Educational Needs of Faculty Members of Basic Sciences of Faculty of Medicine: Educational and Personal Development Needs

Background and The first step in educational planning is identification of educational needs. The increasing scientific movement, information explosion and technology development, especially in Medical Sciences remind the need to empower faculty members as specialized human power. In this regard, in this study initially a valid and reliable tool was designed to investigate educational needs of faculty members of basic sciences of IUMS faculty of Medicine to determine their educational needs and priorities to be considered in faculty development programs.
In this cross-sectional study, after reviewing the literature and job description of faculty members proposed by Iran Ministry of Health and Medical Education, an initial questionnaire including 3 parts and 76 questions was designed. In order to confirm face and content validity, the questionnaire was distributed among medical education experts (n=10). Then, it was revised accordingly and the final version including 3 parts and 68 questions was developed and distributed among the study participants (n=30) to confirm reliability. Afterwards, the final version was distributed among all the study participants to assess their educational needs.
Face and content validity and reliability (Cronbach's alpha of 0.9) of the questionnaire were confirmed. The educational needs of faculty members of basic sciences were as follows: educational technology skills (3.72±0.16), student learning and development skills (3.37±0.16), educational softwares application (3.19±0.13), curriculum and educational planning, teaching and class management skills (3.09± 0.12), assessment and evaluation skills (3.05±0.13), and scientific writing skills (2.67±0.15). The mean average calculated for all the skills was 3.1±1.1 that indicates the need for professional development.
No significant relationship was found between age, gender, education, work experience, employment status, educational department, and educational needs of the study participants; however, a significant relationship was found between their academic rank and educational needs. The results indicate that instructors declared the highest educational needs to 4 areas of class management, curriculum and educational planning, scientific writing skills and assessment and evaluation skills; while, professors declared the lowest educational need to the mentioned areas. In addition, oral and face to face workshop presentation (58.1 percent), morning to noon presentation time (85.3 percent), emails for communication (40.3 percent), and blended teaching (35.5 percent) were considered as the most appropriate.
The results of this study show that faculty members need all aforementioned skills, especially in educational technology. At last, to consider their educational needs and priorities in planning and implementation of faculty development programs is recommended.