Valuating educational portals in public health

Internet is one of the main indicators of the many scientific, economical and social opportunities raised from information technology. Due to growing popularity of internet, using portals is a convenient and cost effective way for public health education and service provision. This paper explores evaluation criteria for a portal site. Defining these criteria helps greatly in design, implementation, evaluation and usage of these portal by managers and users. In this descriptive study, 53 experts in the field of web programming were selected through purposeful sampling. Data were collected through internet search interview with key informants and a questionnaire with likert scale. The questionnaire was designed according to software standards and researcher's experience. Questionnaire was reviewed for face and content validity by key informants. Reliability was achieved through pilot study and facto analysis [Alfa Cronbach=0.78]. Findings were analyzed using SPSS. [Cost of buying a portal] ranked highest among 10 assessed parameters. This means that the cost is a major influencing factor regardless of technical aspects of the site and selection guidelines. In addition, maintenance and updating cost of these sites compare to their production cost has increased according to current standard software. Managers should be knowledgeable about evaluation and selection of portals for health and medical institutions. This will enhance quality of design and services provided through portals

[ search needs of the first and last semester students of the faculty of medical management and information and sciences of the Isfahan. University in 2006]

Library users expect fast and direct access to the information they need and the variety of users' searching behavior have lead to new library services. Therefore, in order to provide the correct data to the library users, librarians should know the students' searching motives and aims, the type and nature of resources they search and methods and instruments they use to access the data. This study investigates the search needs of the students in the first and last semester of the faculty of management and medical information sciences in 2006. This is an analytical survey. The study population included 94 students [54 in the first semester and 40 in the last semester] of the faculty of management and medical information sciences of Isfahan in 3 undergraduate majors. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity was approved by professors and professionals and a pilot study in the sample size which was equal to 88%. The reliability was checked by Alfa Cronbach. Data were analyzed by Excel software and quantitative statistics such as percentage and frequency were used. The findings showed that the searching needs of the students are different in various semesters of their study period and the main reason for not using the library resources correctly is lack of knowledge and education about it. It is recommended to educate the university students how to use the electronic resources for a faster and better access to data they need. Also, communication between professors and librarians can help development of electronic databases of the library as well as improvement of the students' literacy of the library usage