Evaluation of the Virtual Education System in Shoushtar Faculty of Medical Sciences During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 1400

The COVID-19 epidemic led to the country's education system being affected due to absenteeism in schools, universities, and colleges. Considering the various dimensions of virtual education such as educational content, teaching-learning activities, feedback, flexibility, and support, it seems that evaluating this educational system requires the knowledge and active participation of teachers and learners and the support of educational centers.

This descriptive-analytical study included 32 faculty members and 212 students from various educational groups of the Shoushtar Faculty of Medical Sciences in 2021. Participants were selected by stratified random sampling. A questionnaire was completed by all participants. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. The Chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between qualitative variables, and an independent t-test was used to compare the means. p<0.05 was considered significant.

According to the results, the average age for faculty members and students was 37.15 ± 5.56 and 23.75 ± 6.42, respectively. The study showed that the virtual education system of the Shoushtar Faculty of Medical Sciences is at an average or above-average level from the point of view of students and faculty members. However, the teaching and learning component, from the perspective of students (2.80 ± 1.15) and faculty members (2.95 ± 0.07), was evaluated below the average level (unfavorable level).

To improve the quality of the virtual education system, attention should be paid to removing obstacles and improving virtual education in terms of teaching and learning activities, interaction, and feedback.