Evaluation of the COVID-19 Lockdown-Adapted Online Methodology for the Cytology and Histology Course as Part of the Degree in Veterinary Medicine.

Ana Balseiro,Paulino De Paz,María José García Iglesias,Claudia Pérez-Martínez

doi:10.3390/vetsci9020051

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown brought numerous teaching challenges requiring innovative approaches to teaching and learning, including novel modes of content delivery, virtual classrooms, and online assessment schemes. The aim of this study is to describe and assess the efficacy of the methods implemented at the University of León (Spain) to adapt to lockdowns in the context of the Cytology and Histology (CH) course for veterinary medicine undergraduate students. To evaluate the success of lockdown-adapted methodologies, we used inferential statistical analysis to compare the academic outcomes of two cohorts: 2018–2019 (traditional face-to-face—presential—learning and evaluation) and 2019–2020 (some face-to-face and some online lockdown-adapted learning and online lockdown-adapted evaluation). This analysis considered scores in both theoretical and practical exams and students’ final subject score. We also evaluated the number of logs onto the Moodle platform throughout the 2019–2020 period, as well as performing a student satisfaction survey in both courses. The use of explanatory pre-recorded lectures, continuous online self-assessment tests, and virtual microscopy (VM) may have produced significant improvements in the acquisition of histology competencies among students in the lockdown cohort. However, we need to implement further strategies to improve the assessment of students’ true level of knowledge acquisition. According to the student feedback, VM is a well-accepted resource that is perceived as a flexible and enjoyable tool to use. However, while students found that the resource enhances their ability to learn about microscopic structures, they felt that it should not completely replace optical microscopy.

Highlights

Student access logs comprised the majority of Moodle logs for the whole period of the 2019–2020 course: 82.9% compared to 17.1% by lecturers, and a peak in Moodle access was recorded for both students and lecturers in May, when exams took place (Figure 1)
100% of the lockdown cohort of students expressed the opinion that a combination of virtual microscopy (VM) and optical microscope (OM) was a good teaching method for learning histology
The changes in methodology that were required to adapt teaching and learning to the new pandemic situation had significant psychological and academic impacts on students. This is perhaps because, most students belong to a generation who consider themselves digital natives, their expertise is mostly focused on the social aspects of information and communication technology (ICT), and not all students have sufficient digital competence for academic purposes

Summary

Objectives

The aim of this study is to describe and assess the efficacy of the methods implemented at the University of León (Spain) to adapt to lockdowns in the context of the Cytology and Histology (CH) course for veterinary medicine undergraduate students. The specific aims of the present study were (i) to describe the lockdown-adapted teaching and learning methodology developed in response to the

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion