European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Introduction: The spread of Covid-19 pandemic to India and the pandemic guidelines issued by the government to stop offline classroom teaching posed a big challenge to all educational institutes including medical colleges. Online teaching which was never a part of medical education suddenly assumed importance and was the only viable mode of teaching available during the pandemic. Hence the present study was taken up to assess the perceptions of first year MBBS students aboutthe online teaching.
Aim: To assess theperceptions of first year MBBS students aboutthe online teaching during covid-19 pandemic.
Materials and methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among first year MBBS students of 2019-20 batch of Sri Siddhartha Medical College. A self-structured questionnaire was administered to all study participants and the responses were recorded.
Results: Majority of the students reported that accessibility to record lectures which they can use to revisit any of the lecture classes and clear their doubts as one of the major advantages of online teaching. 84.66% of the students reported their liking to online classes because of the convenience and flexibility to attend classes in a familiar and comfortable environment in home. 30.66% of the students reported internet connectivity issues as one of the problems in distant mode of teaching.42.66% of the students reported less student teacher interaction as one of the major drawbacks of online teaching. 64% of the students reported curriculum content issues like having no practical demonstrations and no clinical visits to hospital as one of the major limitations of this mode of teaching. Majority of the study population displayed adequate knowledge to effectively use the technology to attend online classes.
Conclusion: Improved quality of internet connectivity and enhanced student teacher interaction would improve the learning experience of the students in online teaching.