فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the reasons for the students’ attendance in and absenteeismfrom lecture classes from the perspective of professors, students, and educational planning to changethe unsatisfactory status quo.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was a narrow needs assessment survey which wasperformed on students (n = 70) of the Faculty of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences,in four stages. In the first stage, the opinions of professors and students about the reasons forabsenteeism from the lecture classes were collected. In the second stage, the results of the firststage were discussed by an expert panel to find solutions for the problem. The results of the surveywere tabulated, summarized, and discussed. In the third stage, online classes were held as one ofthe solutions and evaluated in the fourth stage.RESULTS: The results showed that various factors, such as professor empowerment, evaluationsystem, audiovisual equipment of the classes, educational curriculum, and class schedules, areassociated with the students’ attendance in the classes. Along with these factors, one of the mostimportant reasons for students’ absenteeism from classes in recent years might be the generationaldifferences of students. The evaluation of online classes showed that the ratio of the number ofstudents who actively participated in the online classes to the number of students participating inthe online classes varied from 30% to 64% (P < 0.05).CONCLUSION: In addition to improving the factors associating students’ attendance in classes,online education is a proper solution for reducing absenteeism in lecture classes and increasingstudents’ active participation from the perspective of professors and students.