Perception of online learning among health sciences' students- A mixed methods study

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has led to a paradigm shift from the traditional classroom setting to online education and webinars. We could not identify any published multidisciplinary studies from Indian institutions that have explored the perception of online learning among health sciences students from different faculties.The study aimed to explore the perception of health sciences students regarding their experience, satisfaction, and challenges with online learning compared to offline learning. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An explanatory sequential (QUAN-qual) mixed-methods study was conducted between November 2020 and June 2021 among 474 medical, nursing, physiotherapy, and dental students attending online classes. All the students were invited to participate in the study using Google Form questionnaire. Quantitative data was analyzed using MS Excel. For qualitative data, focused group interviews were conducted with a group of six to eight students from each discipline on an online platform for 45 min to 1 h and transcripts were thematically analyzed. RESULTS: Totally 474 students responded to the survey questionnaire. Nearly 56.3% (267) of the students were not satisfied with the online learning program. Around 62.2% (294) of the students felt that online learning could not retain their interest. Students reported that learning the assigned syllabus was difficult during online lectures. They agreed that online learning could be distracting, time-consuming, and did not provide an adequate pace of learning. CONCLUSION: Though online learning is an effective learning strategy, it needs to be further improved considering the valuable inputs given by students.