Changing trends in medical education during pandemic: our experiences on E learning

Abstract

The COVID 19 pandemic has lead not just to a social and economic uncertainty but also created historic challenges to the continuity of education process globally. Online teaching and learning has come to the forefront to prevent loss of learning time for students during this period. An observational cross sectional study was conducted on the implementation of online teaching program in a medical college during the period of COVID 19 pandemic. All the synchronous and asynchronous teaching learning activities across all the phases of MBBS were observed and reviewed. The challenges, limitations and opportunities in the implementation process were analyzed. Appropriate solutions were found for most of the challenges including the implementation of competency based undergraduate curriculum for phase 1 MBBS students. Feedback was taken from the undergraduate medical students to know their perceptions on e learning and its use as a teaching learning method. The questionnaire included both closed and open ended questions to know the learning experiences and preferences of the students. The data was subjected to descriptive statistics and computed as frequency percentages. The study presents the challenges in the implementation of online teaching like providing the required infrastructure and training the faculty. It also reveals its limitations in providing clinical experience and conducting assessments for students. The study also shows that though the medical students perceived various features of e learning to be useful but believed traditional classroom to be a better learning environment. The study highlights that e learning has provided the opportunity to promote self directed learning for students and to develop technological skills of both the faculty and the students, suggesting its potential role in the future of medical education.