A study on effective use of technology in training first MBBS students for foundation course during pandemic era

Abstract

Background: Medical education in India is being revolutionized with the introduction of “Competency-based undergraduate curriculum” for an Indian Medical Graduate. It demands great commitment, flexibility to adopt to changes, and lifelong learning. For this, 1 month foundation course was introduced across the country. Unfortunately, the pandemic had cast its shadow on a conduct of this very pertinent foundation course at a classical offline mode and made a shift to online learning inevitable. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to study how the use of technology can result in effective delivery of course content through feedback analysis and online objective assessment. Materials and Methods: Feedback from the students was obtained employing a predesigned questionnaire mailed to them using Google forms and online objective assessment was also conducted after the end of the course. Results: The majority of the students felt that the topics selected were absolutely essential for the medical profession and scored fairly well in the assessment. Conclusion: The results of the present indicate that there was not much difference in students perception about the foundation course whether covered through online or offline mode suggesting a blended learning format to be a useful teaching learning method during the post-pandemic phase.