Medical Undergraduate Students’ Perception about Online Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic is great not only on general health but also on regular learning worldwide. AIM: This study analyzed medical undergraduate students’ feedback about online education at Taif University during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Five hundred undergraduate medical students from the four medical colleges at Taif University participated in the current study. They were requested to give their feedback about online medical education through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was prepared and administered to the medical students at different academic levels through Google forms. The current study is a cross-sectional study. RESULTS: The respondents who can ask questions during e-classes were significantly higher than those who had not this opportunity. A significantly higher number of students reported that the shared material was useful. In addition, the study results indicated significantly poor student-teacher interaction during the e-classes. Finally, about 231 of the respondents (46.2%) preferred physical classes over e-classes and 140 of respondents (28%) preferred online classes over physical classes, and the remaining number, 129 (25.8%), mentioned that online and conventional education are both the same. CONCLUSION: Most students said that conventional education is better than online education. The combination of online and formal education can be implemented after the COVID-19 pandemic to satisfy all parties.