Item Weighting of the Faculty Member's Evaluation Form Regarding Shannon Entropy Technique from Dental Students' View

Faculty members’ evaluation can improve teaching methods and elucidate didactic objectives. To achieve an enhanced evaluation system at medical schools, improving the assessment instruments seems indispensable. Considering the differences between the value of the criteria from the collegiate studentschr('39') view, this study endeavored to line up and weight the evaluation criteria of faculty members from the viewpoint of dental students at Isfahan Dental School.

This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on after-basic-sciences students of Isfahan Dental School in the academic year 2019. A total of 432 students were enrolled, and their attitudes towards the importance of the propositions of evaluation forms in the professorschr('39') evaluation system were solicited through Likert scale. Shannon entropy method was employed to weight and prioritize in the Excel software. The mean scores of itemschr('39') importance grading was analyzed through non-parametric tests for correlation along with gender, year of entry, and collegiate studentschr('39') scores.

According to the opinions of 393 students, in the practical courses, inclusive justification (0.063) and timely attendance of the teacher in the contexts (0.063) and in theoretical courses, presentation of related practical contents (0.083) and fluency on scientific concepts (0.083) had the highest weight. The criterion of justifying students at the beginning of practical training and in the theoretical courses providing materials in a practical way had the great importance and weight.

The obtained weights for the evaluation propositions based on Shannon entropy related to practical and theoretical courses after confirming the reliability could be applied normally.