Perception of Equivalence Between Online and Face-to-face Academic Activities by Undergraduate Medical Students During COVID-19 Pandemic

Background and aim: As online teaching continues to grow in recent years and COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown enforced medical education for online classes in most of the countries, including India, so it is important to investigate medical student s overall Perception about online teaching environments compared to face-to-face (F2F) teaching. Materials and methods: A study was conducted to evaluate the Perception of undergraduate medical students about online teaching. An observational study initiated during lockdown period in April 2020 in a new medical college running in the second year and only two batches available with a total strength of 330 student s attending classes through online mode from the last five months during COVID-19 Pandemic and 295 students were voluntarily participated in the study depending on exclusion and inclusion criteria. The authors measured the student s Perceptions through a pretested questionnaire by assessing their level of interaction, Small Group Teaching (SGT), understanding concepts, knowledge acquired, and conducive environment for learning online courses compared to face-to-face (F2F) courses by using a 5-point Likert scale. Results: Students overall Perception of online classes conducted in terms of interaction, SGT, knowledge acquired, concepts, and conducive environment for learning was negative compared to Face-to-face (F2F) teaching mode. Conclusion: From a small study, it is very well evidence that students are not able to enjoy online teaching in comparison to face-to-face (F2F) teaching, but online teaching methods can be used as an additional tool instead of replacing it with face-to-face (F2F) classes, particularly in medical education to develop a hybrid curriculum.