Medical education in the time of pandemic — undergraduate medical students’ perspectives after a year of online education during COVID-19 pandemic in central India

Abstract

Beginning in 2019, the pandemic hampered the pedagogical process in a way unprecedented in history, as a result modern technological advances took centre stage and medical colleges introduced e-classes to continue their academic activities. To study the undergraduate medical students' perspectives towards online medical education programs during the COVID -19 pandemic. A descriptive cross-sectional research was conducted in which MBBS students who had undergone one year of online classes from four different medical colleges of central India. Participated students were administered a validated questionnaire consisting of 24 questions through Google forms. The data of 426 undergraduate medical students across four medical colleges in Central India was analysed. The percentage of male and female students were 52.8 and 47.2 respectively and the majority who attended online classes lived in urban areas (68.1%). Learning during the pandemic was heavily dependent on online classes (77.7%), which were accessed through smartphones (80%). There was a significant difference seen in time spent on digital education (p<0.001). Upon analysing the teaching methods, live tutorials (48.8%) and video tutorials (50.4%) scored high. The benefits of online education were its flexibility regarding time and pace of learning whereas internet connectivity and lack of interaction were its greatest disadvantagesThough introduced only as a stopgap arrangement to tide over the present crisis, technology enhanced learning is here to stay especially with advent of e-health platforms and teleconsultation.