Background: During the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, to enable medical education course continuation, there has been a surge in e-learning in the form of online classes, live web simulations, etc. However, it is far from ideal when learning clinical and practical skills, professionalism, communication, etc. Moreover, the rapid transition to online education has not been adequately tested.
Aims and Objectives: This study aims to assess medical students knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding online teaching and learning.
Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional, online questionnaire-based study. Pre-validated, self-developed questionnaire was distributed through email in the form of Google Forms to assess KAP regarding online teaching and learning among MBBS 2nd professional students of a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India. Appropriate statistical tests were applied for analyzing the collected data.
Results: Out of 200 participants, the response rate was 65.5%. About 69.29% were male and 33.86% were female. The mean age of the participants was 20.67 ± 0.11 years. About 78.5% of the respondents were aware that online learning can be purely online learning or blended learning. About 40.5% were satisfied with the curriculum set for the class, while 36.6% of respondents disagreed that online class is a possible substitute for conventional classroom teaching, 32.8% disagreed that e-learning could be applied easily in India. Only 9.9% and 6.1% agreed that e-learning can cover the clinical and practical aspects, respectively. About 64.9% were regular in attending their online classes. About 43.5% were residing in rural areas and 51.9% faced difficulty in internet connectivity.
Conclusion: Medical students showed acceptable levels of KAP regarding e-learning. There is strong need to modify the curriculum to improve the teaching-learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic as per clinical or practical teachings in medicine are concerned. Proper access to low cost, fast, and easy-to-use e-learning platforms is the need of the hour.
Key words: E-learning; Medical Education; Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic; Curriculum; Questionnaire
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