Comparing Saudi Students’ Academic Performance Before and After Implementing E-Learning During The Covid-19 Pandemic in the Adult Nursing Course: A Mixed-Methods Study Dr. Sharifah Alsayed1 College of Nursing King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences Dr. Ebtsam Aly Abou Hashish2 College of Nursing K

Abstract

Background and Aims: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s-imposed lockdown, e-learning was widely implemented to continue educational plans. Similarly, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) has implemented e-learning in all programs. This study compared nursing students’ academic performance in an adult nursing course before and after the implementation of e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: It is a mixed-method design in which both quantitative and qualitative data are collected. Conve¬nience sampling was employed in the quantitative part, while purposive sampling was used in the qualitative part. A total of 140 students were included by comparing their academic grades in two semesters before and after implementing e-learning, while the qualitative part was conducted through focus groups using semi-structured interviews with 12 participants. Inferential statistics and content analysis were done for quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Results: The academic transcripts showed higher grades in the theoretical domain with e-learning compared to on-campus, with a significant difference (t = -11.6, p<0.001). In contrast, the grades were significantly lower in the clinical domain with e-learning compared to on-campus (t= 15.7, p<0.001). Two themes emerged from the qualitative findings, which are: the lived e-learning experience and the lived on-campus experience. Conclusion: The qualitative findings of this study were parallel with the quantitative results, where participants reported a negative impact of the lack of clinical practice on their academic performance in clinical domains. On the other hand, participants reported high flexibility associated with e-learning, which contributed to improving their academic scores. It is highly recommended to adopt hybrid (blended) learning as a learning strategy, especially in delivering nursing curricula.