Assessing the Viewpoint of the Professors about Teaching a Course by Several Lecturers in Babol University of Medical Sciences

Background & Objective: Since one of the common methods of medical sciences teaching is teaching by several lecturers, the present study aimed to evaluate the viewpoints of medical science professors on this type of teaching. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical research was performed on professors of Babol University of Medical Sciences in 2013. Subjects were selected using convenience sampling, and data were collected using a 14-item researcher-made questionnaire. In addition, data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: From a total of 41 professors, about 33 cases (80.4%) had the experience of teaching a course by several lecturers in the previous or current semester. In total, 65.9% of professors believed that this type of teaching increased the diversity and attractiveness of the course and about half of them reported that there was better compliance with the headlines. On the other hand, most of these individuals believed that teaching a course by several lecturers was associated with an unnecessary increase in volume of the course content (68.3%), as well as a decrease in the time required for student assessment (51.2%) and the time needed for establishing relationships between professors and students (46.3%). However, statistical tests showed no significant differences in results in terms of gender and academic rank of professors. Conclusion: According to the results of the study, about half of the professors opposed to applying the method of teaching by several lecturers or no comments on this technique. However, the other half of the professors had a positive attitude toward this type of teaching. Therefore, considering some of the positive aspects of teaching by several lecturers, it is not possible to provide a definitive opinion about the method and more extensive studies are required in this regard. D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 1 9: 12 IR S T o n F rid ay N ov em be r 8t h 20 19 Assessing the Viewpoint of the Professors about Multi-lecturer Courses 14 Journal of Medical Education Development, Vol 12, No 33 Spring, 2019 Introduction Similar to human resources in any organization, university professors are one of the main pillars since they have three key responsibilities of education, training, and research (1, 2). However, the move toward the third-generation universities in the past few years has led to the education of creativity and innovation to students along with other responsibilities of professors (3). Among the various types of roles above, the "teaching of theoretical and practical lessons” is still the main task of the professors, improving the quality of which greatly depends on the extent of the efficiency of professors. In fact, professors provide students with learning opportunities through teaching. Therefore, their desirable performance plays an important role in attaining academic achievement and educational goals (4). In fact, education and its method of presenting in universities are extremely important, and several factors affect the quantity and quality of education in these organizations. In a study by Lim et al. entitled factors affecting the effectiveness of teaching from the viewpoint of professors, some of these factors were reported to be professor experiences, general teaching knowledge of professors, communication skills of professors and students, knowledge of the content of a subject, and educational method (5). A type of implementation of curriculum in the universities is teaching a course by several lecturers. In the present study, teaching a course by several lecturers was interpreted as teaching one lesion by several professors, who share the task of training between themselves according to the approved course topic. In this respect, professors attend and teach in the classroom according to their level of contribution. Under such conditions, it is certain that responsibility for designing a course, offering lessons, and evaluating learners will be handled by several individuals. Teaching a course by several lecturers has some strengths and weaknesses that have been less addressed in medical education research. For instance, in a study by Mir et al. entitled student satisfaction with teaching a course by several lecturers at Babol University of Medical Sciences in 2013, it was found that 8.2% of students expressed their relative opposition to this teaching method. In the mentioned research, it was demonstrated that while students did not have a significant opposition with teaching a course by several lecturers (6). However, in a study by Tirgar et al., 51.1% of students reported teaching a course by several lecturers D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 1 9: 12 IR S T o n F rid ay N ov em be r 8t h 20 19