Implementation and evaluation of the impact of virtual workshops of voluntary educational assistance among occupational health and safety students: Case study, Ardabil, Iran.

Abstract

Background: The advancements and growth in information and communication technology have created new paths in the process of teaching and learning, leading to a shift in focus towards the use of electronic resources and digital teaching platforms. This study aimed to examine the impact of virtual workshops as a tool for improving learning among industrial health and safety students.

Materials and methods: This study was a descriptive-analytical study and was conducted on 104 students of occupational health and safety at the University of Medical Sciences in Ardebil during the course of a year. In this study, five specialized courses were chosen, including the following: "OSCO", "ESCC", and "Erg". "SSM" and "EMS". In this study, the participants were divided into two groups: participating and non-participating students. The results of their grades in the workshop were compared. The study consisted of two parts, the preparation stage and the evaluation stage, which included the preparation of the workshop, data collection and analysis, and the final stage of evaluation. Then, a list of workshops related to the courses was prepared, and the obtained results were analyzed by SPSS software (Ver. 22).

Results: The results showed that the correlation between the student's scores in the cognitive, emotional and psychomotor areas before and after attending the virtual workshops was significant. Variance analysis test showed a significant difference between the scores of the cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor areas, both before and after (P > 0.001) participation in workshops.

Conclusion: This study suggests that additional workshops, in parallel with classroom training, are an effective tool in raising student academic performance, as the students who participated gained better grades than those who did not participate in the courses. Therefore, it is possible to enhance student academic levels by increasing the number of workshops in addition to course unit.