Zahra Zahedi; Hamid Salehiniya; Afagh Zarei; Hamid Abbaszadeh
Abstract
Background: Due to the widespread utilization of electronic exams, neglecting their quality is a major threat. Assessing the quality of electronic exams plays a decisive role in determining the efficacy of electronic learning.Objectives: This study aimed to assess the quality of electronic exams held ...
Read More
Background: Due to the widespread utilization of electronic exams, neglecting their quality is a major threat. Assessing the quality of electronic exams plays a decisive role in determining the efficacy of electronic learning.Objectives: This study aimed to assess the quality of electronic exams held at the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.Methods: Following a cross-sectional design, this study included all electronic exams of the electronic test center of Birjand University of Medical Sciences during the academic year of 2020. Reliability, discrimination index (DI), and difficulty index (DIF) of exams were used to assess the quality. Descriptive statistics and frequency distributions were used to describe the data.Results: Out of 101 E-exams, 59.4% had appropriate DIF, 61.4% had low DI, and 66.3% had unfavorable reliability. Also, 38.6% of exams had high DIF (easy questions). For all exams, the mean of DIF, DI, and reliability was 0.66±0.14, 0.28±0.08, and 0.56±0.31, respectively. The mean of DI (P= 0.30) and reliability (P= 0.09) was not significantly different based on faculty. The mean of DIF was significantly different according to the faculty (P=0.03).Conclusion: Concerning the quality of e-exams, most problems are related to the DI and reliability. It is recommended to hold empowerment workshops on how to design exam questions for faculty members to get them acquainted with strategies to increase the reliability and discrimination index of the exam.
Reza Dehnavieh; Saeed Hosseini; Somayeh Noori Hekmat; Mohammad Hossein Mehrolhassani; Nasim Pourdamghan; Ali Akbar Haghdoost; Ali Reza Kalantari
Abstract
Background The main objective of medical education development centers is to improve the quality of medical education. However, after more than two decades since the formation of these centers, they are still facing numerous challenges. Objectives Given the importance of these centers, this study was ...
Read More
Background The main objective of medical education development centers is to improve the quality of medical education. However, after more than two decades since the formation of these centers, they are still facing numerous challenges. Objectives Given the importance of these centers, this study was conducted to identify their challenges. Methods A qualitative study was carried out in 2013 on 40 managers of Iranian medical education development centers. Data was collected during a national conference held in Tehran in the form of a questionnaire and analyzed using content analysis. Results Key challenges of the centers were identified to be resource shortage, continuous modifications in policies, weak management, structural problems, lack of communication, regulatory problems and centralization in decision making. The key challenges were divided into 17 sub-challenges. Conclusions Although decades have passed since the formation of medical education development centers, they are still facing serious challenges. To unveil the true potential of these centers in improving the quality of education, integrated interventions were addressed in this study to help reduce identified challenges.
Ali Khalooei; Akram Karbakhsh
Abstract
Background Community medicine departments play a major role in the education of medical students in order to provide primary health care services. The appropriate quality of education in such departments plays an important role in providing effective services for health promotion of communities. Objectives ...
Read More
Background Community medicine departments play a major role in the education of medical students in order to provide primary health care services. The appropriate quality of education in such departments plays an important role in providing effective services for health promotion of communities. Objectives The current study was aimed to evaluate the quality of educational services at the Community Medicine Department of Kerman University of Medical Sciences from the viewpoint of interns and apprentices. Methods The current cross sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted on all medical students that completed their internship or apprenticeship course at the Community Medicine Department of Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2016 as the study population. Data were collected by the service quality measurement questionnaire (SERVQUAL), and analyzed by Independent test, paired test, and one sample test, as well as Pearson correlation coefficient. Results Of 244 participants in the study, 58.2% (n = 142) were female and 41.8% (n = 102) male, 57% (n = 139) were in the internship and 43% (105) in the apprenticeship courses. From the students' point of view, the mean score of perception in all five dimensions of educational quality was significantly lower than the expectations score, which indicated a negative gap in the quality of educational services in all dimensions (P < 0.001). The greatest quality gap was observed in the responsiveness dimension (- 0.86) and the lowest in the assurance dimension (- 0.59). The utility level of the quality of educational services in the Department of Community Medicine was 84% from the viewpoint of the students. The highest level of utility in the quality of medical services was respectively observed in the dimensions of assurance (86.4%) and empathy (86.1%) and the lowest in responsiveness dimension (79.6%) (P < 0.001). The lowest and highest correlations were respectively observed between tangibles and assurance (r = 0.486) and between empathy and assurance (r = 0.708) dimensions. Conclusions In all five dimensions of the quality of educational services, there were negative gap that required planning for quality improvement. Issues such as modifying educational contents and tailoring training to future jobs, modifying educational methods, increasing the contribution of students to educational planning, and updating educational facilities should be considered more urgently in the education quality promotion programs.
Ali Reza Kalantari; Noora Rafiee; Saeed Hosseni; Somaye Noori Hekmat; Ali Akbar Haghdoost; Reza Dehnavieh
Abstract
Background Medical education development (MED) centers are established in order to improve the quality of medical education. It seems that after more than two decades since the establishment, the centers still have difficulties to perform some tasks. Objectives According to the important role of MED ...
Read More
Background Medical education development (MED) centers are established in order to improve the quality of medical education. It seems that after more than two decades since the establishment, the centers still have difficulties to perform some tasks. Objectives According to the important role of MED centers, the current study aimed at adapting the performances of such centers with their assigned tasks. Methods The current qualitative applied study was conducted in 2013. The statistical population of the study included managers of MED centers in Iran. Data were collected through a questionnaire containing open questions. During a national meeting the questionnaire distributed among 40 managers of MED centers and then analyzed using content analysis. Results More than half of the major functions that the managers stated, were referred to the first, second, and fourth tasks of the centers, and only 18% of the major functions were related to other tasks (11 cases). About 28% of the functions performed in such centers had no direct correlation with any of the 14 tasks. Conclusions Despite the history of MED centers for several decades, they are not justified in respect to their duties. It is recommended that guidelines be developed to address all duties and adequately monitor their implementation.
Abolfazl Ghasemzadeh-Alishahi; Rouholah Mahdiuon; Parisa Zarezadeh; Farougheh Arghadeh
Volume 13, Issue 1 , April 2016, , Pages 41-48
Abstract
Background & Objective: The quantitative development of higher education regardless of quality will lead to undesirable consequences The main clients of universities are students Determination of their perception of educational services quality can provide policy maker with valuable information in ...
Read More
Background & Objective: The quantitative development of higher education regardless of quality will lead to undesirable consequences The main clients of universities are students Determination of their perception of educational services quality can provide policy maker with valuable information in order to improve educational services quality This study was conducted in order to investigate educational services quality based on the SERVQUAL model from the perspective of students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Iran Methods: The statistical population of this study included 3084 students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences In order to perform this descriptivecorrelational study 200 students were randomly selected For data collection the SERVQUAL questionnaire was used This questionnaire consists of five dimensions (tangibility reliability empathy responsiveness and assurance) of educational services quality with 27 questions The validity of the questionnaire was approved through content validity methods and its reliability using Cronbachs alpha coefficient The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one sample ttest Results: The study results indicated students positive evaluation of tangibility responsiveness reliability and empathy dimensions of educational services quality Conclusion: The results showed that in general in all dimensions of educational services quality of service was higher than average The lowest and highest means were observed in the responsiveness and reliability dimensions respectively
Seyyed Kamran Soltani Arabshahi; Mahla Salajegheh
Volume 12, Supplement , July 2015, , Pages 140-149
Abstract
Background and Objective: In the present study, the evaluation domain of ambulatory care training in Firoozgar Hospital, Tehran, Iran, was assessed based on the Iranian national standards of undergraduate medical education related to ambulatory education using the Baldrige scoring matrix. It also offered ...
Read More
Background and Objective: In the present study, the evaluation domain of ambulatory care training in Firoozgar Hospital, Tehran, Iran, was assessed based on the Iranian national standards of undergraduate medical education related to ambulatory education using the Baldrige scoring matrix. It also offered some suggestions for the promotion of education quality by use of the gap analysis method between the current condition and these standards.
Methods: This descriptive analytic study was a kind of evaluation research performed using the standard checklist published by the undergraduate medical education council. Document evaluation, survey, and observation were performed based on the Baldrige excellence model. After the confirmation of validity and reliability of the checklist, the establishment level of national standards was evaluated in the clinics of Firoozgar Hospital in the evaluation domain. Data were analyzed according to the national standards of the domain of ambulatory education and the Baldrige scoring matrix. Finally, the quality of the current condition was determined as very satisfactory, satisfactory, medium, weak, and very weak.
Results: In the clinics of Firoozgar Hospital, 25.50% of the national standards related to ambulatory education in the evaluation domain were observed and this domain was at a medium level.
Conclusion: Due to the medium level of the evaluation domain, it is suggested that ambulatory education authorities provide the necessary facilities and reformations by considering the national standards of ambulatory education in the domains that were determined as weak and need quality promotion.
Seyed Mostafa Seyedaskari; Mohammad Ali Shafa; Farhad Iranmanesh; Amin Beigzadeh; Mahboobeh Mohammad Pour Ravari
Volume 12, Supplement , July 2015, , Pages 159-167
Abstract
Background & Objective: Quality assessment of educational services is one of the most important actions in line with an improvement in the services. If the qualitative dimension of services is not taken into account, we will observe significant academic failure and reduction in creativity among the ...
Read More
Background & Objective: Quality assessment of educational services is one of the most important actions in line with an improvement in the services. If the qualitative dimension of services is not taken into account, we will observe significant academic failure and reduction in creativity among the learners. Therefore, one of the salient steps in improving the quality of educational services is quality assessment from the viewpoints of its users. The aim of the present study was to determine the quality of educational services from the viewpoints of residents based on the SERVQUAL model.
Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 204 residents from the educational hospitals of Kerman, Iran, participated. The participants were selected using simple random sampling method. The data collection tool was the Evaluation of Educational Quality Questionnaire that evaluates educational quality based on the SERVQUAL gap analysis method. This tool compares respondents’ perceptions and expectations of the quality of educational services in 5 domains (reliability, responsibility, confidence, assurance, empathy, and tangible physical). Content validity of this questionnaire was approved by experts' opinions and its reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha (r = 0.88). To analyze data, SPSS software was used for performing descriptive (mean, standard deviation) and analytical (independent t-test) tests. Results: The findings showed that there was a negative gap between residents' perceptions and expectations of the quality of educational services in all 5 dimensions. The highest and lowest level of gap was related to the tangible physical (-1.50) dimension and the responsibility (-0.51) dimension, respectively.
Conclusion: There is a negative gap between residents' perceptions and expectations in different dimensions of educational services quality based on the SERVQUAL model. In order to improve the quality of education, a review of educational infrastructures (environment and facilities) and education management seems necessary. This requires the efforts of relevant authorities toward the development and improvement of these infrastructures.
Abbas Bazargan
Volume 6, Issue 1 , July 2009, , Pages 81-88
Abstract
Background: Quality of higher education has been drawing more attention over the past two decades Hence concerted efforts have been increasingly made to assess and improve higher education quality worldwide Some of these attempts have led to establishing local national and international organizations ...
Read More
Background: Quality of higher education has been drawing more attention over the past two decades Hence concerted efforts have been increasingly made to assess and improve higher education quality worldwide Some of these attempts have led to establishing local national and international organizations for assessment and accreditation Based on the above this study is discussing the answer to the question concerning “To what extent attempts towards quality assessment in Iran have been directed to establish a national agency for assessment and accreditation?” To address this question first ground breaking experiences experience of Iran in this regard are described Then international experiences and challenges of building a national quality assessment and accreditation in higher education system in general and in medical education in particular are reviewed Finally perspectives of establishing Iranian Universities Quality Network are analyzed Conclusion : Institution building in assessment and accreditation would help strengthening of ownership of quality assurance in faculty members as a result continuous quality assessment and improvement of higher education would become an integral part of higher education system
Teamur Aghamolaei; Shahram Zare; Sadigheh Abedini
Volume 3, Issue 2 , January 2007, , Pages 78-85
Abstract
Background: Higher education is growing fast and every day it is more and more exposed to the globalization processes The quality of educational Services with emphasis on students satisfaction is a newly emerging field of concern Objective : This study was carried out to determine the quality gap of ...
Read More
Background: Higher education is growing fast and every day it is more and more exposed to the globalization processes The quality of educational Services with emphasis on students satisfaction is a newly emerging field of concern Objective : This study was carried out to determine the quality gap of educational services based on students perceptions and expectations in Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences Methods: In this crosssectional study 300 students were selected randomly and asked to fill out a questionnaire designed according to SERVQUAL method This questionnaire measures students perceptions and expectations in five dimensions of educational services including assurance responsiveness empathy reliability and tangibles Quality gap of educational services was determined by calculating the difference between students perceptions and expectations Results: According to the results there were negative quality gaps in all of the five dimensions The greatest gap (114) was in responsiveness dimension followed respectively by empathy (095) assurance (089) tangibles (084) and reliability (071) There were significant differences among the means of quality gap in all of the five domains (p=00001) Conclusion: Negative quality gap of educational services indicates that students expectations are more than their perceptions and in none of the studied dimensions students perceptions have met their expectations Thus in planning for the improvement of educational services quality students expectations especially in the dimensions with higher negative gaps should be considered as priority