The Journal of Medical Education and Development

---

Introduction: Student evaluation is considered as one of the most important principles of educational planning. An effective evaluation not only plays an important role in discriminating among students, but also helps the instructor assess his own activities. Additionally, a suitable strategy for solving the problems of the educational program may be provided on the basis of evaluation. For this purpose, the method of students' evaluation by faculty members and educational staff was studied in Shar-e-Kord University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 1386-87.

Method: This descriptive study was conducted on a total of 122 subjects derived from all the faculty members and educational staff at Shahr-e-Kord University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 1386-87. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect the required data. The validity of the questionnaire was established using expert opinion, and its reliability (r = .79) was approved by test-retest. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean, SD), and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient) using the SPSS (p-value < 0.05).

Results : The research findings showed that to evaluate students, 69.4 % of the educational units under study used the formative and summative tests, 16.2 % used just summative tests, and 14.4 % used pretest, diagnostic tests, formative tests, and summative tests. The most frequently used test formats were written tests and MCQs (multiple choice questions). Also, 88.3% of the studied units considered the summative exam as the most important evaluation criteria. Only 44.2% of the subjects used a lesson plan in their presentation and teaching, and 38.2% gave a midterm exam. There was a statistically significant correlation between the variables of "giving a midterm exam" and "the mean number of college credits taught", i.e., those who taught more credits, also gave more midterm exams (p-value < 0.05).

Conclusion : The teaching method most frequently used by the faculty members and educational staff was the lecturing or frontal method along with question and answer activities. Less than 50% of the subjects used a lesson plan and midterm exam. The most important student evaluation criteria were the final exam, active class participation, and class attendance, respectively. The most frequently used evaluation methods were formative and summative exams. Test development was usually done before the exam and included MCQs. So, it is advisable that teachers and instructors use lesson plan, midterm exams, and deciding on and announcing test format in their lesson plans.

 

---

Introduction : In this study, we examined viewpoints of students and faculty members on mission and method of morning report and offer some strategies for increasing quality and efficiency of morning report using a questionnaire based on some fundamental questions.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 45 students and faculty members of teaching & research in Imam Reza Hospital. The participants responded to the nine-item survey questionnaire about how they implement morning reports.

Results: The majority of instructors and trainers (%66) reported evidence-based practice as the most important need that should be debated in morning reports while the majority of students (%58) reported diagnostic evaluation in response to the question. The majority of trainers and instructors (%41) told that the appropriate chairperson of morning reports is a specialist, while the majority of students suggested sub-specialists.

Conclusion: Students and faculty members had different views about the purpose and discussion focus of morning report. There was different views about who should take the responsibility to conduct the meetings. Most students and faculty members agree that the educational message for the morning session is the best method of internal monitoring. They also reported that the best way to evaluate students by trainers is mastery of students on presentations and their contents.

 

---

Introduction: Identifying educational needs is an essential step in planning faculty development programs. It plays an important role in promoting the quality of education. The aim of this study was to determine and prioritize the educational needs of clinical and non clinical faculty members of Faculty of Medicne of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences.

Methods: A questionnaire was developed for this cross-sectional study using the indices identified by reviewing the literature. The questionnaire was sent to all faculty members of Medical Faculty (n=260). The items were scored from 1 to 20 according to the importance of the educational needs. Data was analyzed by SPSS software.

Results: Different areas of educational needs of the clinical faculty members were respectively prioritized as: familiarity with National Medical Universities Ranking Schemeresearch, personal development, administrative and executive activities, education, specialized activities outside the university and health services and health promotion. In the non clinical faculty members: research, familiarity with National Medical Universities Ranking Schemeeducation, personal development, specialized activities outside the university, administrative and executive activities. The first priority of education in the clinical faculty members was design, implementation and analysis of oral exams. In research domain priorities were data analysis skills and the first priority of education in the non clinical faculty members was how to foster critical thinking and reasoning in research and critical appraisal skills.

Conclusion: Faculty members need all of the seven studiedmajor areas. It is recommended further research to determine the weight of these seven areas using a standard method.

---

Introduction: Understanding determinants of job satisfaction may increase faculty members' motivation towards their educational and research goals. This study aims to determine job satisfaction among faculty members of North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences in 2012.

Method: This is a cross sectional analytic study carried out on 60 faculty members of North Khorasan University of Medical Science in 2012. Herzberg standard questionnaire which had 11 sections of job satisfactions were used to collect data. Data Analysis were done using SPSS V. 19.

Results: The highest average score were reported for the nature of the academic activities and related communications and the lowest scores were reported for the political environment, salary, job security and work environment. In total, the overall job satisfaction rating of faculty members was 3.26±0.37. There were statistical significant relationship between marital status, academic position, type of employment, place of work, type of provided services and job satisfaction (P-value<0.05).

Conclusion: The results showed that job satisfaction of the faculty members was average. Thus, it is essential for university managers to take more attention to the factors that may increase motivation and satisfaction of faculty members in North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences.

 

---

Introduction: Education quality improvement is one of the main goals of higher education. In this regard, has been provided various solutions such as holding educational Shahid Motahari annual festivals, in order to appreciate of educational process, development and innovation educational processes and procedures, preparation of calibration standards and processes of accrediting educational. The aim of this study was to comprehensive evaluating of educational Shahid Motahari festival during six periods (2008-2013) based on CIPP evaluation model.

Method : This cross-sectional study was conducted among the 473 faculty members include deputies and administrators educational, administrators and faculty members of medical education development centers, members of the scientific committee and faculty member’s participants in Shahid Motahari festival from 42 universities medical sciences of Iran. Data collection based on self-report writing questionnaires. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 20 at α=0.05 significant level.

Results: The subjects reported 75.13%, 65.33%, 64.5%, and 59.21 % of receivable scores of process, context, input and product, respectively. In addition, there was a direct and significant correlation between all domains .

Conclusion : According to the study findings, in the evaluation and correlation of domains models, we can explicitly how to holding festivals was appropriate and the main reason for the poor evaluation in product domain is related to the problems in input and product domains.

 

---

Introduction: The sabbatical leave has been recognized as a universal method to fulfill the increasing needs of academic staff to upgrade their knowledge, as well as to enhance responsiveness to their educational needs. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the existing challenges of sabbatical leave in order to be applied efficiently in each of medical universities in Iran. Methods: This qualitative applied study was conducted in 2013 in Kerman (a city in Southeast of Iran). The study data were collected through several deep interviews with 19 outstanding faculty members who were selected throughout a purposeful and systematic sampling. Topic related open questions were asked, and the data were analyzed utilizing the framework approach to qualitative data. Results: The main challenges of appropriate use of the sabbatical leave were classified into problems concerned with the university, individuals, policy makers, admissions, destinations, banking as well as financial issues, and evaluation and monitoring. Conclusion: The study findings revealed that effective use of the potential capacity of sabbatical leaves in order to promote faculty members, different studies requires a comprehensive plan by which the identified the problems are identified in this study declines to the lowest level.

---

Introduction: Basic sciences are an important part of education in medical courses, which without it training the competent and efficient physicians is impossible. Given the complexities of teaching and in particular the teaching of basic sciences and its influence of various factors, comprehensive investigate this phenomenon was felt. This study was aimed to explore the underlying factors affecting the teaching based on experiences of successful faculty members of basic sciences in Isfahan medical school. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using conventional content analysis. The data was collected using purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews with faculty members of basic sciences and group interviews with the students of basic sciences. Results: After analysis the data, the extracted data were divided into three main categories and seven sub- classes, including strengthen the construction of teaching infrastructures (lesson plans, useful and practical educational materials, and continuous curriculum reform), improving the teaching process (facilitating learning and appropriate transfering of content) and completing the teaching process (appropriate evaluation tool and continuity assessment). Conclusion: Some positive experiences, such as reducing volume of materials, teaching useful and practical materials, attractive teaching, early clinical exsposure and provide the appropriate educational materials should be considered as a model and to eliminate negative experiences such as teaching of pure basic sciences, drowning in detail, the emphass on memorization, indulge in speech, the multiple choice tests systems and some faculty members were not ready for some of teaching methods should be taken account some items.

---

Introduction : E-learning is used in the worldwide in higher education to improve the quality of the learning experience by students; at the same time using this approach requires behavioral changes in the faculty members. One of the steps in the implementation and monitoring of e-learning, is audience analysis using techniques such as knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP). This study investigates the knowledge, attitude and faculty members’ performance of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) on e-learning.

Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014-15 through a research-made questionnaire. Face validity was determined by expert opinion, Cronbach’s alpha was measured to assess the reliability and its construct validity was investigated through exploratory factor analysis. . The questionnaire was e-mailed to all TUMS faculty members . 218 faculty members responded to the questionnaire.

Results: The reliability score of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach alphs, and it was 0.79. Exploratory factor analysis of the attitude part of the questionnaire produced a single factor that explained 53% of the variance. The results showed the positive attitude of faculty members regarding e-learning, although their knowledge and practice scores was less than half of the total score. There wass not found any meaningful differences between knowledge, attitude and performance of the participants based on sex, rank and work experience. ANOVA test showed that the difference of scores among schools was statistically significant (  = 0.000;  = 0.003 and  = 0.000, respectively).

Conclusion: The findings of this study showed the state of knowledge, attitude and faculty members’ performance of TUMS on e-learning. Over the past years, TUMS has established suitable e-learning infrastructure such as educational websites and virtual programs as well as training workshop for faculty members. The results of this study can help the revision and improvement of the faculties’ educational programs.

---

Introduction: Holding classes based on a university-set date is a form of discipline and compliance with educational regulations. But what we currently observe is one or more weeks of delay in starting the semester. This study aimed to determine the causes of irregularities at the beginning of each semester in medical universities from the viewpoint of faculty members.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2016, using the available sampling method on 59 faculty members of three Universities of Medical Sciences (Babol, Shahid Beheshti and Iran). The research tool was a 22-item questionnaire consisting of four sections on factors affecting irregularities. The validity of the research tool was confirmed by six faculty members and its reliability was confirmed by the test-retest method (r = 0.82).
Result: The majority of faculty members participating in the study were male (34 people), most of them were assistant professors (23 people) with the average work experience of 15.24±8.6 years. Asking them about the reasons for the students' absence showed that they believed the most important reason was their friends persuading them not to attend the first classes of each semester (4.29±0.773) and the lack of facilities such as dormitory and dining room at the beginning of the semester (3.74±1.28).
Conclusion: According to the findings, the occurrence of irregularities at the beginning of university semesters is influenced by various factors, especially encouraging classmates not to attend the classes, but the teachers can prevent it with their desired influence.
Keywords: Medical students, Faculty members, University

 

---

Introduction: The internationalization of higher education has been identified as a priority and necessity for universities in the country. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of faculty members in internationalization of medical universities in Iran.
Methods: In this qualitative study using grounded theory through literature review and semi-structured interviews with 20 experts, the role of faculty members was identified and a questionnaire by 124 experts with qualitative theory was used. Structural equation modeling analysis method was determined.
Result: Four factors were identified as individual competencies, teaching and research activities, empowerment and teacher mobility along with 28 indicators. Based on the first and second order factor analysis. The indexes of fitness measurement of final model showed that Chi-square ratio to the degree of freedom (CMIN/DF) equals 2.092. Furthermore, the value of the index of square root of reminder squares mean (RMSE(, equals 0.54. The value of goodness of fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI), correlation of fit index (CFI), normalized fit index of Bentler Bonette (NNFI), fit index of Toker – Loise (TLI), increased fit index (IFI), and relative fit index (RFI) in the presented model is higher than 90%, so the data of this study fit the factor structure of this scale.
Conclusion: Faculty members play a key role in the internationalization of medical universities in Iran, and university management should facilitate the process of internationalization through organizational support, participatory management, and investment through professors.
Keywords: Faculty members, Internationalization, University of Medical Sciences

---

Introduction: Proper counseling are very important to improve the quality of life and progress in society, especially in educational centers. The present qualitative study was designed and implemented according to the importance of deep students' opinions to improve the counseling process.
Methods: This present study was a qualitative study which was conducted using Content analysis. Participants in this study were 30 students who were selected through purposive sampling with maximum diversity. In this study, data were obtained to saturated level, using semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using Conventional content analysis in a way that after implement of interviews and floating in data analysis, the basic codes were extracted. In next steps, review, assessment and classifying of basic codes were done in order to determine main data levels.
Result: From the students' point of view, the challenges facing academic counseling included two main themes, four main categories and seven sub-categories. Main themes included “need to improve the organizational factors related to consulling process” and “need to improve the individual factorsamong faculty members and student” and the main categories included lack of proper information to the student, unavailability of consultant faculty members, to select consultant faculty members without considering a student opinion and to be improper the communication between consultant faculty members  and student. Regarding the facilitators of the counseling process, one main theme (strengthening the organizational factors related to consulling process), three main categories and four sub-categories were obtained. The main categories included the separation of the counselor from the faculty members, empowerment of the counselors and student’s freedom to choose a counselor.
Conclusion: The results of the present study show that the process of academic counseling in the university faces organizational and individual challenges such as lack of proper information to the student, unavailability of consultant faculty members, to select consultant faculty members without considering the students opinion, and to be improper the communication between consultant faculty members  and students. Based on the students' views, it seems that by separation of the counselor from the faculty members, empowerment of the counselors and student’s freedom to choose a counselor, the academic counseling process in the university can be improved.
 

---

Introduction: The commitment of faculty members to observe ethical principles and values in the role of a model leads to the strengthening of ethics in students and consequently the development of ethics in society. Therefore, universities need to promote and effectively teach ethics to their professors.
Methods: The present intervention study was designed, implemented and evaluated in the form of a scholarly activity following the Kern curriculum model. Initially, after reviewing the studies and needs assessment, the course objectives, educational content and teaching strategy were determined. Then, ten training sessions were held with a discussion-based teaching method based on real scenarios. All discussions in the classrooms were recorded and implemented. At the end of each session, participants were asked to submit scenarios based on their personal experiences. For evaluation, the number of participants and scenarios were evaluated and the discussions were analyzed and interpreted by content analysis.
Result: Data analysis confirmed the presence of 110 faculty members and the submission of 32 scenarios. In the qualitative section, 194 initial codes were extracted in four main categories: "commitment to teaching and student learning ", "ethics as law", "ethics-oriented educational atmosphere" and "teacher role model".
Conclusion: Considering the welcome of the faculty members and the extraction of key concepts, It is suggested to use this teaching method in the ability of professors to understand the principles of ethics in education, create moral sensitivity and strengthen moral decisions.

---

Introduction: Since internationalization is one of the important priorities of medical universities, so this study was conducted to investigate the challenges of internationalization in medical universities in Tehran.
Methods: This is qualitative research with a conventional content analysis approach. Seventeen faculty members, experts and managers of the international department of Iran, Tehran and Shahid Beheshti Universities of Medical Sciences in the second semester of the academic year of 2018-2019 were selected by purposive sampling method and interviewed semi-structured. Then, the collected data were analyzed based on five Graneheim steps and based on MAXQDA.2019 quality data analysis software.
Result: The findings of the content analysis of the interviews showed that the five main components including structural-legal, political-security, educational-research, cultural-social and economic-infrastructure components along with 13 sub-components including policies Macro, Recruitment and Recruitment Process, Staff and Management, International Services, Status and Educational Services, Research Services, University Reputation, Society culture, University culture , Economic Development and Financial Services and Facilities, Infrastructure Development And universities, welfare services, and the development of information technology and virtual services are among the challenges and barriers to internationalization.
Conclusion: According to the findings, in order to strengthen the internationalization process of higher education, legislative institutions should adopt laws and monitor their implementation, as well as sign memoranda of understanding with other countries. Universities should also pay attention to increasing information capability, improving English language skills and other specialized skills of staff, appropriate advertisements to attract foreign students, exchange students and professors, and strengthen the image of the university.

---

Introduction: Due to the job sensitivity of medical sciences and its direct relationship with public health, the consequences of increasing the length of study of students will affect the society and the health system. Considering the importance of the length of study of PhD students and the lack of information about the reasons for its increase, this study was performed to identify the related factors.
Methods: There was a descriptive- correlational study. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. A total of 118 faculty members participated in completing the questionnaires. 37 employees and 71 students also completed the questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and analytical statistics with SPSS 24 software as well as quantitative content analysis.
Result: Factors related to the dissertation, especially the time-consuming publication of the defense condition article, had the greatest impact on increasing the length of study for PhD students. In quantitative content analysis, the most effective factors for students were dissertation-related factors and for faculty members and employees were personal issues.
Conclusion: According to the results, it is necessary to modify the grant process. Deduct the length of the course while the student is waiting for the article to be published. Allocate research projects that have been paused for an additional semester, excluding the academic year. Also, a plan should be developed to increase financial support for students during their studies.

---

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to assess the psychometric properties of the tool for evaluating attitudes toward educational scholarship from the perspective of faculty members in empowerment programs.
Method: The present study is a cross-sectional (descriptive-analytical) study, conducted at Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences. The Delphi technique was used to evaluate the content and face validity of the Persian version of the questionnaire of Jackson et al 2005. Exploratory factor analysis of the questionnaire was performed for the first time. Internal Consistency test and reproducibility was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, ICC test, respectively.
Results: The results of content validity showed that all items of the questionnaire based on the Lawshe table had values greater than 49.0. Quantitative and qualitative validity of the questionnaire was confirmed. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the items were categorized into two categories: self-efficacy and motivation. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by the internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha = 0.93 and ICC = 0.89 of the questionnaire.
Conclusion: The results confirmed the validity of tool. Therefore this tool could be useful for the evaluation of supportive-educational programs to empower faculty members. In the present study, two factors of self-efficacy and motivation were identified that point to the importance of motivating faculty members that encourages them to start and continue educational research projects. The self-efficacy factor also increases people's belief in the ability to carry out educational research projects.
 Educational scholarship, mentoring, psychometrics, faculty member development

---

Background: The need for medical sciences universities in Iran to develop electronic education in special conditions and crises such as epidemics and pandemics, including the COVID-19 Virus, and even in order to realize the teaching-learning systems, is so necessary. Therefore, this research aimed to determine the level of satisfaction of faculty members from E-learning systems during the COVID-19 pandemic among the selected schools in Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Methods: This research was a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study conducted in 2020-2022. The research population was the faculty members of selected schools of this University including 870, respectively. Sample size determination conducted by Krejcie and Morgan table consisted of 265 faculty members which was determined to be equal to 200 people by taking into account the response rate. The data collection tool was a researcher-constructed educators satisfaction with virtual learning systems questionnaire its face validity and reliability were confirmed. Results: The majority of faculty members as teaching users are relatively satisfied with electronic education and related offline and online systems.
Conclusion: Regarding the current results, most of the faculty members are relatively satisfied with the electronic education system and offline and online systems. However, the Low speed of the Internet could impact educator users. Therefore, it is recommended that providing more appropriate conditions by the empowerment of infrastructure and facilities lead to faculty member's satisfaction with electronic education for better utilization in possible crises in the future.