@2025 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2228-5468    Education Strategies in Medical Sciences 2015;8(3):159-164

Background
… [1-8] Medical education process is influenced by many variables including students, faculty members, education and educational method [9]. Faculty members as one of important components of implementing e-learning programs should have positive attitudes toward the effectiveness of these programs if they want to use these programs [10].
Previous Studies
University professors of some universities had relatively good attitude toward e learning [11, 12], while the professors` use of this method was very limited [13]. … [14] In foreign studies, lack of students` access to the internet, lack of preparedness of students, lack of organizational support, the level of personal interest in the use of technology, lack of infrastructure and enough technology to provide e-learning have been mentioned [15,16].
Aim(s)
This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of faculty members of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences toward e-learning.
Research type
This is a cross-sectional study.
Research society, place and time
Faculty members of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (Iran) were studied in 2014.
Sampling method and number
After a pilot study, 70 faculty members known as the faculty members of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences with an experience of at least one semester teaching in the mentioned university were chosen as the samples of the study using Simple Random Selection Method. The number of samples is calculated 70.
Used devices&materials
Data collecting tool was in the form of a questionnaire consisting of demographic characteristics (5questions) and professors` background variables including access to the internet (4items) and computer and internet skills (15 questions).To measure the attitude of professors, Mishra standard e-learning attitude questionnaire including 22 items was used [17]. Questions were measured based on 5-item Likert scale. Thus, one to five scores were awarded to each question. Considering 22 questions of attitude, scores less than 55 were considered as negative attitude; scores between 56 and 82 were considered as positive attitude and the scores above 83 were considered as very positive attitude. Therefore, in the domain of access to computer and internet with four questions, the scores less than 10 were considered as undesirable condition; scores between 11 and 15 were considered as desirable level, and the score above 16 were considered as very desirable condition. In the domain of computer skills with 15 questions, scores less than 37 were considered as undesirable condition; scores between 37 and 56 were considered as appropriate level, and scores above 57 were considered as very appropriate level. The reliability of Mishra questionnaire has been mentioned 0.71 in home studies [18] and 0.81 in foreign studies [17]. In the present study, the reliability of Mishra attitude scale (0.90), the reliability of computer access (0.79), and computer skill (0.86) were confirmed. For data analysis, Frequency Distribution, Mean, Distribution Parameters and Chi-square test were used.
Findings by Text
69 faculty members of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences participated in the research. The mean age of professors was 41.13 ± 8.72years. Most of the instructors who participated in the study, were male (73.5%), in the age group 30 to 49 years (36.2%), with teaching experience less than 4 years (39.7%), ranked as assistant professors (68.7%), and working at the School of medicine (37.7%). The mean score of faculty members` attitude toward e-learning was 73.04 ±11.02; the mean score of access to computer and internet was 15.52 ± 3.75, and the mean score of computer and internet skills was 47.91 ± 9.20. The faculty members' access to computers and the internet in more than 63% of the cases was very desirable and the condition of their computer skills was desirable in more than 72% of the cases. Also, professors` attitude to e-learning was positive in 78% of cases and it was negative in less than 3% of cases (Table 1). The faculty members` attitudes were significantly associated only with their academic ranking i.e. faculty members who were assistant professors had much higher positive attitude toward e-learning compared to faculty members with other academic ranking (Table 2). The faculty members` attitude did not have any significant correlation with the level of access to computer and the level of computer skills.
Main comparison to the similar studies
Most of the faculty members had positive or very positive attitude in the domain of e-learning. This is while, only less than 3% of participants had negative attitude. Faculty members` attitude was only significantly associated with their academic rank i.e. the faculty members who were assistant professors had much higher positive attitude compared to teachers of other ranks. Investigating the attitude of faculty members of Tehran Nursing and Midwifery School toward e-learning shows that 66% of the instructors have positive attitude and 34% have very positive attitude, while none of them have negative attitude toward e-learning and more positive attitude was along with faculty members’ more readiness [19]. Faculty members` attitude was reported higher than average level which had direct correlation with their academic ranking, and it showed an inverse relationship with the working experience [12]. The results of these studies are consistent with the results of the present study. The majority of country university professors who had e-learning program had positive attitude toward e-learning as a teaching aid [20]. Most of Jordanian professors have relatively positive attitude toward e-learning [21]. Most of Saudi Arabian professors have positive attitude toward e-learning [22]. Similar results have been reported in Pakistan [23]. The results of internal and external investigation with regard to type of attitude are consistent with the results of the current study. The status of the professors` access to computer and internet in the domain of e-learning was very desirable in most cases, and the status of the professors in the use of computer skills was desirable. This is while the attitude of the professors did not have any significant relationship with the status of access to computers and computer skills. More than half of the faulty members had the sufficient skills to use computers. However 95% of them stated that they did not have essential facilities and equipment at home or university [9], which is inconsistent with the results of this study. In the similar study, Tehran University professors` skills in the use of internet and email were 100%, while 88% of them were not familiar with computer programming language. In terms of access to computer and email, 78% of the professors had laptop, 76% had access to high speed internet, and 76% had access to professional databases [24], which is consistent with the results of this study. Tehran University Professors` satisfaction with implementing such program has been 58.8%. The level of easy access to the internet was 52.8%. 100% of the professors were in favor of implementation of blended learning approach and 67.9% believed that encouraging system should be used in implementation of this approach and 80.4% believe in the existence of a monitoring system for prepared content. The highest percentage of skills (94%) was related to the use of Microsoft Word, and this is while more than 70 % of them did not have the skills of working with SPSS software and Microsoft Excel [25]. The results of the above study were consistent with the results of current study in terms of internet access and computer use skills.
Suggestions
Readiness and access of other effective elements in implementing program including learners, organizations, and management should be considered as well.
Limitations
The professors` use of e-learning environment has not been investigated. One of the limitations was self-report data.
Conclusions
Most of the faculty members of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences have positive to highly positive attitude towards e-learning. All the professors were in the desirable condition in terms of access and skills to work with computers which to some extent is indicative of appropriate capacity of human resources at Zanjan University of Medical Sciences for successful implementation of e-learning programs. Also, faculty members` attitude has a significant correlation with their academic rank.
Acknowledgments
Participating faculty members are appreciated.
Conflict of interest
There was no conflict between the interests of the authors.
Ethical Permissions
The research license was obtained from Research Department of Zanjan Medical Sciences.
Funding Sources
This study was sponsored by the Research Department of the Zanjan University of Medical Sciences.

TABLES and CHARTS

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