Interdisciplinary Journal of Virtual Learning in Medical Sciences
Volume:7 Issue: 1, Spring 2016

In this is age of technology distance education serves individuals by enhancing their knowledge, attitude, skills, and behavior it can also be a significant driver of economic development. The purpose of this research was to examine the role of distance education in economic development in Payame Noor University (PNU).
From a total population of 1238 PNU students, a sample set of 184 was made randomly using Cochran’s formula. Data were collected using a 33-item Distance Education Questionnaire and a 23-item Economic Development Scale, both of which were developed by the researchers. Chronbach’s alpha determinations were 0.857 and 0.825 for these 2 instruments respectively. Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation in SPSS structural equation modeling in LISREL.
Results showed a significant positive correlation (0.438) between distance education and economic development. Distance education was also significantly correlated with average (0.218) and high (0.441) economic development. Goodness of fit indices showed that the model was a good fit to the data (χ^2/df = 0.764 RMSEA = 0.002 GFI = 0.97 AGFI = 0.93).
Based on the present findings, optimal and culturally adjusted ICT application in education can increase efficiency in many important measures of economic development such as effectiveness, productivity and capital deepening.

Nowadays, educational systems need schools that provide continuous learning and new opportunities for people to experience life in the information society by using information and communications technology. This study aimed to compare the fluidity, recalling power, educational attainment motivation and educational attainment of students in smart and ordinary schools in physics 1.
This was a causal-comparative study, the subjects of which included 56 high school boys of Arak District 2. Abedi creativity test, Herman educational attainment test and a researcher-made test were used to assess groups. Face validity of tests was confirmed by 5 experts in physics and 5 in education and training field. To assess the reliability exam fluidity, the correlation coefficient (0.95) was used. Two methods were used to test the reliability of the achievement motivation test including Cronbach's alpha (0.87) and split-half. In split-half method, the Spearman-Brown correlation coefficient formula (0.72) was used. Test-retest method was used to determine the reliability of the tests. The correlation coefficient between the results obtained from two tests was 0.96. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 20 and descriptive statistics, two-sample t-parametric tests at 95%.
Findings showed that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of the fluidity of the experimental group (38.14) and the control group (41.71) (P= 0.027). Moreover, there was a significant difference between the mean recalling scores of the experimental group (4.42) and the control group (5.80) (P= 0.002). However, there was no significant difference between the mean scores on educational attainment in experimental group (39.18) and control group (41) (P=0.09). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed between the mean score of educational attainment (12.23) and the control group (13.25) (P=0.395).
Creativity, recalling power of students in traditional classroom physics 1 was more than the smart classroom at the end of the school year. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the two classes regarding the educational attainment and the achievement motivation.

Nowadays, students of medical universities need to be familiar with computer and information technology (IT) to become successful. The aim of this study was to investigate the information literacy and the use of IT by students in Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences.
This survey is a descriptive-correlational study. The study population consisted of all students of the Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences and the sample size included 235 students. The instrument was a researcher-developed questionnaire with a validity confirmed by faculty members and a 0.83 reliability according to Cronbach's alpha. For data analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient and Chi-square in SPSS 16 were used.
The results revealed the frequency use of IT domains Internet obtained the most frequently used domain (67.2%) followed by Windows (54.1%), word processing software (43.8%), search engines (41.1%), and e-mail (30.5%). The highest mastery was obtained over Internet use (58.6%) followed by Windows and word processing software (48.3%), search engines (34.4%), and software installation (31.4%). The use of IT was significantly associated with previous research activities such as having PC, the skill to use computers and Internet, the mean duration of computer use per week, and English language competency (p The student's mastery over the use of IT is weak in the Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, and certain plans are needed to educate these students by holding workshops, empowering them to do research, and revisiting the curricula to increase the credits of IT course.

Achieving e-learning requires a comprehensive study on different aspects of e-learning readiness. The present study aimed to evaluate the readiness for e-learning from the viewpoints of the students as well as faculty members of Allameh Tabatabai University.
This is a survey research and the statistical population was all professors and students of Allameh Tabatabai University in 2014-2015 section. One hundred and fifty (150) students were selected through simple random clustering, and 50 professors were selected through convenient sampling as the population of the study. The instrument of study was “evaluation of readiness for e-learning in Iranian university” questionnaire and its content and face validity were verified by professionals, and its reliability was measured through Cronbach’s coefficient alpha which was (0.75, 0.79). To analyze the data, descriptive and mean, SD statistics (independent T-test and Freedman test) were used.
The result showed that the degree of the hard readiness (3.6 mean) and total readiness (3.33 mean) was in the desirable level and soft readiness (3.07 mean) was in the moderate level from the students’ viewpoint and the soft, monitoring, coordinating and supporting and total readiness (respectively, 2.36, 1.98, 2.81 mean) were evaluated as undesirable from the viewpoint of the professors, but their evaluation in hard readiness (4.1 mean) indicated that they confirm the status of the university in this readiness, which is desirable.
Evaluation of the readiness for e-learning in the universities provided information on the strengths and weaknesses of this center in achieving e-learning.

It is important to prepare a scale for the pedagogical evaluation of distance education, in order to obtain more accurate information in this field. Based on the importance of this issue, the present study aims to prepare pedagogical evaluation scale of synchronous technologies in distance education and determine its psychometric properties.
The research utilized a descriptive – survey method. The statistical population consisted of all virtual students (3915 virtual students) from all universities in Tehran who were undergoing distance education in the 2015-2016 academic year. A number of 390 graduate students were chosen by random cluster sampling method. For data collection, a self-made scale was utilized. Data were analyzed through SPSS software, version 21. Construct validity, convergent validity, test retest reliability, and internal reliability of this scale were calculated by the exploratory factor analysis model, Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated with Cronbach's alpha method for the total scales and its subscales which was variable from 0.73 to 0.90.
After determining the face and content validities, the number of items in Pedagogical evaluation scale were reduced from 55 to 39 items. Construct validity of the scale was calculated by utilizing exploratory factor analysis model by principal component analysis method and varimax rotation, finally, 30 items and seven factors were extracted from it. The maximum overall variance (48.21%) was explained by the first 7 factors and the rest (51.79%) was explained by the other 23 factors. The result of exploratory factor analysis in this scale identified seven factors, including telepresence, interaction, flexibility, motivation, assessment, feedback, and perceived learning.
The results of psychometric properties of the pedagogical evaluation scale of synchronous technologies in distance education suggested that the aforementioned scale is a reliable and valid instrument for pedagogical evaluation of synchronous technologies in distance education. Therefore, this scale can has important usage in the instructional design for distance learners’ learning.

Social accountability has received much research attention in recent decades. Social accountability has been identified as an important prerequisite in development; however different development targets each have a particular definition of social accountability. The aim of this study was to provide indicators for application in making assessments for the progress of medical science colleges and institutions towards social accountability.
This research was conducted as a qualitative study in 2015. The research aimed to explore indicators of social accountability in medical science training institutions using three rounds of the Delphi technique. A group of experts was gathered from among all regions of Iran. Prior to the first round of Delphi, some proposed measures were identified from a review of the related literature. In the first round, content validity ratio values were determined for each indicator and accountability assessment was the made by the group of experts. In the second round of Delphi, item-content validity index determinations were made according to relevance and clarity of the indicators. In the third final round, confirmation of indicators was made by the group of experts.
The four main domains of organization and performance, educational activities, research activities and cooperation in health services in society and region, were confirmed using the Delphi method. Finally, 58 objective indicators were listed for these 4 domains.
Determination of national criteria for evaluating social accountability is a major step toward improving accountability in medical training institutions. Evaluations for medical training institutions based on criteria derived from this study were determined as efficient. But further research is needed on function of the mentioned criteria in relation to fulfilling the needs of society.

People with emotional intelligence can better cope with the challenges of life and effectively regulate their emotions. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of life skills training on emotional intelligence and its components in undergraduates students of Isfahan.
This study is a Nonequivalent control group design type from a quasi-experimental project. The study population consisted of all undergraduate students in the academic year from 2013 to 2014 that were enrolled in Isfahan. Sixty (60) undergraduates were selected by convenience sampling and were divided into two groups of experimental and control. Then, the experimental and control groups undertook the Emotional Intelligence Test. Cronbach's alpha reliability of the test was reported as 93.0, and the validity studies suggested a high validity of this test. After that, the experimental group was conducted through 15 sessions for 90-minutes. The post test was performed after completion of the training program of both groups. For the purpose of data analysis, the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 18 and the multivariate covariance analysis was used.
The results showed that life skills education, with an emphasis on communication skills, was effective in the overall score of emotional intelligence. (F (5,19)=14.76, P=0.05, ηp2=0.79) eta-squared values indicate a favorable effectiveness of the training.
it is suggested that these skills can be taught regularly and continuously during all periods of academic education.