This study aimed at design and evaluation of web-based continuing education for physicians based on constructivist theory in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences during the summer of 2012. Research population included 30 continuing education courses and the sample Antibiotic Prophylaxis course was randomly selected. All general dentists registering (40 dentists) in the course during the summer of 2012. By using the table of random digits, they divided into 2 groups each with 20 ones, one as the control group and the other as the experiment group. The study method was experiment. The independent variable was the instructional design pattern based on constructivist theory and the dependent variables included satisfaction, attitude and learning rate. For estimating satisfaction and attitude, a researchermade questionnaire was used for evaluating satisfaction. The reliability of the questionnaire was α=.93. Karami's (2007) scale with the reliability of α= .92 was applied for evaluating attitude. A teacher-made pre-test post-test with kuder-richardson reliability of .80 was used for evaluating learning rate. The validity of these questionnaires and test were confirmed by some specialists. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (MANOVA and ANCOVA). Results showed that the participants' mean scores in all satisfaction components and all attitude components were significantly higher in experiment group than control one. This was true in the case of learning rate. Then experiment group had more satisfaction, more positive attitude and higher learning rate than control group. It can be concluded that applying the constructivist theory for web-based learning environments in physicians' continuing education makes these environments more effective due to its compatibility with the constructivist principles.

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