Assessment of instructors’ readiness for implementing e-learning in continuing medical education in Iran

BACKGROUND: E-learning provides new levels of flexibility in learning and teaching. This contribution of e-learning is dependent on the levels of readiness in several critical factors particularly in an educational organization. AIM: The purpose of this study was to assess instructors' readiness and to identify the most important factors that affect their readiness in e-learning in CME programs in order to use the effective opportunities that facilitate e-learning in CME programs. METHODS: A 5-point Likert scale instrument consisting of two domains (technical and pedagogical) was constructed according to four subdomains (knowledge, attitude, skills, and habits) and distributed to 70 faculty members. A factor analysis was employed to extract significant factors. RESULTS: The results revealed that the mean of readiness on e-learning for faculty members was 3.25 ± 0.58 in technical and 3.37 ± 0.49 in pedagogical domains on a 5-point Likert scale (1-5). The factors such as "familiarity with learning management system," "willingness to teach by adopting a new technology," "willingness to use e-learning as a viable alternative," "ability to deliver e-material and to provide e-content for teaching," and "being accustomed to the virtual environment and utilization of the computer and the internet" were extracted on technical readiness domain. In addition, the pedagogical readiness factors were: "familiarity with online teaching principle and method," "willingness to use technology in instruction and material development," "ability to design content for e-material and online course evaluation," and "being accustomed to providing information back up regularly and employing eclectic methods and multiple approaches in teaching." CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that training should be offered to instructors on a continuous, rather than a one-off basis so that their IT knowledge and skills are upgraded over time. In addition, results indicate that pedagogical innovations are required to develop and implement an effectiveness e-learning program.