Investigating Factors Affecting the Quality of Virtual Education from the point of Professors and Students of Rehabilitation Fields of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences during COVID-19

Introduction: The closing down of schools and universities due to the COVID-19 outbreak led to introducing virtual education. Considering the importance of virtual education during coronavirus pandemic, this study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the quality of virtual education from the viewpoint of professors and students of rehabilitation fields of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences. Methods: The present descriptive-analytical study was carried out in the presence of 17 professors and 210 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of rehabilitation. Data was collected using a questionnaire and its validity was confirmed by experienced professors in virtual education and its reliability was determined by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (97.0). Result: The results showed that from the viewpoint of professors, all domains of the questionnaire were considered effective factors for the quality improvement of virtual education but students considered the domain of clarification of the learner's expectations as the most effective factor and the domain of minimizing the sense of isolation and creating the sense and motivation of being part of the learning community as the least effective factor. Conclusion: Taking in to account these important factors affecting the efficacy of virtual education, it is necessary for policymakers in the field of education to organize the necessary programs and pay attention to providing the conditions essential in improving the quality of virtual education for learners. Keywords: E-learning, Virtual education, Quality of E-learning, Effectiveness of virtual education