Designing Criteria and Indices for Educational Ranking of Paramedical Sciences Schools in Iran

Background: Assessing the statue of educational services in schools of Paramedical Sciences can help authorities to plan for further promotion through identifying schools' strengths and weaknesses. Objective: To design criteria and indices for educational ranking of associate programs of Paramedical Sciences including Laboratory Sciences, Operating Room Nursing, Technology of Radiology, Anesthesiology, Nuclear Medicine, Technology of Radiotherapy and Medical Emergencies in Iran. Methods: In an expert committee, criteria used in worldwide rankings and medical education standards were reviewed. Then a set of criteria and indices which were compatible to Iran educational system was devised and their weights were defined through consensus developing methods. Each school was asked to introduce a representative to collect schools’ information and schools were visited to verify the gathered data. Then schools' scores for each criterion were calculated. Results: A set of 42 criteria sorted as a tree diagram was devised. Main branches of this tree included input branch consisting of National Entrance Examination (Weight: 2%), faculty members (weight: 18%), and facilities and equipment (weight: 20%), process branch consisting of administrations (weight: 40.5%) and support and counseling systems (weight: 4.5%) and output branch consisting of students' output (weight: 9%) and faculty members' output (weight: 6%). Conclusion: This study provided the educational strengths and weaknesses of Paramedical Sciences programs in Iran. The results can be used in devising practical strategies for qualitative and quantitative improvement . Keywords: Education, Allied health, Ranking, Stratification, School, Associate program

Designing a Model of Student Support in e-Learning Using Qualitative Content Analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process

Student support services, especially for students who study virtually, increase satisfaction, attract new students, complete the course, and improve overall student performance. Given the importance of student support in e-learning and the fact that student support models should be specific to the culture and economic conditions and technology of their context, the present study set to design a native model of student support in e-learning for post-graduate students. To conduct the research, first a systematic search was performed to extract the existing models of student support. Through forming an expert panel and rating the models, more compatible models with the context of Iran were selected. The interview questions were then extracted from the concepts of the models who scored the most in the expert panel session. In relation to the examples of student support, interviews were conducted with 22 university teachers, education officials, and post-graduate students studying in educational branches leading to a virtual degree of medical sciences. Using content analysis of codes, sub-categories and the resulting categories were extracted from the interviews. Finally, in the expert panel session, using the (analytic hierarchy process) AHP, the categories were prioritized and the model was designed. After analyzing the content of the interviews, four main categories, namely teaching and learning, interactions and communications, empowerment, and structural support were extracted and the final model of student support was designed using the opinions of e-learning instructors. Despite relatively similar similarities between the native model of student support for e-learning students and the existing models, this model, which is designed based on the needs of students and faculty and e-learning officials, places more emphasis on teaching, learning, interactions, and communications

Factors Creating an Educational Atmosphere in Cyberspace: A Qualitative Study

Background: Because of the developments and advancements in information technology (IT), unparalleled opportunities have been provided in electronic arenas; among them, electronic learning (e-learning) systems have brought attention to the facilitation of education. Since educational environment is a factor influencing the success of educational programs, the current study aims at evaluating the factors that create the educational atmosphere in cyberspace. Methods: The current study employed a qualitative content analysis approach and a targeted sampling method. A total of 11 students and 13 faculty members were recruited by a semi-structured interview in 2015. The interviews were continued separately for both students and lecturers up to the saturation of sample size. After the interview data were qualitatively analyzed. Results: After the data analysis, 685 codes were extracted out of the qualitative data, which were reevaluated in several stages and classified into 38 subcategories. Then, 13 categories and 6 domains (The status of virtual education, learner support, teaching skills, evaluation, professionalism and professional ethics, and self-efficacy) were created. Conclusions: Since the educational environment is an inseparable part of a curriculum, the factors creating an educational atmosphere in cyberspace are critically important and necessary for the qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the curriculum and prediction of educational outcomes. Keywords: Educational Atmosphere, Cyberspace, Qualitative Study, Content Analysi

Interpreting students’ perception of the e-Learning environments: determining optimal Cut-off Points for the e-Learning Educational Atmosphere Measure (EEAM)

There is a need for institutions to evaluate their e-Learning educational atmosphere to improve students’ learning experiences. The E-Learning Educational Atmosphere Measure (EEAM) is a comprehensive tool focusing on the students’ perception of the e-Learning environment. To be able to verbally interpret the results of the measure for better comprehension and more effective and consistent usage, it is essential to establish clear cut-off scores. We aimed to determine the optimal cut-off points for the EEAM scores by plotting them as the ROC curves versus a single global rating question. The findings showed that while the range of the possible EEAM scores was 40 to 200, cut-off points of equal or below 127, between 127 to 152, and equal or above 152 indicated students’ perception of the e-Learning atmosphere as “poor to weak”, “moderate”, and “good to excellent” respectively. The Area Under the Curve for scores that reflected the “poor to weak” state was 0.875 (p-value=0.000) with a sensitivity of 84.8% and a specificity of 70.0%. This area was 0.947 (p-value=0.000) for the “good to excellent” state with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 82.1%. Our findings are useful in studying, evaluating, and monitoring the e-Learning educational atmosphere of institutions or comparing the results of multiple settings

Psychometric properties of the Postgraduate Hospital Educational Environment Measure in an Iranian hospital setting

Background: Students’ perceptions of the educational environment are an important construct in assessing and enhancing the quality of medical training programs. Reliable and valid measurement, however, can be problematic – especially as instruments developed and tested in one culture are translated for use in another. Materials and method: This study sought to explore the psychometric properties of the Postgraduate Hospital Educational Environment Measure (PHEEM) for use in an Iranian hospital training setting. We translated the instrument into Persian and ensured its content validity by back translation and expert review prior to administering it to 127 residents of Urmia University of Medical Science. Results: Overall internal consistency of the translated measure was good (a=0.94). Principal components analysis revealed five factors accounting for 52.8% of the variance. Conclusion: The Persian version of the PHEEM appears to be a reliable and potentially valid instrument for use in Iranian medical schools and may find favor in evaluating the educational environments of residency programs nationwide

T he Relationship of Satisfaction and Usage of Virtual Learning Facilities with Learning Style in Medical, Health and Operating Room Students

Background: Nowadays, several studies have been performed on the factors affecting the effectiveness of virtual education. One of the characteristics of learners is their different learning styles. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between learning style and the level of satisfaction and usage of e-learning facilities in medical students. Methods: This cross-sectional and retrospective (ex post facto) study was performed among medical, public health and operating room students of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences in 2017. We redesigned their courses to be delivered in the blended method, so that teachers used a Learning Management System (LMS) in addition to traditional teaching. Information about learning styles was collected using Kolb’s questionnaire, satisfaction level evaluated with a researcher made questionnaire and use of e-learning was examined by checking system loggings. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, Tukey’s post hoc, Welch’s ANOVA and X2 tests in SPSS software. Results: Students’ satisfaction with e-content in diverging learning style was higher (P = 0.032), but there was no significant relationship between learning style and demographic characteristics and total average mark. Also, there was no significant difference in the amount of using e-learning facilities between different learning style groups (P = 0.256). Conclusion: It seems that using virtual learning facilities and considering the type of learning style in students can increase their satisfaction. Keywords: Personal Satisfaction, e-Learning, Learning, Students, Educatio

Designing Criteria and Indices for Educational Ranking of Paramedical Sciences Schools in Iran

Background: Assessing the statue of educational services in schools of Paramedical Sciences can help authorities to plan for further promotion through identifying schools' strengths and weaknesses. Objective: To design criteria and indices for educational ranking of associate programs of Paramedical Sciences including Laboratory Sciences, Operating Room Nursing, Technology of Radiology, Anesthesiology, Nuclear Medicine, Technology of Radiotherapy and Medical Emergencies in Iran. Methods: In an expert committee, criteria used in worldwide rankings and medical education standards were reviewed. Then a set of criteria and indices which were compatible to Iran educational system was devised and their weights were defined through consensus developing methods. Each school was asked to introduce a representative to collect schools’ information and schools were visited to verify the gathered data. Then schools' scores for each criterion were calculated. Results: A set of 42 criteria sorted as a tree diagram was devised. Main branches of this tree included input branch consisting of National Entrance Examination (Weight: 2%), faculty members (weight: 18%), and facilities and equipment (weight: 20%), process branch consisting of administrations (weight: 40.5%) and support and counseling systems (weight: 4.5%) and output branch consisting of students' output (weight: 9%) and faculty members' output (weight: 6%). Conclusion: This study provided the educational strengths and weaknesses of Paramedical Sciences programs in Iran. The results can be used in devising practical strategies for qualitative and quantitative improvement . Keywords: Education, Allied health, Ranking, Stratification, School, Associate program

Developing Educational Status Assessment Tools for Nursing Schools in Iran and their Ranking in 2004

Introduction: Recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of schools through comparison of their educational services status, is one of the effective ways in determining their present situations. In other words, educational ranking of institutions and introducing the best models, is the requisite for short-term and long-term plannings regarding qualitative and quantitative improvement of schools. The aim of this study was to develop a tool for studying the qualitative and quantitative status of educational services in nursing schools and ranking them through this tool. Methods: In a survey study, a set of criteria for investigating educational services was developed based on a tree diagram model. Then, the weignt of these criteria was determined through consensus making method. A representative from each school was introduced to complete the questionnaire. Through visiting the schools, the data was completed and revised. Subsequently, the score of every individual school was estimated for each criterion. A computer software was exploited to perform the final analysis. Results: In order to investigate the educational services provided in nursing education, a set of more than 60 criteria and indicators in three subsets of input, process, and output were designed and their weights were also determined. The first rank belonged to nursing discipline in School of Nursing and Midwifery of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences with the score of 65.15 out of 100 School of Nursing and Midwifery of Tehran University of Medical Sciences with the score of 62.59 out of 100 owned the secon rank and the third rank belonged to School of Nursing and Midwifery of Iran University of Medical Sciences with the score of 59.76 out of 100. Conclusion: Having this project carried out, the strengths and weaknesses of educational services provided in nursing field were defined, and presented to administrators and educational managers as a practical model for qualitative and quantitative improvements