HOW TEACHERS AND STUDENTS THINK ABOUT THE USE OF E-LEARNING IN MEDICAL EDUCATION?

Introduction: In just a few years, e-learning has become part of the mainstream in medical education. While e-learning means many things to many people, at its heart it is about the educational uses of technology. E-learning is the use of Internet technologies to enhance knowledge and performance. E-learning technologies offer learners control over content, learning sequence, pace of learning, time, and often media, allowing them to tailor their experiences to meet their personal learning objectives. In diverse medical education contexts, e-learning appears to be at least as effective as traditional instructor-led methods such as lectures. As a result, Internet-based learning has become an increasingly popular approach to medical education. A number of studies have indicated that the successful pedagogical use of technology depends on teachers and students' attitudes and acceptance towards technology. In order to predict and understand teachers' technology use and acceptance, a well-defined framework is essential. The aim of this study is to define teachers and students' perceptions of e-learning in medical education. Methodology: The present work is the first phase of a mixed method study that conducted in two steps. In this study, using qualitative content analysis applied to define teachers and students' perceptions of e-learning in medical education based on a purposeful sampling and individual semi-structured interviews with 9 teachers and 7 students of Guilan University of Medical Sciences. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed. The data were analysed through qualitative content analysis by three level coding. Results: According to the analysis of the 832 first-level codes extracted from the analysis of the interviews, two main themes with eight sub-themes were specified: Structural Analysis (includes sub-themes: socio-cultural factors, factors related to Learning Management System, teaching method, e-content, evaluation) and Human Resources (include sub-themes: affective factors, factors related to student, factors related to teacher). Conclusion: If we are really interested in pursuing e-learning, then we need to consider what it is the learners and teachers actually want and do. Taking into account the views of learners and teachers in relation to socio-cultural factors, teaching and evaluation methods for e-learners, ease of use of LMS, high quality and interactive e-content, and using blended learning method can contribute to their acceptance towards the use of e-learning.