Evaluating the Quality of E-Learning in Students of Dentistry faculty, Terhan Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University in 2020

Abstract Background and Aim: E-learning is recognized as a new educational system in many countries, including Iran, and continuous evaluation is needed to improve, develop and guarantee the quality of such a system. This study was aimed to evaluate the quality of e-learning in students of Tehran Azad School of Dentistry in 2020. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on all dental students of Islamic Azad University in 2020. The data collection tool was a questionnaire based on previous studies. This questionnaire contained two sections of students' demographic information (educational level (basic and clinical sciences), age, gender, computer skills, grade point average, etc.) and the quality assessment section of e-learning courses (containing 33 questions). The 33-item questionnaire included 6 domins: interaction (5 questions :), content (6 questions), individual learning (5 questions), information and attendance (3 questions), technology (7 questions) and evaluation (7 questions). The questions were scored on a six-point Likert scale from (1) undesirable to high (6). SPSS software version 26 and linear multiple regression model were used to analyze the data. Values less than 0.05 were considered as significant levels. Results: Of 272 students, 56.6% were female and 34.4% were male. 80.1% were under 25 years old. 65.1% were studying in clinical level and 34.9% were studying in basic sciences. The quality of e-learning in the domins of content, individual learning, interaction and information and attendance of the course was at a optimum level and in the domins of course evaluation and technology was relatively good. In general, the variables of basic and clinical sciences (p = 0.35), computer familiarity (p = 0.83), gender (p = 0.71), semester (p = 0.23), grade point average (P =0.29) and age (p = 0.15) did not affect the total score. Conclusion: The quality of e-learning courses for students of  Terhan Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University is evaluated at the desired level based on the average of six domains. .