The State of the Teaching Methods Used in Library and Information Science Education in Iran and Determination of Applicable methods from the Perspective of the Faculty Members

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: In today's world, higher education is extremely important. When it comes to education or higher education, concepts such as teacher and especially teaching appear many times more than other variables to the extent that some have even considered teaching as synonymous with education. Objective:The present study was conducted in order to investigate the status of teaching methods used in library and information education in Iran and to determine applicable methods from the perspective of teachers. Methods and Materials: This study was conducted using a mixed method (quantitative-qualitative) in a cross-sectional descriptive manner using a researcher-made questionnaire and Focus Group discussion for qualitative data. Literature were searched from ERIC, Pubmed and Scopus databases and relevant articles were extracted and reviewed. The studied population was the faculty members of library and information departments of Iranian universities (Ministry of Science and Ministry of Health and Medical Education). Data collection was done in two stages. In the first stage, the teaching methods used by the professors for all courses were questioned based on the approved topics of the Curriculum Planning Council of the two ministries in undergraduate, master's and doctoral courses, and in the second stage, data extraction was done through focus groups. Also, for data analysis, SPSS version 16 software and appropriate descriptive statistics and tests such as percentage and frequency were used. Results: In terms of the frequency of "lecture" teaching methods in both ministries of health and science with a frequency of 100%; "demonstration teaching" method in the Ministry of Health with a frequency of 33.5% and in the Ministry of Science with a frequency of 41.8%; the "debate based learning" method in the Ministry of Health with a frequency of 28.7% and in the Ministry of Science with a frequency of 20.7% ; the "programed lecture" method in the Ministry of Health with a frequency of 28.4% and in the Ministry of Science with a frequency of 20% 14.5% had the highest frequency among teaching methods. Also, the "participatory teaching methods" method with a frequency of 1% and the "role modeling" method with a frequency of 0.7% have the lowest frequency in the Ministry of Health; And the method of "role modeling" with a frequency of 0.5% and the method of "problem-based learning" with a frequency of 0.2% in the Ministry of Science had the lowest frequency among other teaching methods. According to the findings of the research, in all the teaching methods used by the professors of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science, there was a statistically significant relationship between the variables of academic rank, gender, teaching experience and the use of teaching methods below the confidence level (P-value < 0.05). Conclusion: Considering the expansion and application of active teaching methods and the benefits of such teaching methods in the learning rate of learners, the need to revise the curriculum of this field in both the Ministry of Health and Science can help promote and dynamism of this field.