Iranian Journal of Medical Education

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Introduction: Usability is one of the issues that must be considered in designing effective e-learning courses. The aim of this study was evaluating employees’ opinion in Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) about usability of in-service electronic training courses. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on employees in Tehran University of Medical Sciences, working in the fields of health care, finance and logistics, cultural and educational affairs. They had participated in electronic in-service training courses. Random stratified sampling was used to select 651 eligible employees to complete a 21 item questionnaire on usability, learning ability, and satisfaction based on Likert scale. Content validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed in a pilot study and by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, respectively. Data were analyzed by statistical tests such as Student’s T test and One Way ANOVA with Bonferroni Post Hoc test based on the type of variable in SPSS 16. Results: The mean score and SD of the employees’ viewpoints regarding learning ability was 3.4 ± 0.5, satisfaction 3.7 ± 0.7, and usability 3.2 ± 0.5. Based on the results, variables of job field, location of computer access, ability to use computer, internet access, and motivation to participate in e-courses showed a significant correlation with usability. Conclusion: The findings showed that the usability of e-courses from the viewpoint of the university employees seems acceptable. Employees’ computer knowledge and their accessibility to software and hardware were influential to usability of educational courses.

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Introduction: As there are different e-CME content formats, we need documented evidence for comparing them. In this study, we determined the proper e-content format for CME activities in Iran. Methods: We devised a questionnaire to gather the opinion of the faculty members who had the experience of e-CME content development about the proper e-CME content format for Iranian medical society. Based on their opinion, we developed 20 e-CME contents and delivered them to the medical society. Learners’ evaluation of the contents provided us with the evidence for assessing the experts’ opinion. Results: There was a significant difference among scores that faculty members had given to different types of contents (P<0.001). They believed that case-based interactive e-contents would improve learners’ performance and increase their interest more than other formats. But they declared that this kind of e-content development is more difficult and time-consuming than developing other types. Learners rated the programs as 4.56 (SD= 0.65) on the 1–5 Likert-type scale, which shows that they are satisfied with this e-content format. Conclusion: Considering the necessity to compare different e-learning strategies and also defining national models to apply them, this study’s results would help designers and providers of e-CME programs in decision making. But more studies should be performed to determine these programs’ learning outcomes.

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Introduction: The rapid expansion of e-learning elucidates the necessity of paying attention to this phenomenon by all educational centres especially medicals. Considering the importance of this subject and regarding the commencement of new courses in our country as well as the establishment of higher education disciplines, this paper aimed to review the structured analysis of requirements, challenges, problems, and barriers in the application of e-learning in education and thus provide a model and guide for choosing, designing, and implementing an electronic course. Methods: Theoretically viewing, this is a review study. Researcher selected and studied total 100 articles (literature review and original research articles published from 2003 and afterwards) out of 4700 Articles found from databases of ERIC, ACM, GUIDE Association, Digital Learning, OECDT, and Becta, using search engines of Google and Yahoo. The keywords used in this search were “requirements, challenges and e-learning”. Then the findings were combined with results of an experimental study by the researcher extracted from a satisfaction questionnaire, and finally analyzed. Results: After discussion and summing up the reports and opinions of experts regarding the requirements and challenges of setting up an e-learning system, main factors and infrastructures were summarized in the following domains: 1) IT, 2) human resources, 3) pedagogical, 4) cultural, social and values, 5) economic, 6) management, and 7) administrative and supportive. Then a fundamental approach for the stages of analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of an electronic course was proposed. Conclusion: The spectrum of requirements and challenges of e-learning in our country is so extensive, as it includes: changes in traditional perspectives to creation of cultural, communicative, and hardware infrastructures, formal and public policymaking, legislation and creating legal platforms in education systems, creation of an e-learning management system, development of the fields for content production based on international standards, and privatization for the production of local e-content. Presentiation of an executive model considering the above-mentioned findings could help the managers and decision makers for a successful implementation and further efficacy of this approach.

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Introduction: There are few studies that compare electronic learning in continuing medical education using instructional material developed based on scientific principles of instructional and motivational designs. Therefore, this study was performed in Kermanshah University of Medical Science in 2011 in order to compare physicians’ learning and motivation in these two instructional approaches. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study 60 general physicians and medical residents were selected by convenience sampling method. E-learning content development in control group (n=30) was based on instructional design models and in the experimental group (n=30) was based on the integration of instructional design and motivational design models by Macromedia Flash software. In this study, three questionnaires of demographic information (with 8 items), learning outcomes (with 20 questions) and motivation level (with 48 items) were used. The data were collected by pretest and posttest both containing similar questions and the physician’ motivation questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed by Levene’s test, independent and paired sample T tests and chi square test. Results: Based on the findings, there was no significant difference between pretest scores of the two groups (11.37±1.19 vs. 11.73±0.69) but there was a significant difference between posttest learning scores (15.63±1.38 vs. 17.53±0.94) and motivation of physicians (143.83±5.45 vs. 160.63±22.41) in both groups (p<.05). Conclusion: The physicians’ learning and motivation were different in these two instructional methods therefore, it is recommended that instructional and motivational design be used in future electronic continuing medical education programs

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Introduction: The use of e-learning methods has brought about a great revolution in the field of medical sciences education. In this regard, analytical assessment of the literature can be effective in understanding the effectiveness of e-learning system and its design and implementation requirements. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a synthesis research on the effectiveness of e-learning in medical sciences education and explore its design and implementation requirements.
Methods: This research employed a qualitative synthesis approach. Data were collected by searching through library sources, dissertations and papers in databases of ERIC, ProQuest, Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, Springer, Magiran and Irandoc. Databases were searched using the keywords effectiveness, e-learning, distance education, virtual medical education, blended learning and e-learning requirements both separately and in combination. A total of 178 research studies (Persian and English), published from 2007 to 2016, were identified, of which 78 were selected for analysis.
Results: Findings showed that e-learning has been effective in different fields of medical sciences for both fully electronic courses and blended learning courses. In addition, pedagogical, organizational and technical requirements should be identified and applied for effective design and implementation of the e-learning system.
Conclusion: Successful and effective implementation of the e-learning system requires adequate infrastructures, preparedness at the levels of knowledge, skill and attitude among students and professors as well as appropriate designing of educational programs based on meticulous needs assessments in the target population.

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Introduction: In recent decades, self-regulated learning has been identified as an important factor in academic achievement and performance. The aim of this study was to present a causal model for factors affecting self-regulated learning among MSc students of Paramedical Sciences in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.
Methods: In this descriptive correlational study, the data were collected through a combined questionnaire which was completed by a number of 310 of Paramedical Students. The participants of the study were selected through a multistage method (cluster, stratified and random sampling) in 2018-19 at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. The data were analyzed by path analysis using Amos, Lisrel and SPSS.
Results: The results showed that the three endogenous factors (perfectionism, task value, future orientation) had a significant effect on the academic self-regulation in the students. The highest total effect on self-regulation was related to perfectionism and academic self-efficacy (0.43) among the exogenous variables.
Conclusion: Considering the goodness of fit indices and investigation of the model as a whole in the study group, the model had a good fit for the indices and can be used in decision making and policy making.