Assessment of Experiences Attending Online Classes held during COVID-19 Pandemic among Medical Undergraduate Students of BMCRI- A Cross Sectional Study

Introduction

On 23 March 2020, the Government of India ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting movement of entire 1.3 billion population of India as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Initially it was ordered for 21 days; however it was extended till 31 May 2020 under subsequent phases. With staggered unlock in upcoming months as per zones in the country divided on the basis of number new positive cases of COVID-19, classroom education was among the most impacted activities.

As the COVID-19 infection is transmitted by close contact, continuing the classroom education was not feasible with current infrastructure and occupancy rate as none of these classrooms were designed according to the new social distancing guidelines. With the current scenario, maintaining the continuity of the education was the topmost priority. Therefore, college administrations accomplished the need of the hour using the current available technology, which included acquiring software for conducting online meetings using the internet.

This study was conducted in order to assess the difficulties faced by the medical undergraduate students with this new methodology of education specially with respect to the availability of the infrastructure to attend the classes over the Internet and its impact on their Physical Health in terms of symptoms of bad posture, eye strain, headache and Mental Health in terms of missing the interaction with friends, worried about missing the classes due to factors beyond their control, etc.

Materials and Methods

This is a web-based study wherein a survey designed in the website Surveymonkey.com was sent to the participants who were satisfying the inclusion criteria that they have attended the online classes conducted by the college at least for duration of one month. The survey was carried out using a face validated, structured questionnaire. The items in the questionnaire included closed ended multiple-choice questions with five choices for each item and one open ended question. The time period of the study was from 10th November 2020 to 09th December 2020. The data collected is represented in the form of table and descriptive statistics. Out of the 1000 participants, 663 responded out of which 587 had responded to all the questions of the survey. The platform used i.e., Surveymonkey.com has prevented multiple responses from the same device.

Study Design

The study is a cross-sectional one and the study relies on the responses of 587 medical undergraduate students who willingly participated in the survey. The respondents included students of Bangalore Medical College, enrolled in the course of MBBS and belonged to Year I, Year II, Year III phase I and Year III phase II. The respondents, who participated in the survey, did so, on a purely voluntary basis having known and understood the study, and they could choose to quit at any stage. In order to obtain complete information, respondents were requested to attempt all the questions and complete the survey.

Results

The majority of the study participants were in the age group of 18 to 20 years, about 361 (61.49%) were males and rest were females.

Mean number of hours the participants spent in online classes in a day are 2.38+/- 1.07 The type of internet connection used by the participants for attending online classes was:

The type of device used by the participants for attending online classes was:

Out of all the participants, 50.7% believed that home is not a suitable place for attending classes due to the most common reasons being Network issues and Distractions due to various situations around them.

Pearson’s correlation Coefficient between the duration of classes per day and its impact on mental health was 0.083 which was statistically significant with p value 0.043 (<0.05) with most common factors being:

1. Missing interaction with batch mates of in person class.
2. Worried that they might miss the online class due to factors beyond their control.
3. Feeling frustrated and lack of interest in learning via online classes.

Pearson’s correlation Coefficient between the duration of classes per day and its impact on physical health was 0.124 which was statistically significant with p value 0.003 (<0.05) with most common factors being:

1. With attending online classes, average screen viewing duration has increased.
2. Experience eye strain or headache after attending all the online classes of the day.
3. Experience symptoms of bad posture such as backache.

Conclusion

For Online Classes, availability of infrastructure is inadequate as majority of the students are using mobile phones on data connection for attending online classes. Correlation between duration of online classes and its negative impact on Mental and Physical Health is statistically significant.

Discussion

Distance education was already in place where students would study at their homes with the books provided and complete their course. The methodology designed for holding meetings in the corporate offices was now being used to impart the theoretical knowledge among the medical undergraduate students. Similar study done by Rajab et.al at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in July 2020 concluded that the challenges brought about by the pandemic included those related to communication, student assessment, use of technology tools, online experience, pandemic-related anxiety or stress, time management, and technophobia¹ , whereas a qualitative study conducted by Khalil et al in August 2020 concluded that in spite of challenges such as technical issues, individual behavioral characteristics, institutional methodology barriers, and the absence of non-verbal clues, preclinical students were more likely to opt for online lectures² .

Moreover, a cross sectional survey conducted in Nepal in November 2020 had reported that medical students did not find online classes as effective as the traditional classroom teachings; it could be made more interactive and productive by introducing interactive and brainstorming sessions complementing the conventional face to face education³ .While certainly with better study designs, more accurate scenario can be brought into the notice, feasibility in the times of pandemic remains a major aspect that needs to be carefully evaluated.

Conflict of Interest

None.