ABSTRACT
Introduction: Online teaching, learning, and evaluation are inevitable to ensure the continuity of medical education delivery throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic. Based on medical lecturers' experiences during the COVID-19 movement control order (MCO), this study looked into the problems of implementing online teaching, learning, and assessment. Methods: During the COVID-19 MCO, a hermeneutic phenomenology study was conducted using reflective written exercises to explore the challenges faced by medical lecturers. The medical lecturers were given online open-ended questions via a Google form to help them reflect on their previous experiences. The reflective written comments were analysed by ATLAS.ti. Thematic analysis was performed for coding and categorizing the reflective comments into meaningful codes, categories, and themes. Results: A total of 29 medical lecturers responded to the open-ended reflective questions. They were 16 females, and 13 males representing four main medical specialties: basic science (n=10), medical-based (n=9), surgical-based (n=5), and laboratory-based (n=5). The thematic analysis identified five themes of challenges faced by medical lecturers during the pandemic that include ICT facility and support, lecturers' receptivity, online students' engagement, online assessment, and online teaching. Conclusion: This study emphasised the common obstacles faced by medical lecturers during the COVID-19 MCO in order to maintain the continuity of medical education delivery. Students, lecturers, curriculum, ICT facility, and technical assistance were all part of the issues. Several proposals for charting ways to improve medical education delivery during the epidemic were explored. © 2022 UPM Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The increasing spread of infectious diseases in Malaysia has resulted the topic of vaccine acceptance and rejection is gaining traction in academia. the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly has manifested the never-ending debate of the topic of immunisation both academically and in public discourse. Thus, it is appropriate and timely to delve deeper into the ideas, norms, and values that influence people's health preferences and behaviour, particularly in vaccination. This study concerns on the perceived and actual vaccine knowledge of Generation Y Malays aged 25 to 40 years old in Pulau Pinang. It is critical to understand the public discussion vaccines within the framework of social interaction - how vaccines are portrayed and publicly understood. A pilot study was conducted prior to this to evaluate the procedure for participant recruitment, the data collection processes and the usability of the survey questionnaire. The improvements made to the instrument and methodology before beginning the main research study on vaccine knowledge among Malaysians in Pulau Pinang were made in an attempt to contribute to the body of research in this area.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to compare the male and female medical students’ perceptions of the flipped classroom (FC) using the Zoom online platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. A mixed-modality study proceeded for first-year undergraduate medical students (n = 149). Three topics (learning how to learn, stress management and doctor-patient communication) were flipped using the Zoom platform. Following the flipping, relevant videos and PowerPoint slides were sent to the students. Home assignments were done through the online classroom. The students were then made to answer a questionnaire on their perceptions of FC consisting of 5-point Likert items. In addition, a focus group discussion (FGD) was carried out with voluntary participation (n = 13) for an in-depth discussion of flipped teaching. The quantitative data were analysed using the independent t-test, and Atlas.ti was used to analyse the qualitative data. For most of the Likert statements, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between the mean results obtained by the male and female students. For example, for the item “The learning material was available before class time”, both the male (mean [SD] = 1.857 [0.443]) and female (mean [SD] = 1.966 [0.365]) respondents confirmed the learning material’s availability before class time (p = 0.121). However, the mean result obtained by the male respondents for the variable “I understood the topics in lesser time compared to the traditional lecture method” was higher than the mean result obtained by the female participants by 0.236, which was statistically significant (95% CI [0.373, –0.100], p = 0.001). Modified FC teaching for the “learning skills” course is thus an effective teaching method. The male students took significantly lesser time understanding the three included topics compared to the female students. Malaysian Association of Education in Medicine and Health Sciences and