Online Education an Elixir or a hopeless Endeavour: A Cross-Sectional Survey among Undergraduate Students of LUMHS

Abstract

Background: Institutional closures and other constraints on academic resources in the midst of the pandemic have had a substantial influence on the education of all students globally. To overcome this challenge, educational institutions all over the world leaned towards non-traditional methods of learning vis-à-vis online education.

Objective: The fundamental purpose of this study was to gain insight into how this ongoing pandemic affects medical education, as well as associated factors and responses of medical students, along with exploring new exam strategies in the future.

Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st December 2020 to 1st March 2021, involving 313 medical undergraduates of Lumhs, including both male and female students, following all inclusion criteria; a Random sampling technique was used for sample selection to minimize the bias. 313 participants were students from 1st year to final year MBBS, BDS, and DPT departments of Lumhs campus. Data was collected using a self-reported qualitative online questionnaire, and then SPSS version 26.0 was used to analyze the data and put out tables and figures. It was determined that a P-value of 0.05 or lower was significant.

Results: Out of  313  medical students who participated in the survey, 93.5% of students thought that the lockdown had affected their education, 85.1% of students were having online classes, and 74.5% of students were not satisfied with online learning. Regarding the effectiveness of this methodology till the end of the pandemic, 65.9% of students did not find this methodology effective at the end of the pandemic. Meanwhile, 46.5% of students were in favor of the traditional method of annual examination. Given the condition does not improve over the next few months,  35.4% wanted to take only online written examinations. On the issue of online viva among 313 students, 34.5% of students do not think online viva can replace physical examination for passing a professional examination. On the timings of the annual examination, 85.7% of students think that the annual examination should not take place on time because they had less time to cover the whole syllabus.

Conclusion: The results show that most students who took online classes were dissatisfied with their experience; therefore, it's important to work on fixing problems like high tuition, bad connections, and boring lectures so that students may advance in their chosen fields.