analysis, also showed that 14 extracted scales are sufficient factor leading to prediction scale related to curriculum quality of high education systems in Iran. In addition, all goodness of fit indices were confirmed. Conclusion: The results of statistical tests displayed that the designed tool enjoys very favorable fitness for the curriculum quality assessment of Universities of Iran.