Correlations between the Motivational Persistence Scale and the Efficacy on Online Medical Learning

ABSTRACT

The online learning is not a new concept but, until in 2020, it was rather theoretical, being applied only in limited areas;the COVID-19 pandemics, instead, transformed it in the only possible way to maintain normality and to continue with the educational process. In this regard, we conducted a study between 2020 and 2022, on a sample of 551 students, 23.8% males and 76.2% females, with an average age of 21.78 ± 3.736 years;we invited them to specify their opinion about the online education in which they participated during the pandemics and we correlated their answers with their psychological learner profile, evaluated using the Motivational Persistence Scale. The study revealed the following conclusions: the medical students generally enjoy the online learning activities because they are more convenient, flexible, and the tasks can be customized to be solved at their own pace;the main noticed disadvantages are the lack of direct communication and human interaction with the teachers and the specific limits of some disciplines that cannot be easily and efficiently transposed into the online environment;the students with high scores on the Motivational Persistence Scale and a strong will to get involved in achieving long-term goals and fulfilling the current tasks, have favorable opinions about the online learning and participated actively at online learning activities, despite the disadvantages they have noticed;the tenacious students, who are able to recall and to continue with their untouched goals, tend also to be open to the further participation at online education activities. © 2022 IEEE.