A Survey on the Effect of In-Service Training Courses on The Satisfaction, Educational, and Assessment Skills of the Academic Staff of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of empowerment courses for academic staff of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences on their satisfaction and knowledge regarding teaching and evaluation methods based on the Kirk Patrick model. In this cross-sectional study, faculty members of basic and clinical sciences who had participated in empowerment workshops in the field of education in 2017 (eighth and ninth courses) were studied. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to evaluate the aforementioned workshops based on the first level of the Kirk Patrick model which is the reactive level.Pre-test and post-test tests were used immediately before and after the workshop to evaluate the second level of the Kirk Patrick model, which is the learning level. Regarding the ninth empowerment workshops, the highest mean satisfaction of clinical sciences faculty members was related to the "curriculum plan" workshop. On the other hand, the highest mean satisfaction of basic sciences faculty members was related to student-centered teaching methods. In addition, regarding the eighth empowerment workshops, the highest mean satisfaction of clinical science faculty members was related to the new methods of clinical assessment. On the other hand, the highest mean satisfaction of basic science faculty members was related to the fundamentals of virtual education and new technologies in education. The scores of the faculty members in both the basic and clinical sciences groups significantly increased after the eighth and ninth empowerment workshops. As evidenced by the obtained results, it can be concluded that in-service training courses can improve the academic staffs' skills of teaching and assessing students. In addition, it was revealed that academic staffs’ satisfaction varied depending on the type of the course.