Khadije Abdolahifard¹, Mitra Amini¹, Leili Mosalanejad2*
Background: The hidden curriculum can be considers the social aspects and activities of the hidden curriculum, communication atmosphere of the learning environment.
Objectives: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the aspects of the hidden curriculum of virtual education in the form of a qualitative and quantitative study.
Materials and Methods: This study is a mixed study (quantitative-qualitative) that in the quantitative part all graduate students of virtual medical education were studied using census sampling . The questionnaire was sent to 150 entries of 2011 to 2014 via e-mail and 74 filled ones finally returned. Researcher-made questionnaire on hidden curriculum was used. The two-part questionnaire consisted of demographic information and the second part included 39 closed-ended questions by the 5-point Likert scale in the form of 6 components (teaching method, evaluation method, interaction between faculty and students, educational environment, laws and regulations and critical thinking) was used.
In the qualitative part, sampling was done through the semi structured targeted interview and continued until data saturation. The number of samples in the qualitative part was 15 master students of virtual education postgraduate students. Data were analyzed using conventional content analysis.
Results: The results of the qualitative study showed that the components of the evaluation procedures, rules and regulations, and critical thinking were desirable 3.11. 3.21 and 3.25 respectively. The results of the qualitative part result in the extraction of 177 codes in 5 themes that include educational environment, self-reliance, inefficient evaluation, interactions and superficial education. Each of the areas has multiple sub themes .
Conclusions: hidden dimensions of the curriculum in virtual training have numerous positive and negative features. So, it needs more attention by the policymakers of education to improve this dimension of the curriculum.
