Developing and assessing the psychometric properties of the faculty members' attitudes toward e-learning courses questionnaire.

BACKGROUND

E-learning became a popular method of educating health sciences students following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, limited information is available regarding the faculty members' perspectives on online education. Due to the lack of valid evaluation tools to assess faculty members' attitudes toward e-learning at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), this study developed and validated a questionnaire to assess faculty members' attitudes toward e-learning.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This mixed-method study conducted a systematic search to assess the previous literature on the topic. From the extracted codes, the initial items of the questionnaire were selected and subjected to content validation by 11 faculty members. Following the development of the questionnaire, a Delphi panel of eight TUMS authorities and educational experts conducted two Delphi rounds to ensure its face validity. After pilot testing, factor analysis was performed and Cronbach's alpha was calculated to confirm construct validity and internal consistency respectively.

RESULTS

In total, 637 articles were found in PubMed, Scopus, WoS, Eric, and two Iranian databases (Scientific Information Database (SID) and MagIran), of which 74 met the inclusion criteria and underwent content analysis. A total of 30 initial items were developed based on the 224 initial codes extracted from these articles. The average content validity ratio and content validity index for the items were 0.623 and 0.903, respectively, and after face validation, the initial questionnaire was developed with 20 items. Cronbach's alpha was 0.888, and as a result of construct validation, three constructs (platform, services, and attitude) were confirmed and two items were deleted. Therefore, 18 items were included in the final questionnaire.

CONCLUSIONS

We developed a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess the faculty members' attitudes toward e-learning. Iranian higher education institutions as well as TUMS can utilize it as a valid and reliable tool to evaluate faculty members' perceptions of the quality of e-learning courses.