Investigating the Educational Needs of Iranian Students in Islamic Theology: A Step Towards Effective Religious Education

Islamic Thought 1 and 2 are among courses offered in Iran by the Islamic education departments of universities for undergraduate students and their topics cover the field of Islamic theology. The aim of the present study is to revise and prioritize the most important educational topics of these courses for undergraduate students of the University of Isfahan in general and also by gender and field of study, based on needs and interests of students. This is a survey research that was carried out on 376 students of the University of Isfahan. To ensure the reliability of the research instrument, Cronbach s alpha correlation coefficient was used and this coefficient for the research 56-item questionnaire was 0.96. The research findings showed that students feel more need for the topics of God s wisdom, God s justice and God s purpose for the creation of the world and humans. There are different priorities for girls and boys as well as those of students of different disciplines in the topics of these courses. There is also a significant relationship between students gender and field of study in some topics. The results showed that in order to make these courses attractive and effective, it is necessary to pay attention to the gender and field of study of the students when formulating the lesson plan and preparing the educational content. Practical suggestions are also provided.