Do The Students Prefer Using Web-Based System for Evaluation of The Quality Of Instruction?

Introduction: Students are the main stakeholders of university educational programs, so their opinions should be considered in the promotion of educational processes. The students’ evaluation of the teachers is considered one of the serious measures to improve the quality of educational processes, therefore, any change or reform any of the educational process should be judged by the students. The aim of this study was to evaluate the students’ opinions about evaluation of teachers through electronic based system. Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted on 266 students of Golestan University of Medical Sciences in 2014. The data collected by teach made questionnaire with 15 questions with a Likert-type response (range of 15-45 points). The questions were about students’ view to evaluating teachers electronically in the areas of security, environmental factors, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness. For data analysis, independent T-test was used. Results: Of 256 students participated in this study, 59.1% were female. The amount of participation of the students from the Faculty of Medicine was 26.6%, 27% nursing, paramedical 23.4% and 23% health. 46.8 percent of the students were at the third academic year (semester five). 73.1 percent of the students were from undergraduate level (bachelor degree) and 26.9% of them were from general medicine (GP) level. There was a significant difference between the mean score of students at paramedical Faculty with the other faculties (P=0.05). The Paramedical students had more positive views to online evaluation method. There were no statistically significant differences between students’ viewpoints scores with demographic and academic variables. Discussion: Since the students had a favorable view of the online evaluation, using this method in the evaluation of the quality of teaching can be continued.