Interdisciplinary Journal of Virtual Learning in Medical Sciences
Volume:14 Issue: 1, Mar 2023

In recent years, “peer assessment” has been one of the most important educational strategies that researchers and teachers have used to improve the students’ writing skills, motivation, and learning in various fields. This review study was conducted with the aim of online peer assessment on the students’ learning outcomes.

In this narrative review research, through keywords related to online peer assessment on the outcome of students’ learning, the studies conducted in Persian or English languages and written in full text from 2013 to 2023 were searched in reliable scientific databases such as Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, SID, and Magiran. The studies that were not in line with the purpose of the research or were published in the form of a letter to the editor were excluded from the study. From the 44 searched articles, 12 were related to online peer evaluation on the students’ learning outcomes and selected.

Evaluation in online environments can be more important than that in traditional classrooms. The use of peer assessment in online learning environments has many advantages, including increasing the timeliness of feedback, providing learning opportunities for the provider and receiver of the feedback, humanizing this environment, and building community. By involving students in the peer evaluation process, meaningful interaction with peers and with the content of the discussed writings increases, which in turn increases the students’ and instructors’ satisfaction with the course. If peer evaluation is used effectively, it has the potential to increase the quality of discourse/discussion and, as a result, the quality of learning in the online environment.

Online assessment by peers is effective on the students’ learning outcomes. However, more studies are recommended to be conducted to determine different aspects and challenges of this intervention.

Some people expect that the quality of teaching and learning will be improved by using technology, while empirical evidence has proven the opposite. But education is too complicated to improve its quality simply by employing new technologies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the barriers to the use of ICT in primary school in North Khorasan province in early 2021 academic years.

To do so, we used a mixed method. In the qualitative part of the study, interview questions were identified using scientific resources and focal group. Then, 14 primary teachers and experts, who had experience of working in a school with minimal ICT equipment were selected using purposeful sampling. The exclusion criterion was the subjects’ unwillingness to continue cooperation. The qualitative data were analyzed using Colaizzi method. Based on qualitative findings, a researcher-made questionnaire with 22 items and 6 subscales was developed. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts, and its reliability was obtained from 0.61 to 0.92 for its various parts. To ensure the accuracy of the questionnaire, we performed exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis on the questionnaire. In the quantitative part of the study, the sample was randomly selected according to the size and access to technology in the classroom.

Quantitative analyses revealed that there was a negative association (r=-0.182; P=0.021) between the teaching-learning quality and the use of emerging technology. Regression test showed that the most important barrier to the ICT use in school was “Equipment and infrastructure” (β=-0.256; P<0.001) and then the “Budget and monetary resources” (β=-0.148; P=0.053), “Teachers’ self-confidence” (β=-0.119; P=0.137), and “Teachers’ knowledge and skill” (β=-0.058; P=0.473).

The quality of teaching and learning is not improved by the mere presence of ICT equipment. Based on the findings of the current study, if the managers intend to remove the obstacles related to the integration of ICT in education, they have to provide sufficient “Equipment and infrastructure” and “Budget and monetary resources”, and plan for improving “Teachers’ selfconfidence” and “Teachers’ knowledge and skill”.

Mindfulness interventions were shown to be effective in reducing perceived stress in several conditions. These effects were also found in online mindfulness-based training, especially in teenagers. The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of virtual mindfulness-based stress training in reducing the anxiety of adolescents in rehabilitation centers during the COVID-19. This is a semi-experimental study with a pre-test and posttest design with a control group on 30 teenagers of Zahedan Prison rehabilitation centers from September 2019 to December 2019. The sampling method was simple random using Random Allocation software, so that among the teenagers, 30 people were randomly allocated into an intervention group (with virtual mindfulness training n=15) and control group (with no intervention n=15). The participants completed the STAI-Y anxiety questionnaire one day before and 8 weeks after the intervention. Statistical analysis of the data was done through SPSS 23 software using ANCOVA test. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the control and intervention groups (P=0.001) in such a way that stress training based on mindfulness in a virtual way had a direct and significant effect on reducing anxiety. Considering that teenagers are a vulnerable group in the society, mindfulness training in a virtual way is a suitable approach to reducing subsequent harm, including anxiety.

Individuals’ information-seeking behaviors differ, depending on whether they perceive themselves as effective problem-solvers or not. As such, the present study examined the relationship between problem solving skill and online information-seeking behavior of students of medical sciences in general and English for specific purposes (ESP) courses. The present study is an applied research that adopted a survey method. The participants were 232 students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences and faculty of paramedical sciences, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah branch. This research was conducted in 2019- 2020 during the time of COVID-19. The sampling method in this study was available sampling. The researchers selected the students who used the Internet to meet their information needs in their ESP courses. A problem- solving questionnaire and a researcher-made scale were employed in the study to investigate the participants’ information-seeking behavior. To determine the reliability of the Problem-solving questionnaire and online information-seeking behavior, we used Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The results of the test indicated that the reliability of the problem-solving questionnaire was 0.852, and that of the online information-seeking behavior questionnaire was 0.778, which is considered an acceptable level. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage and mean and inferential statistics including Pearson correlation matrix and multiple regression using SPSS software version 22. The findings showed that there was a correlation between the scales of problem solving including, problem solving confidence (P<0.001), approach‐avoidance style (P<0.001), and personal control (P<0.001) with and information-seeking behavior in general and ESP courses. In addition, the results of multiple regression analysis revealed that the variable of problem solving confidence (β=0.275, P<0.05) and personal control (β=- 0.179, P<0.05) could significantly explain information-seeking behavior of paramedical sciences students in general and ESP courses; however, the avoidance style had no contribution to this study (P>0.05). Medical students’ success in general and ESP courses need their proper online information seeking behavior which can result in improvement in their problem solving skill. The findings may provide deeper insights regarding the potential relationship between problem solving skill and online information-seeking behavior of students of medical  sciences.  More  specifically,  the  role  of  computer-  assisted language learning (CALL) in ESP courses is emphasized.

Following the importance of assessing the online courses from Iranian learner’s viewpoint, this study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Learner Satisfaction Survey (LSS) in online courses in the Iranian In this transcultural adaptation and psychometric study, 526 students who had studied at least 2 semesters online were selected based on convenience sampling method and enrolled in eight public universities of Iran (Based on geographical distribution) from October 2022 to January 2023. The learner satisfaction survey (Chang, 2013), a short version of the Online Satisfaction Survey (Strachota,2003), was used to evaluate the learners’ satisfaction with online courses. It comprises 25 self-report items measuring four types of interaction (learner-content, learner- instructor, learner-learner, and learner-technology interactions) and a general satisfaction. The tool was translated using standard forward-backward technique. Second, psychometric properties, including the face, content, construct, convergent and divergent validities, and reliability were examined using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega coefficients. Linguistic and conceptual equivalence of the translated questionnaire was higher than 1.5 and content validities values (CVR>0.78 & CVI>0.79) were calculated at an acceptable level according to experts. None of 25 items was removed based on face and content validity coefficients. The exploratory factor analysis showed that five factors were identified that predicted 73.723% of the total variance. A factors structure with adequate fit indices (Χ2/df=2.23<3 ،RMSEA=0.069 ، GFI=0.96 ، NFI=0.97 ، CFI=0.98, RMR=0.045, SRMR=0.047) based on five secondorder factors (learner-content, learner-instructor, learner-learner, and learner-technology interactions, and general satisfaction) and one second-order factor (total score for academic satisfaction) were confirmed. Reliability of LSS was satisfactory, with McDonald’s omega ranging from 0.880 to 0.955 and Cronbach alpha ranging from 0.881 to 0. 955. The findings confirmed the convergent validity (AVE>0.5 and CR>AVE) for each subscale and total scale. Also, ASV<AVE& MSV<AVE pconfirmed the divergent validity for each subscale and total scale. The results indicate that the LSS has acceptable psychometric properties and can be considered as a suitable tool for measuring satisfaction with online courses in the Iranian context.

An oral examination might reveal important diagnostic information regarding a patient’s general health. There are several natural changes in the soft tissue structures of the mouth that may resemble a pathological condition. The aim of this research was to develop an educational web- based application for diagnosis in oral medicine and evaluation of the students’ attitudes towards it. This educational intervention involved one sample group and was conducted from September to December 2019. In the first step, the educational software was designed based on the ADDIE instructional design model. In the second step, 30 dental students were selected by census sampling, and their attitudes towards the designed educational web application were assessed. The web-based educational application was developed using the asp.net web form framework and the #c programming language. The standard kaplan educational product questionnaire was used to assess dental students’ attitudes. Descriptive statistics including the mean, standard deviation, percentage, and frequency were used. Statistical significance was calculated for the components of the questionnaire using the one sample t-test and the cutoff point of 3. SPSS V26 was used to analyze the tests. The majority of students had positive attitudes in all 12 domains of the questionnaire including objectives (P=0.0001), assessment (P=0.0001), practice (P=0.0001), examples (P=0.0001), information (P=0.001), multimedia (P=0.028), overviews (P=0.011), integration (P=0.144), motivation (P=0.0001); organization (P=0.003), usability (P=0.0001), and personalization (P=0.144) which were significantly greater than average and were acceptable. Despite the difference between the two domains (integration and personalization) with the average score, no statistically significant difference was seen. The innovative educational software was successfully developed. The results revealed that students were extremely satisfied with the quality of the educational software. As a result, it can be effectively employed as a teaching aid when combined with conventional education.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a tragedy worldwide, with countries suffering variously as the disease spread. Epidemiological studies have shown that several factors have influenced this spread and the number of deaths (1). The high average age of the population, and the climate of each region, among other factors, contributed to a variation in mortality in the countries. However, scientific denialism seems to have been one of the decisive reasons for determining the number of deaths in each country. Just remember that the two countries that registered the most deaths were the USA and Brazil, two nations that were governed in the most critical periods of the pandemic by governments that denied the severity of the disease, its basic prevention and containment measures, and that were disseminators of false news about Covid-19 (2).

Medical education is an important and multidimensional  field.  Students  in  the field of medical science experience various areas  during  their  educational  courses, including  theoretical  courses,  laboratory and  practical  experiences,  and  work  in clinical environments. All of these aspects help students to prepare for real-life work environments. The SPICES model is a framework for medical education, and it is an acronym for six key characteristics that should be considered in the development and evaluation of medical education programs. These six characteristics are mentioned