The Major Challenges Faced by Medical Lecturers in Teaching, Learning and Assessment During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Study

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.