Infrastructure and Faculty Member Readiness for E-learning Implementation: The Case of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Education is a key element for society development. Introducing new methods of education, information and communication technology have influenced learning and teaching procedures. The aim of this study is to evaluate the infrastructures and faculty members’ preparedness of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences for implementing e-learning. Methods: In this descriptive study, a 5-point Likert scale was categorized in 5 domains including cultural, technological, knowledge, student acceptance, and availability. Then it was distributed to 70 medical faculty members. A checklist was used to assess preparedness of technology infrastructure, strategic plan, organizational chart, content preparation equipment, and resources. Results: Mean scores of readiness for launching e-learning program were respectively 3.36±0.37 for cultural domain, 2.7±0.49 for technological domain, 3.69±0.38 for knowledge, 3.30±0.66 for student adoption, and 1.96±0.77 for availability. E-learning acceptance was significantly higher among females. Eighty percent indicated infrastructures of availability and 90% noted human resource as the most critical problems among infrastructures. Conclusion: In general the level of admitting e-learning in university is desirable, however weakness in some infrastructures including human resource, availability, and fair allocation of financial resources are identified as barriers to launch e-learning. According to the positive attitude of faculty members to this method of learning, it seems that e-learning could be successfully applied by focusing on above-mentioned shortcomings.