Comparison of Student Performance in Online versus Offline Teaching: A Case-Control Study in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Lectures in the Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Introduction: During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic, there was a global need for online learning. Numerous publications were observed both in favour of and against online platforms, but most of them were qualitative. Now that the pandemic is over, we aimed to explore the effectiveness of online teaching compared to offline teaching. Aim: This study aimed to descriptively compare the performance of medical students in online versus offline class teaching of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology course. Materials and Methods: This quantitative retrospective casecontrol study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at College of Medicine, Qassim University, from July 2022 to January 2023. The academic year 2018/2019 was considered the control group (August 2018 to June 2019, offline teaching), and the year 2020/2021 was considered the case group (online teaching, August 2020 to June 2021). A total of 123 students had the Obstetrics and Gynaecology course delivered online, compared to a control group of 115 students who had the same course offline. Chi-square test was applied to analyse categorical variables, considering a p-value <0.05 as significant. Results: The measured outcomes included overall students’ performance in terms of marks and grades, as well as performance in relation to gender and attendance rates. Overall, students’ grades and attendance were higher in the online group (p=0.004 and p=0.03, respectively), which was more evident among male students (p=0.009). Conclusion: The findings suggest that medical students’ performance in online learning is comparable to or better than face-to-face teaching. Further research is needed to explore the performance of male students compared to female students.