First Achievemen

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One of the achievements of the Department of Medical Education is the development the specialized curriculum for the field of Educational Technology in Medical Sciences, which happened for the first time in the Middle East; this could be achieved with the tireless efforts of all the faculty members of the department, finally accomplished and approved by the affiliated ministry in 2015.

In 2017, the first class of students was admitted in the MSc degree of Medical Education. In Iran, this level of education was first established in the field of Educational Technology in 1974, which is currently presented up to the doctoral degree. It is also noteworthy that similar to other developing countries, educational technology in medical sciences in Iran has had no tangible progress. Consequently, effectual academic activities have been seldom performed in the medical universities of our country. Furthermore, graduates of this field in non-medical sciences have not been able to play their role in medical education. In fact, the suggestion for the initiation of this field was first put forward in Iran, and we hope to take positive steps toward solving the educational problems in this regard in the medical universities of Iran by exploiting available resources.

Evaluation of the conducted innovations in the field of educational technology in other universities indicates that the establishment of research centers and affiliated laboratories in medical sciences could bring about outstanding changes in terms of teaching and learning phenomena. For instance, the laboratory of educational technology in the University of Pittsburg has been active as a research lab for performing research relating to the development of modern technologies, focusing on solving the problems associated with medical education. In addition, the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia has founded the department of educational technology in order to support the technological innovations relating to the process of learning in medical sciences. The laboratory of educational technology at this department provides services such as developing websites for various educational fields, production and application of simulators, producing educational video tapes, designing audio-visual facilities, development of educational software, and implementing workshops for the empowerment of professors on the application of educational technologies. This university also presents a number of educational websites in the form of video tapes of physical examination and structures of cells and tissues.

Various scientific centers, such as the Harvard University, University of Bristol, SimSuite Medical Simulation Center, Hollier Simulation Center, and Montagu Clinical Simulation Center, implement educational courses regarding medical education using novel technologies, which has resulted in the enhanced quality of education and creating income for meeting their own financial needs.