Medical Students & e-Learning during COVID-19 Crisis: A Structural Equation Modeling Based Study

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 crisis affected the medical education throughout the world. During the infectious outbreak, closure of universities was the only solution to prevent the spread of virus. However, adoption of e-Learning helped in sustaining the medical educational activities. Objective: The current study focus on e-Learning acceptance among medical students during the COVID-19 crisis in Pakistan. Study type, settings & duration: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the four different medical institutes of Punjab from January 2021 to March 2021. Methodology: The random sample technique was used to include 314 medical students by using the sample section criteria suggested by Krejcie and Morgan. We also proposed a self-proposed conceptual model supported by Media System Dependency Theory. Results: Findings indicated that despite e-Learning has some limitations for the medical students, still we found a strong significant relationship between students' positive perceptions towards e-Learning during the Covid-19. i.e., the significance for H1, e-Learning and its Impact was (β =0.266, p <0.011), for H2, e-Learning as a Substitute, (β= 0.144, p<0.00), and the H3, the Perceptions of students towards e-Learning was (β =0.2121, p <0.000). Conclusion: We concluded that, e-Learning is a potential solution to sustain the educational activities and balance the cessation of ward rotations during the lockdown. Using e-Learning during the COVID-19 not only depicted the role of internet-based learning, it also highlighted the greater dependence on new media technology.

Keywords

• e-Learning
• COVID-19
• medical students
• digital system
• academic performance