Original Articles THE PERSPECTIVE OF MEDICAL STUDENTS OF A PRIVATE MEDICAL COLLEGE IN LAHORE ABOUT THE ONLINE TEACHING

Abstract

Background:
To know the general opinion of medical students of a private medical college of Lahore about online teaching.

Material and Methods:
A descriptive cross-sectional qualitative survey was conducted in Akhtar Saeed Medical and Dental College, Lahore. The duration of the study was one month, from 1st March 2021 to 30th March 2021. A survey questionnaire was formed and sent to all MBBS students of 3rd year and 4th year of Akhter Saeed Medical and Dental college. It consisted of 15 questions. Online survey methodology was used and an online google survey was generated and sent to all students of two classes. Non-probability conventional sampling method was used. All students, who have been promoted to 3rd and 4th year after 2nd and 3rd professional examinations respectively, were included in the study. The students who did not respond within a month and those who detained were excluded from the study. The online survey was sent to two hundred and seventy-six (276) students, the response was collected for 232 (79%) students and analyzed by SPSS 20.

Results:
The results were presented in form of pie charts. The most favorite online teaching mode was zoom (87.5%) and WhatsApp (76.3%). Among total, 79.3% students had difficulty in understanding study material online, 76% of students were not satisfied with their online teaching and 84% believed that they had not been competent diction with online teaching.

Conclusion:
Online teaching has evolved as a new mode of teaching during the corona pandemic. Although it has helped us a lot in restoring the continuity of medical education but still majority of students are not satisfied with this method. There is no comparison with actual physical teaching, but it is a need for the time to evolve more interactive and iterative techniques for online classes to achieve learning objectives.