Evaluation of the Students Access to the 21st Century General Skills at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Background & Objective: Attention to the necessary skills in time and place are among the most important issues in the evaluation of the quality of academic education. The present study aimed to evaluate the access of students to the 21 century general skills at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted on 300 medical students, who were selected via simple random sampling. Data were collected using the questionnaire developed by Mahmoodi and Mola, which its validity has been confirmed based on expert opinions, and the reliability has been established at the Cronbach’s alpha of 0.90. Results: The general skills of the 21 century in the medical students were at an average level in the cognitive and affective domains considering a theoretical average of 3 (P<0.0001). However, the skill level was observed to be above average and favorable in the sociocultural domain (P<0.0001). Conclusion: According to the results, the access of the students at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences to the high-level cognitive and affective skills of the 21 century was average, which should be taken into account for the optimization of the teaching-learning process and improvement of the curricula. D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 3 :5 0 IR S T o n S at ur da y O ct ob er 1 9t h 20 19 [ D O I: 10 .2 92 52 /e dc j.1 0. 28 .9 6 ] 21st Century Gerneral Skills 94 Journal of Medical Education Development , Vol 10, No 28 Winter, 2017 Introduction Today, globalization has become a strategic issue among the international research and experimental issues (1), influencing the culture, politics, and economy of countries as a chain of transformations (2). Education is one of the most important areas affected by globalization, and researchers have proposed a wide array of theories with regards to the recognition and elucidation of the associated aspects of globalization (1). In the 21 century, the assumptions toward the world are rapidly changing (3). Simultaneous with the transformations in communities, the skills required for citizens should also change in accordance with the complexities and problems of life (4). One of the significant challenges in every community is the abilities and skills required for living in the current era; therefore, preparation of university students and graduates through developing fundamental global skills is of paramount importance (5). With the changes in the assumptions of the 21 century about the world and communities, in addition to the specialized and disciplinary knowledge, access to the basic and general skills and information regardless of the fields of academic study has been further accentuated (6-8). As the most fundamental unit for the endorsement of human resources, universities play a key role in this regard (5). In recent years, instructors, employers, and policymakers have stressed the importance of evaluation systems in order to trace the abilities of graduates in high-level thinking and problem-solving and assess their knowledge and skills in line with the global workplaces based on the technologies of the 21 century (9). Organizations such as the Guide for the 21 Century Skills, National Science Foundation, Education test service center, Metiri Group (10), as well as authors such as Frey & Fisher, Elkins, Carroll, Burmack, Riddle, and Trilling & Fidel have emphasized on the essentiality of the learning skills of the 21 century for the purpose of alignment with the transformations in this era (11). Some of the main learning skills of the 21 century, as defined by experts, are critical thinking, information technology, effective interactions, creativity and risk-taking, interpersonal skills, personal, social and civil responsibilities, high efficacy, prioritization, management and planning, flexibility, adaptability, and self-confidence (12). Investigating the necessary abilities and skills in the medical field in the 21 century, Rees D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 3 :5 0 IR S T o n S at ur da y O ct ob er 1 9t h 20 19 [ D O I: 10 .2 92 52 /e dc j.1 0. 28 .9 6 ]