Investigating the Quality of Virtual Education in the Faculty of Medicine of Babol University of Medical Sciences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background and Objective: Considering the necessity of using virtual education during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to conduct research studies in order to evaluate the effectiveness of different methods of providing virtual education and examine it in different fields of medical sciences. Considering the launch of Navid virtual education system and the need to use this system for professors and students of medical sciences universities, in this study, we decided to evaluate the effectiveness of using this system from the point of view of professors and students of the Faculty of Medicine of Babol University of Medical Sciences. Methods: In this study, 70 faculty members and 101 medical students participated voluntarily. Two questionnaires were made by the researcher, the content of which was reviewed by 8 people from the panel of experts in the field of education and Cronbach's alpha was reported as 0.75 for professors' questionnaire and 0.80 for students' questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed with SPSS software version 22 and descriptive statistics, regression and t-test were used. Findings: The score of different areas in questionnaires is acceptable. Among the variables of the professors' questionnaire (computer mastery, professors' attitude towards virtual education and professors' satisfaction with the virtual education system), There is a positive correlation. In the students' questionnaire, there is a positive correlation between only two variables (students' satisfaction with Navid's virtual education system and students' attitude towards virtual education) with a strength of 0.344. Conclusion: Considering the benefits, effectiveness and acceptability of virtual education in the Navid system, this method can be recommended for education in medical sciences universities.