Impact of online learning on medical and non-medical students during COVID-19 pandemic in Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia: A comparative study

Background: During COVID-19, the mode of education was changed completely to online, however, in medical colleges across Saudi Arabia, the lectures were a blend of online and offline (PBL, examination, clinical skills, and labs) activities. Aims: Our aim of this study to compare the learning outcomes in both medical and non-medical students and find out the challenges, limitations, and problems faced by medical students in the online and offline blended mode of teaching. Methods: After acquiring affirmative consent, 151 medical and non-medical students from Shaqra University were randomly engaged in a cross-sectional study. A classic questionnaire was created in Google Form and a virtual assessment was done. The acquired students' data was assessed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel software. Results: Over 85% of both medical and non-medical students chose online real-time training methods. In the COVID-19 duration, more than 80% of medical (M) and non-medical (NM) students said that virtual teaching was comparatively more difficult for them to focus on than the on-site teaching. Over 50% of both M and NM students believe that the COVID-19 epidemic damaged their grades this semester/block. Surprisingly, after receiving the vaccination, more than 80% of M and NM students expressed interest in on-site instruction. Conclusions: The study clinched that the online mode of education was disliked by many students regardless of the stream and are eager for offline mode of education.