Elucidating experiences of faculty members in applying effective teaching strategies in the online class during the COVID-19: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Despite the restrictions on providing medical courses online in medical universities, all instructors were required to provide training on virtual platforms. This study aimed to explain faculty members' experiences applying effective strategies in online class teaching. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study has been done with a qualitative approach and using the method of conventional content analysis. Participants included 14 faculty members working at the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data. Faculty members who had experience in conducting online classes were purposefully selected. Graneheim and Lundman's (2004) approach was used to analyze interview data. RESULTS: Two main categories were obtained from the data analysis: interpersonal communication and supportive behavior. The category of interpersonal communications comprises the subcategories of emotional expression and flexibility. The category of supportive behavior includes the subcategories of educational design, learner encouragement, diversity in evaluation, collaborative learning, and prompt feedback. CONCLUSION: Our findings confirmed that an appropriate teaching strategy leads to better attention to class and deep learning in learners. The cause is that in online classes, the student's attention is more minor than in daily classes due to its virtual nature. Appropriate educational strategies will motivate learners, interest them, and improve teacher interaction. These strategies increase students' participation in educational activities.

Comparing the effects of self- care education by lecture and smartphone application on self-efficacy of patients with thalassemia.

BACKGROUND: Patients with the thalassemia have a basic requirement for self-efficacy regarding their treatment procedure. The present study aimed to compare the effect of self-care education via a smartphone application and lectures on the self-efficacy of patients with thalassemia. METHODS: In the present quasi-experimental study, 99 patients with thalassemia at Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Yasuj, Iran, in 2019 who were eligible to enter the study, were selected. The block randomization was done with the block sizes of 3, 6, and 9, and participants were randomly assigned to 3 groups: smartphone application (A), lecture intervention (B), and control (c). Smartphone application and lecture interventions were performed for intervention groups A and B, respectively, during 8 weeks. Scherer's self-efficacy measure was used to collect the data at baseline and eight weeks after the intervention. Data were analyzed by SPSS-version 25 software using Paired t-test, Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: Ninety-nine patients with thalassemia with a mean (SD) age of 25 (6) and 58 females (58.59%) participated in the present study. The results indicated a significant difference in self-efficacy among 3 groups after intervention (P = 0.001). However, self-care education with smartphone application revealed a significant increase in the mean (SD) of self-efficacy of the patients with thalassemia 68.36(8.45) compared to the lecture method 62.55 (7.3) (P = 0.003) and control 62.09 (6.7) (P = 0.001). There were no significant differences among the self-efficacy scores of the patients in lecture intervention and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed that smartphone application was a suitable educational software to promote self-efficacy in patients with thalassemia. It is recommended to use smartphone application methods to improve the self-efficacy levels of patients with thalassemia.

Exploration challenges of the implementers of Iran's transformational innovation plan in medical education.

BACKGROUND: The Health System Reform Plan, especially in medical education, has undoubtedly caused changes in the university. The continuation of this project requires recognizing the challenges confronted by those in charge of its implementation. This study aimed to explore the challenges of the implementers of the Transformation and Innovation Plan in Medical Education in the universities of Macroregion 5. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The qualitative research was conducted using the content analysis method. Semi-structured interviews with health and medical education managers were used to collect information. Participants were 11 educational leaders of universities who were selected by purposeful sampling. Data collection continued until data saturation was reached. Data analysis was performed continuously and simultaneously with data collection. The Graneheim and Lundman methods were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: From 11 interviews, one theme, five categories, and 12 subclasses were obtained. Five categories include lack of proper groundwork, weak leadership, structural problems, inability to fund, and inadequate monitoring. CONCLUSION: Innovation and transformation in medical education are one of the critical missions and admirable actions of the Ministry of Health in the field of education, but a review of this plan can, in addition to identifying shortcomings and problems, pave the way for success, and progress in future programs.

The effect of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on medical sciences education in Iran.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has a great impact on medical sciences education. Some researches have been conducted on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical sciences education in the world. The aim of this study was to identify the effects of this disease on medical sciences education in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This futures study research was carried out using the future wheel method in Iran's University of Medical Sciences in the spring of 2020. A semi-structured interview was also conducted on the vice chancellors of medical sciences universities, faculty presidents, faculty vice chancellors, faculty members, medical education specialists, and university students, who were purposefully identified. The interview continued until achieving data saturation. Analysis of the interviews was performed by MAXQDA version 10 software. RESULTS: The effects were presented at three levels including primary effects, secondary effects, and third effects. In addition, 16 primary effects, 51 secondary effects, and 24 tertiary effects were recognized. One primary effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on medical sciences education in Iran was fear, stress, and anxiety among students and faculty members as well as staffs to get the disease. In addition, rumor was circulated concerning the infection of some people, thus, there was a need for holding courses regarding stress management and rumor management. One secondary effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on medical sciences education in Iran was allocation of a number of educational hospitals to the referral hospitals of COVID-19. One tertiary effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on medical sciences education in Iran was increasing the number of virtual courses. CONCLUSIONS: The most important effect of this disease on medical sciences education is the postponement of practical and apprenticeship classes, and consequently the increased length of the academic term that leads to delay in the students' graduation, which can reduce the workforce. On the one hand, this disease causes death of a number of students, educational and medical staffs, and faculty members, as well as reduces the workforce. Also, lengthening the recruitment of faculty members will add to this challenge. In this regard, there is a need to plan to compensate for the shortage of required human resources.

Strengths of Iran for internationalization of medical sciences education.

INTRODUCTION: Internationalization of higher education involves mutual exchanges as well as a consensus based. Political, economic, sociocultural, and scientific reasons recommend the need to move toward the internationalization of higher education. The current study highlights the strengths of the internationalization of Iran's medical sciences education. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive exploratory study was carried out in 2016-2017 in Iran. The techniques used for data collection included review of articles, interview with subject experts, and the focus group and the nominal technique group to explore the views of various stakeholders. The data were analyzed with the qualitative content analysis method. RESULTS: The inductive qualitative content analysis of all data generated 13 categories and 88 subcategories. The categories were geographical and geostrategic position of Iran; the historical, cultural, religious, and tourist attractions of Iran; the security of Iran; priority to internationalization policies and programs in Iran's macro plans; the existence of regulations, laws, and approvals for international activities; same language with neighboring and regional countries; the low cost of studying and living in Iran; the ability of Iranian faculty members and experts for internationalization; the background, reputation, and the progress of medical education, health, and care in Iran; the cheaper forces of Iran and their welcome to foreigners; the existence of motivation, zeal, and belief for internationalization; the existence of proper infrastructure; and the existence of a suitable capacity for internationalization. CONCLUSIONS: Iran has some positive points that can be used to promote international activities, provided it does some good advertising in this regard. It is suggested that the challenges, opportunities, and threats to Iran's internationalization should be collated from the perspective of the various stakeholders.

Iran's international collaborative articles in medical sciences.

Background: Forecasting is the process of predicting future behavior. In reviewing databases, no predicted value associated with international collaboration publications in Iran was found. Thus, the present study aimed at forecasting Iran's international collaborative articles in medical sciences. Methods: The number of Iran's articles and international collaborative articles in medical sciences written over 56 years was extracted from SCOPUS. Data were extracted from 1960 up to 2016. The time series method was used for forecasting using the Minitab software Version 17. Results: There was no increase in the number of medical articles from Iran from 1960 to 2001. However, the data showed incremental growth between 2001 and 2016. This was similar to Iran's medical sciences international collaboration articles. In 2016, the percentage of Iran's international collaboration articles was 15.2, which is expected to reach 19.9 in 2025. Conclusion: An investigation was performed on the number of international collaboration articles in the field of medical sciences in Iran. Future trends show an incremental growth. The number of Iran's articles can be increased with international cooperation. However, an increase or decrease in Iran's articles without international cooperation has to be investigated.

Internationalization or globalization of higher education.

INTRODUCTION: Studies about globalization and internationalization demonstrate different attitudes in explaining these concepts. Since there is no consensus among Iranian specialists about these concepts, the purpose of this study is to explain the concepts of internationalization and globalization in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a systematic review done in the first half of 2016. To explain the concept of globalization and internationalization, articles in Scientific Information D atabase, Magiran database, and Google Scholar were searched with the keywords such as globalization, scientific exchange, international cooperation, curriculum exchange, student exchange, faculty exchange, multinational cooperation, transnational cooperation, and collaborative research. Articles, used in this study, were in Persian and were devoted to internationalization and globalization between 2001 and 2016. The criterion of discarding the articles was duplicity. RESULTS: As many as 180 Persian articles were found on this topic. After discarding repetitive articles, 64 remained. Among those, 39 articles mentioned the differences between globalization and internationalization. Definitions of globalization were categorized in four categories, including globalization, globalizing, globalization of higher education, and globalizing of higher education. Definitions about internationalization were categorized in five categories such as internationalization, internationalization of higher education, internationalization of the curriculum, internationalization of curriculum studies, and internationalization of curriculum profession. CONCLUSION: The spectrum of the globalization of higher education moves from dissonance and multipolarization to unification and single polarization of the world. One end of the spectrum, which is unification and single polarization of the world, is interpreted as globalization. The other side of the spectrum, which is dissonance and multipolarization, is interpreted as globalizing. The definition of internalization is the same as that of globalizing. In other words, it is possible to say that internalization is similar to globalizing but different from globalization.