Perception of Online Learning among Health Sciences' Students: A Mixed-method Study

Introduction: The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has led to a paradigm shift from the traditional classroom setting to online education and webinars. Adoption of online teaching-learning mode by the institutions and its delivery through virtual platforms has challenged the traditional classroom learning model. It is imperative in these times of COVID-19 pandemic to explore how online learning among the health sciences' fields can impart knowledge and additionally explore the perception and satisfaction among health sciences' students.

Methods: An explanatory sequential (QUAN-qual) mixed-methods study was conducted between November 2020 - June 2021 among 474 medical, nursing, physiotherapy and dental students attending online classes. All the students were invited to participate in the study along with a Google form questionnaire. For qualitative data, focused group interviews were conducted with a group of 6-8 students from the respective four years of each discipline on an online platform for 45 min to 1 hour.

Results: Total 474 students responded to the survey questionnaire. 56.3% (267) of the students were not satisfied with the online learning program. 62.2% (294) of the students felt that online learning was not able to retain their interest. Students even reported that learning the assigned syllabus was difficult during online lectures and agreed that online learning could be distracting, time-consuming and does not provide an adequate pace of learning compared to traditional learning.

Conclusion: Online learning has its advantages and disadvantages over traditional classroom learning. It can act as a boon for students if the educators and learners keep in mind the inputs given by students in the study.