Challenges in online learning of international students at the medical university of Karaganda

Abstract

In March 2019, due to the pandemic situation globally, the Medical University of Karaganda changed its teaching format from offline to online learning. Indeed, this was the experience of other educational institutions in Kazakhstan as well. Although the university administration has supported on- line learning in diverse ways, students have had to overcome challenges on their own by converting to a distance-learning model. Providing access to licensed platforms to conduct online meetings was only a tiny portion of the solution. Instead, students’ preparedness for independent learning was the main hurdle to cross. In light of this, the aim of the study was to explore international students’ challenges within taking courses online. In this quantitative study, a constructive grounded theory approach was used to analyze open-ended student responses from a survey. Hence, axial coding was employed to build a comprehensive story by aligning extracts of student responses with one another. Overall, 147 students between the second and fifth years of their studies took part in this study. The survey consisted of 16 questions, three of which were demographic, and was distributed through a link to google forms. Students have recommended reducing the time spent in online meetings and providing them with the opportunity to practice medical skills in real-life situations. Key words: online learning, international students, challenges, constructive grounded theory, Kazakhstan.