Students' Perspectives on Online Medical Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have contributed to the rise of new digital platforms for online education worldwide. This mode of teaching has its own merits and drawbacks. Yet, it is increasingly recognized as the only viable method of instruction during the pandemic. This study sought to evaluate students’ perceptions of different aspects of online teaching in pandemic times. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 257 undergraduate medical students during October 2020. Their informed consent was obtained, and a validated researcher-made questionnaire with 51 closed-ended items was distributed among them using Google Forms. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22, and all the statistical tests were conducted at a significance level of 5%. Results: Findings revealed that 241 students (93.8%) attended online classes using smartphones, whereas only 4 students (1.6%) used laptops. Most students (n=164, 63.8%) were conversant with the use of internet/online apps (p <0.0001). Also, a majority (n=156, 60.7%) disagreed with the time-saving benefit of online classes, and 29 students (11.3%) argued that live lectures offered greater scope for connection with teachers as compared to online classes. Finally, 209 students (81.3%) believed that they were less attentive in online lectures than in live lectures, and 180 (70.1%) were not willing to attend these lectures after the pandemic. Conclusion: Although online teaching is a very powerful and effective means of teaching in this pandemic, it was observed that students were less favorable toward online classes due to non-availability of books, technical problems and network connectivity issues. It is worth noting that working with live patients in real clinical settings is vital to medical education and cannot be fully replaced by e-learning.

Keywords

• medical students
• questionnaire
• perception
• medical education
• covid-19