The Effectiveness of Online Education in Basic Medical Sciences Courses during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study

Mohamed A Alblihed,Ashraf Albrakati,Mohammed Hamed Albarakati,Syed Moyn Aly,Shaimaa Ahmed Awad Ali,Ehab Kotb Elmahallawy,Anas Al-Sharif,Alaa Jameel A Albarakati,Ahmed Fathy Eldehn,Tahani Al-Hazani,Mohamed Abdel Daim

doi:10.3390/su14010224

Abstract

Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) is an emerging pandemic that has caused significant disruptions to education, resulting in marked scholar closures across the world. The present study documents the student perception of the online educational process at six universities in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The individual variable factors, i.e., institution, sex, and blended learning, that might influence student perception were also investigated. In this respect, a questionnaire that assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the online learning process and student perception was emailed to a total of 17,230 students from 3 institutions (medical, applied health and dental students) affiliated with six universities in Saudi Arabia. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to determine the validity of the questionnaire. A total of 4850 (28%) students responded to the questionnaire and 46.9% (n = 2275) of the respondents were highly satisfied with their online education. Analyses of the scores from the students showed a highly significant difference (p = 0.000) between the male and female students. Applied health students (highly satisfied score = 63.13) were the most satisfied with their online education, while medical students (highly satisfied score = 39.3) were the least satisfied with this education. In addition, applied health, dental and medical students showed a significantly higher score in favor of blended learning after schools re-open (p = 0.000). Collectively, student satisfaction with online education was common, and blended learning was preferred over the traditional format by both genders and all the students. The present data provide interesting contributions and evidence for policy makers and implementers, which might be helpful for the judgment side of decision making.

Highlights

Coronaviruses are a group of single-stranded RNA viruses that infect a wide range of mammals and birds [1]
The questionnaire assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the online learning process and student perception, and Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed
The present findings could be of promising potential for the future of medical education at the national level, but they should be combined with regular and rigorous evaluation and monitoring of their effectiveness

Summary

Introduction

Coronaviruses are a group of single-stranded RNA viruses that infect a wide range of mammals and birds [1]. Each institution scrambled to ensure maximum use of educational platforms, in order to prevent a loss of education time This step was hindered by multiple challenges that included the concern of initiating the virtual teaching process, but there were the issues of ensuring connectivity to all students and faculties who may be in remote parts of the country. The literature explored the influence of this pandemic on the global education system and the response of educational institutions to deal with this crisis [8,9,10,11] Despite this fact, limited multicenter studies involved the assessment of learner satisfaction with online instructions, and the perception of students in relation to the virtual educational experience, with special reference to basic medical sciences, in the Kingdom of Saudi

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Conclusion