A National Survey about Online Teaching in Medicine and Dental Medicine in the Universities of Morocco

Abstract

Introduction: Learning is the process by which we acquire knowledge or expertise. All teaching is done with the objective of transferring factual, conceptual or processual knowledge, acquiring skills, inculcating attitudes or bringing out, appropriating or developing reflexes or routines. Distance learning can be a substitute for face-to-face teaching, a complement or a useful reinforcement to it. Distance learning has emerged as a new teaching method to maintain the continuity of medical education during the closure of educational institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to explore the status of distance learning among medical students during their clinical years and to identify possible challenges, limitations, satisfaction, and prospects for this approach to learning. Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on a questionnaire that was designed and administered to students in their clinical years from public and private medical and dental schools. For this study, the estimated sample size was 1584. Results: A total of 1584 students completed the questionnaire, among them 1407 respondents (88.8%) stated that they had used the educational platform to access their course. Among these students, 55.4% (878) think that access is easy, 35.3% (550) find it quite difficult and 9.3% (149) difficult. 43.2% (685) of the students prefer the face-to-face system, 35.4% prefer the hybrid system. Only 21.4% (339) prefer the distance learning system. The overall satisfaction rate with medical distance education was 18.2%; with 31.4% being somewhat satisfied with distance education during this period of confinement and 5.7% very satisfied. Discussion: Regardless of the reported benefits, medical students prefer the blended or face-to-face approach to teaching because distance learning was a major challenge to acquiring equivalent clinical medical skills. Satisfaction with distance education is strongly related to students' prior experience with distance education as well as instructors' experiences and interactions. Technical and infrastructural resources were reported as a major challenge to implementing distance learning.