E-Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic: Turning a Crisis Into Opportunity

E-learning is now a well-established method of education all over the world, and it has been used for years as a major method of teaching in many fields. The medical field is not far away, but the use of e-learning in it has become increasing, and the technological advances have made this process more realistic and interactive.

The emergence and spread of COVID-19 virus as a global pandemic has placed many restrictions on daily life activities including enrolment in schools and universities in many countries, including Jordan, which has led to a marked and increased use of e-learning as a significant alternative to traditional education. Medical teaching has some peculiar characteristics, especially the need for direct interaction between the student and the patient, attending clinics, wards, and operating rooms, and the close exposure to clinical cases. This have created some restrictions and obstacles in the way of using e-learning in medicine education, in addition to other important influencing and limiting barriers, such as technical barriers, especially in the light of the abrupt transition to e-learning utilization under the current circumstance, and the psychological barriers -in terms of anxiety and stress- that resulted by this pandemic and the consequent home quarantine.

This cross-sectional study aims to study the current state of e-learning in the School of Medicine at the University of Jordan, by evaluating the teaching tools used and the effect of the rapid transition in basic medical teaching and clinical medical training to become mainly based on the e-learning methodology on the academic achievement and assimilation of the clinical part of the medical courses, and the general satisfaction of the medical students at their different academic levels. Other influencing factors will be studied, such as the extent of students' readiness and preparedness to use the e-learning tools and their previous experience in it, the extent of the readiness and experience of their teachers, and the general mental health status of students and their effects on accepting the distance e-learning process, and the commitment to participate and interact with various electronic activities.

This study, after exploring the difficulties and hurdles facing the e-learning process and after analysis, aims to propose practical solutions to facilitate and maintain it beyond the COVID-19 pandemic era.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Satisfaction
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Satisfaction

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 1000

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Jordan
  • Amman, Jordan, 11942
    • The University of Jordan

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Medical Students at The school of medicine at The University of Jordan

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• All Medical Students

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Cohort
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Preclinical medical students	Other: Satisfaction; Students Satisfaction
Clinical medical students	Other: Satisfaction; Students Satisfaction

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Student's satisfaction Assessed by Lickert scale	Percentage of Students satisfied with distant learning	3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Jordan
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Amjad bani Hani, MD, The University of Jordan

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 1, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): August 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 22, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 14, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): August 17, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 17, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 14, 2021
• Last Verified: August 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Respiratory Tract Infections; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Lung Diseases; COVID-19
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2020/8

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No