Medical Students’ Satisfaction with the Quality of E-learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background: Universities’ sudden exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to maintain social distancing have prompted universities to reconsider their traditional roles in the teaching-learning process and to create a new organizational structure for this process. The result of this reorganization is the development of a new teaching system framework known as e-learning. Although this type of education could lay the foundation for all learners to enhance the quality of education, expand learning opportunities, and receive education conveniently and quickly, students’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction plays a key role in the current competitive and turbulent environment. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the satisfaction of medical students with the quality of e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The sample population of this study included the students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Shiraz, Iran. Via convenience sampling, 240 medical students were selected. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire to assess the students' satisfaction with the quality of e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire was distributed and collected after confirming its validity and reliability. Results: The mean satisfaction of the medical students with e-learning was moderate. The highest mean satisfaction of the students’ with the desirability of the e-learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic was observed in the dimension of satisfaction with the quality of educational facilities and equipment, followed by the dimensions of the quality of professors and teaching time, quality of professors’ lesson plan, quality of the educational atmosphere and assessment of academic achievement, and the quality of professors' teaching methods. Conclusions: Although the students’ satisfaction with the quality of e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic was not very high, their moderate satisfaction and prioritizing their satisfaction based on the quality of classrooms and equipment, as well as the quality of professors and teaching time, indicated that universities should provide the required facilities to improve the quality of e-learning and take appropriate measures to enable professors to implement virtual classrooms and e-learning properly.