Assessment of educational needs related to professional development of the instructors at I.R.I.B college

This study has applied descriptive survey research method to explore and prioritize training needs of the instructors of the IRIB College in the academic year 2006- 2007.They were teaching in four departments of communications, media arts, media engineering as well as general courses and Islamic knowledge. Applying the Delphi and job analysis techniques, a number of needs related to professional development were identified. Then, the needs were revised and prioritized, based on which 47 needs in three areas of curriculum planning, teaching, educational evaluation were recognized. Multiple-choice questionnaires designed by the researchers were used to measure the needs based on Likert scale. Instructors answered to two questions on their needs; the first dealing with the necessity of learning that specific need in teaching and the second a self-assessment of their current situation in terms of their qualifications. Inspired by Klein’s need assessment model, this study has examined the needs. The statistical population of this study includes all instructors of IRIB College in the academic year 2006-2007, which amounts to 75. As the instructors were available and cooperative, 70 questionnaires were filled in. After collecting the data, appropriate parametric and non-parametric statistical methods were used to analyze it. According to the need assessment carried out, the following needs are found to be the most frequently stated ones by the instructors of IRIB college: Getting to know the various domains in the educational goals classification (cognitive, affective and psycho-motor), the application of field trip and demonstration methods in teaching- learning, workshop techniques, distance learning, mastering the internet, getting to know the psychological features of students, class management, assessment of the academic achievement and evaluation techniques.