Abstract
The current pandemic has revolutionized medical education with a rapid shift to online teaching and learning strategies. The students have coped by turning to the online resources to keep pace with the change. To determine the type and practice of online resources used by undergraduate medical students and compare the use of online resources with gender and GPA. This was a cross-sectional study in which an online self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the type and practices of the online resources used by the medical students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Complete enumeration sampling method was used to collect the data from 180 medical students studying at College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. One hundred and thirty students (72.2%) were unaware of the free online resources offered by the University. Most students (58.3%, n = 105) consulted peers for online references. Male students preferred PowerPoint presentations and consulting online resources for studying as compared to the females, whereas females preferred to study textbooks predominantly as compared to males (p = 0.005). Male students significantly shifted to the online resources during the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to females (p = 0.028). Students with the highest GPA scores shifted to online educational resources during pandemic. A significant proportion of the undergraduate medical students at College of Medicine, Majmaah University used online educational resources for learning. We recommend that the college administration for deliberation with the medical educationalists for necessary curricular amendments and taking necessary steps to make the college Academic supervision and mentorship program more proactive to meet the challenges of students’ use of online educational resources.
Highlights
The turn of the millennium has seen some colossal advances in information technology worldwide
The second part of the questionnaire comprised mostly closed-ended questions with either yes or no response, e.g., Did you shift to online resources during the COVID-19 pandemic? Yes/ No Some questions were open-ended, e.g., Which online e-resource do you frequently use from Majmaah University? While some questions were semi-close-ended, e.g., From whom do you get the information about the use of online resources for medical studies? Participants were required to answer either Peers/ Teachers or mention others
Did you shift to online resources during the COVID-19 pandemic? Do you find online resources more useful than traditional textbooks? Do you find online resources more user-friendly than traditional textbooks? Do you visit the University’s central library for resources? Are you aware of online e-resources offered by Majmaah university?
Summary
The turn of the millennium has seen some colossal advances in information technology worldwide. The introduction of the latest technologies, including laptops, smartphones, tabs, and fast internet speed, has revolutionized the lives of individuals worldwide. Medical education has changed in the past decade to keep pace with the changing technologies and availability of superior software programs and apps that offer tutors and students a new horizon in understanding complex medical topics. The use of technology in education had already been in practice in developed countries around a decade ago, yet its acceptance by the educators was lagging behind the learners [1]. The current Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the acceptance of technology usage in medical education to a new level [2]. The teaching and learning but the assessment has been shifted online, a concept unimaginable some ten to fifteen years back
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