Reza Abbasi; Ahmad Raeesi; Sahar Zare
Abstract
Background: E-learning is one of the new methods of education that helps to increase people’s knowledge and performance by using new technologies.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitude of graduate and postgraduate students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences ...
Read More
Background: E-learning is one of the new methods of education that helps to increase people’s knowledge and performance by using new technologies.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitude of graduate and postgraduate students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences toward using e-learning technology.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among graduate and postgraduate students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences in autumn 2017. The data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability was verified (α = 0.82). Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical tests (including t-test, ANOVA, and Spearman correlation) to investigate the relationship between the mean score of e-learning usefulness and students’ demographic information in SPSS software.Results: About 80% of e-learning students found it a good tool for the exchange of information and educational content between faculty and students at different universities and more than 40% believed that e-learning could improve the quality of education. About 57% of the participants were interested in using the technology. More than 70% of the students reported e-learning to be useful. Also, there was a significant relationship between the mean score of the usefulness of e-learning with age (P = 0.049), computer use skill (P = 0.025), and mobile use skill (P <0.001).Conclusion: From the students’ perspective, using e-learning technology is useful and it saves time and costs, and improves the quality of their education. It also makes it easier for students to answer their questions later. Therefore, it may be better to use this technology besides the traditional method to make it more effective.
Reza Malek Pourafshar; Reza Shojaeipour; Payam Khazaeli; Azam Bazrafshan; Amin Beigzadeh; Mahmood Reza Dehghani
Abstract
Background: Currently, many medical universities in Iran use e-learning programs to educate and evaluate students. This teaching and assessment method is highly significant during the coronavirus epidemic.Objectives: The present study was conducted to compare the analytic indices of in-person vs. online ...
Read More
Background: Currently, many medical universities in Iran use e-learning programs to educate and evaluate students. This teaching and assessment method is highly significant during the coronavirus epidemic.Objectives: The present study was conducted to compare the analytic indices of in-person vs. online exams at the Kerman University of Medical Sciences, (KUMS), Iran.Method: This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020. The study samples included all exams given at the KMUS and midterm exam scores obtained from in-person and online courses in the first and second semesters in the academic year 2019-2020. The exams were selected based on courses, and the same courses were offered both in-person and online; thus, only one group was studied. Course exam indicators, including difficulty and discriminative index, were examined. Data analyzed using SPSS software version 22.Results: The mean of the difficulty index related to in-person and online exams were (0.62 ± 0.1) and (0.68 ± 0.1), respectively. (P=0.01). The mean of the discriminative index related to in-person (0.30± 0.07) and online (0.33± 0.08) exams had no statistically significant difference (P˃0.05). The frequency of easy questions in online exams was significantly higher, (55% vs. 43%) (p = 0.008). The frequency of questions with an appropriate discriminative index was significantly higher for in-person exams compared to online exams (58% vs. 54%) (p = 0.01).Conclusion: The difficulty index was acceptable and appropriate for both in-person and online exams. Both exams had appropriate quality according to the discriminative index .Therefore, it seems that e-learning programs and assessments can be a good alternative to in-person teaching in emergencies.
Faisal Muhammad
