Abstract
BackgroundE-learning has been widely adopted as a teaching and learning approach in medical education internationally. However, its adoption in low- and middle-income countries is still at an infantile stage. The use of e-learning may help to overcome some of the barriers to access to quality education and provide flexible, low-cost, user-centred, and easily updated learning. To address the need for research education during the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed and implemented an e-learning course for students enrolled in higher diploma courses at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC). In this paper, we report our experience teaching the online research course in resource-constrained settings to enable other medical educators, students and institutions in similar settings to understand the most appropriate approaches to incorporating e-learning interventions.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study that reviewed the experiences of learners and lecturers on a research course at Kenya Medical Training College. All higher diploma students admitted to the college in the 2020/21 academic year were invited to take part in the study. We also included all lecturers that were involved in the coordination and facilitation of the course. We analysed qualitative and quantitative data that were collected from the e-learning platform, an online course-evaluation form and reports from course lecturers.ResultsWe enrolled 933 students on the online research course. These students had joined 44 higher diploma courses in 11 campuses of the college. The students struggled to complete synchronous e-learning activities on the e-learning platform. Only 53 and 45% of the students were able to complete the pretest and the posttest, respectively. Four themes were identified through a thematic analysis of qualitative data (1) Students gained research competencies (2) Students appreciated the use of diverse e-learning technologies (3) Students felt overwhelmed by the research course (4) Technological challenges reduce the effectiveness of online learning.ConclusionOur results suggest that e-learning can be used to teach complex courses, such as research in resource-constrained settings. However, faculty should include more asynchronous e-learning activities to enhance teaching and learning and improve student experiences.
Highlights
E-learning has been widely adopted as a teaching and learning approach in medical education internationally
The World Health Organization (WHO) urges Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to utilise e-learning as a tool for bridging knowledge and capacity gaps among health workers [8]
Themes reflecting students’ experiences on e‐learning We identified four themes related to students’ experiences of teaching and learning on the online research course
Summary
E-learning has been widely adopted as a teaching and learning approach in medical education internationally. We report our experience teaching the online research course in resource-constrained settings to enable other medical educators, students and institutions in similar settings to understand the most appropriate approaches to incorporating e-learning interventions. The adoption of e-learning in higher education is supported by the adult learning, cognitive, behavioural and constructivist theories [2, 3]. E-learning increases the potential for student-teacher engagement and makes it possible to reach a large audience This approach holds the potential to maximise the use of resources, for educational institutions with few faculty members [4] Current evidence suggests that the adoption of e-learning can lower the cost of education and increase learning opportunities for students in low- and middleincome countries [6, 7]. E-learning holds the potential to improve student learning outcomes and experiences, especially in LMICs
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