Journal of Medical Education and Development (Mar 2016)
Reasons for Students\' Absenteeism in Classroom: viewpoints of dental students and faculty members of Yazd School of Medicine
Abstract
Introduction: The main mission of the university education is fostering human resources and creating creativity and innovation. Classrooms are suitable places for transferring teachers’ experiences to the students and a better understanding of educational contents. This study aimed to survey the causes of absenteeism in classroom, through the viewpoints of dental students and faculty members of Yazd Dental University in 1393. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on students who were studying clinical dentistry in Shahid Sadoughi University and International Campus and faculty members of Yazd Dental University. They were selected using systematic random sampling. To collect the data, a researcher-made questionnaire containing 20 questions in Likert scale was used. Results: From 115 students were examined in this study, 77 students were female (67.8%) and 38 were male (32.2%). From the viewpoints of teachers about the students absenteeism, the highest mean scores belong to permission to the students to take notes and voice recordings of teacher (4.38), holding classes at the end of time (4.05), being insignificant subject (3.61), distance of university and lack of transportation to the university (2.61), respectively. From the viewpoints of students, the highest mean scores belong to the exam before and after class (3.99), dislikes professor's behavior (3.63), being uninterested to the subject (3.33), distance of university and lack of transportation to the university (3.27). Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the presence or absence of students in the classroom, were influenced by factors related to both teachers and students groups. Student interests to the subject, teaching methods and the use of new and creative techniques, teacher characters and behavior and the time of the classes determined the rate of attendance and continued presence of students.
