Journal of Medical Education Development
Year:2013 | Volume:6 | Issue:11|Papers Count:8

Background and Objective: Achievement of maximum educational development is a major goal of education. Social adjustment is a main sign of psychological health. Because of lack of study regarding relationship of the educational development and social adjustment, this study was done. Materials and Methods: Dental students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences were included (N= 87). Depending on educational development, students were given four different California Questionnaires (Same questions with different font). Ultimately data was analyzed with the SPSS version 15 and K2, Variance, T-test and regression. Results: There was not any significant relationship between social adjustment and educational development (p>0.05).The greatest average of social adjustment was found in students with constant educational development. There was not any significant relation between educational development, social adjustment, social factors and responsibility (p>0.05). Conclusion: Attention of education authorities to evaluation of the students' social health and taking measures for improving educational development is important.

Objective: The clinical curriculum of medical teachers has to be in line with the theoretical curriculum. The present study has compared five aspects of the teachers' interaction between theoretical curriculum and the clinical curriculum.Materials and Method: The method was a descriptive survey. From the stager and intern students of Shahed University, in the academic year 1391-92 (N=175), and with recourse to Krjsy and Morgan table, 120 samples were selected. The researcher-made questionnaire on the interactive aspects of the professors (with reliability confirmed by the experts) was used. Two sections of clinical and theoretical education with recourse to Cronbach alpha presented a validity of 0.97 and 0.95.Results: There existed a meaningful difference between the way of interaction of the professors with students, with their colleague, with people and with the two theoretical and clinical curriculums. The rating average of professors' interactions in both types of curricula included the interaction of professors with the patients, with students, with themselves, with society and with colleagues. Thus, the differences in the various types of interactions in two curriculum types did not change the ratings.Conclusion: The decline in the interaction of professors with the students, society and themselves in clinical curriculum compared to that of the theoretical curriculum is the result of professors' paradoxical actions. Interestingly, the interaction with the college in clinical curriculum increases, which by itself is the sign of a paradox between the teaching and practicing of professors and bears various meanings from students' viewpoints.

Background and Objective: Increasing access to hardware and software applications for e-learning has opened a new horizon facing educational institutions that can help to enhance the quality of education. This study was designed to compare the satisfaction and success rate of medical students for their endocrine pathophysiology course with two methods of education using e-learning vs lecture-based mode of instruction.Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 57 medical students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in academic educational year of 2012.Topics related to pathophysiology of endocrine system were divided into two parts. Half of the instructional content delivered via lecture-based approach by two other instructors while the remaining divided in two parts and conveyed by the researcher via e-learning and lecture. At the end of the course the level of satisfaction of the students was evaluated by a valid questionnaire and their scores in lecture courses were compared with scores in courses taught using distance education Results: There were no significant differences between average test scores of students in e- learning courses (11.9±2.7) and in lecture –based delivery of the course with the same teacher (12.25±2.3) and also courses taught by lecture of other teachers (11.2±3.4).The students were ranked based on their final scores in basic science courses. No difference was found between the scores of strong students in e-learning and lecture training contents. However, weak students got better scores in lecture training courses though their success rate to pass the courses were not different.Conclusion: E-learning is as effective as conventional lectures in training the pathophysiology of endocrine system course in medical students. Studies on comparing cost of the two methods are recommended.

objective: EAP textbooks and materials are probably the most important elements in our academic English courses in Iran. Therefore, their evaluation can help to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and hence, to improve their quality. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of EFL instructors and medical students of their EAP textbook. It was also an attempt to find out about the challenges they may face in their teaching and learning contexts.Materials and Methods: To conduct this study, we selected 175 medical students and 25 EFL instructors from four medical universities (Tehran University, Shahid-Beheshti University, Tehran Islamic-Azad University, and Zanjan University). The instruments for gathering data were a questionnaire and interviews. Statistical t-test and MANOVA were used for analyzing the data.Results: The quantitative analyses showed that there was no significant difference between the students' and EFL instructors’ perceptions of their EAP textbook. However, there were significant differences between their perceptions of six different aspects of the textbook. Moreover, the qualitative data showed that overcrowded classes, lack of appropriate materials to the learners’ needs, lack of clear objectives in the EAP context, and shortage of time were the major challenges instructors and students are faced with.Conclusion: Although there were positive perceptions of the textbook, most of the instructors did not think that it was enough for an EAP course. Besides, they believed that the number of the students in their classes should be reduced; there should be clear objectives for EAP courses; and based on such objectives, relevant materials should be designed and developed for Iranian context.

Background and objective: Educational needs assessment is the first step in planning faculty development programs which, in turn, promotes the quality of education. The current study aimed at determining and prioritizing educational needs of faculty members in Ilam University of Medical Sciences.Materials and Method: In a descriptive study, deputy for education, Education affairs, Research, CME, and EDC managers along with 20 concerned faculty members and 28 students were interviewed first. Second, all the faculty members were given a researcher-made questionnaire (r=0.85) containing 47 questions in six main domains. Based on Kaufman's 3D need assessment model, all domains were developed and by Strauss and Corbin 3-stage method details were extracted. Data analysis was conducted by descriptive methods; namely the frequencies, the mean, the standard deviation, and the T test.Results: In teaching-learning domain, the most important educational need was recent teaching methods, while the least important went for journal club. In assessment domain, the most important one was student assessment method, while OSCE was the least. In research domain, the most important priority belonged to paper writing in English, while the least was ethics in research. From ITC domain view points, ITC Skills and applying computer in education were the most and the least priorities respectively. Similarly, in general skills domain teacher-student communication skills were the most important topic; however, professionalism was the least one. Finally, from the English language point of view, English writing/communication was the most important topic, while special scientific texts translation was the least important.Conclusion: All studied topics were considered as educational needs by participants; however, out of all six domains, English language and educational assessment were the first and the last priorities respectively.

Background and objective: Identifying factors affecting students' academic achievement and paying attention to them is a step toward sustainable development. The aim of this study is predicting academic achievement through components of critical thinking and some sociodemographic variables.Materials and Method: 114 first-year medical student of Tehran University of Medical Sciences participated in this research. They completed California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) at the beginning of the academic year. At the end of the academic year, their average and some demographic variables were collected.Results: Stepwise regression results showed that there is a significant relationship between inference and academic achievement (R=0.251), (R2=0.063) and (R2Adj=0.054). Among the four components of sociodemographic variables a significant relationship was found between the subscale scores and academic achievement (F (2, 101) =7.317 P<0.001).Conclusion: The results of this research showed that with density of subject content, students cannot think and use evaluation methods based on memorization of large volume of information. Students learn memorization techniques without thinking and reasoning. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the volume of subject content and student evaluation method. Also, students admission must change until the effectiveness of subscale scores become reasonable.