Nursing University Students' Experience of Online Education in COVID-19 Pandemic: A Content Analytic Study

Abstract

Background and Purpose of Study: COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent online mode of education has challenged national educational system and higher education. Thus, the present research aimed to explore students’ experience of the advantages and disadvantages of online education in Bandar Abbas University of medical sciences during the pandemic. Methodology: The present qualitative research conducted a content analysis of 26 nursing students’ experience. The sampling was purposive in type. Unstructured face to face interviews were conducted with individuals to collect the required data. The interview protocol was followed. The required social distance was kept and the ethical code was adhered to. The participants were interviewed as already arranged at a place of convenience. The interviews took between 40 and 60 minutes depending on the immediate condition. The data collection continued until data saturation. Findings: The data analysis led to the extraction of 5 themes and 8 categories including teacher-student miscommunication, student-student miscommunication, evaluation issue, anxiety, distancing from active learning, materials/sources, lack of physical attendance, non-educational activities and 22 sub-categories. Conclusion: The present findings can help professors and education authorities better know students’ expected learning and challenges of online education. They can, thus, be better aware of the existing barriers and can better plan to remove them.

Keywords

• Experience
• Nursing students
• Online education
• Qualitative research