Effect of online Learning on Satisfaction Level among Health Science Students in Covid-19 Pandemic
Dr Kapil Garg1, Dr Mrinmayee Deshmukh2, Dr Simran Purswani2
1Associate Proffesor , Musculoskeletal physiotherapy, MGM institute of physiotherapy, Aurangabad
2 MPT 2nd year, MGM institute of physiotherapy, Aurangabad
ABSTRACT
Objective: Worldwide few Nations were familiar with online teaching learning process but in this COVID 19 pandemic worldwide education system suddenly shifted into online learning. As comparative to western developed countries we were not as familiar to online learning in different levels and categories of educational systems. In few fields like IT and computer sciences its comparatively easy to go online teaching learning due to more work on computer system and software but in Health Science education patient oriented practice and practical approaches are more. Therefore we need to check effect and satisfaction level of online learning in different health science students.
Methodology: An online survey Google form were made on the basis of few categories like knowledge, understanding, feasibility, postural comfort and discomfort and connectivity of internet. Total 20 questions were asked through this form and their responses were noted. Responses were in likert scale of 5 points. According to majority of responses result was prepared. Result: In this study we explained our results according to category of questions and percentage wise how much population were respond in different options. In postural comfort and discomfort maximum no of participants showed their negative feedback. In Knowledge and understanding category maximum participants were comfortable with online learning. Remaining results were mixed. Conclusion: Online learning is a demand of current situation. Maximum numbers of Health science students are adapting and satisfied with online learning; however few issues are here in online learning.
Keywords
Online Learning, Students Satisfaction, E-learning
Introduction
The COVID–19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems not only in India but rather the entire world, especially in medical colleges. Universities across India as well as around the world have shifted to the virtual classes suspending physical classrooms.1 Face-to- face classes were closed to ensure the safety of students, lecturers, and patients. To minimize the impact of lockdown on Education, medical colleges had started another approach to teach medical students. Online learning was decided to be the core method of teaching the curriculum during the COVID–19 pandemic.2
Online learning is an electronically supported learning (e-learning) where there are no physical peer learners, and there is freedom of time and space.2 It is web-based software for distributing, tracking, and managing courses over the Internet. Online education through the e-
learning system creates different challenges to tutors, and students. It helps to facilitate two-way communication between students and tutors. It can offer productive and convenient ways to attain learning goals.3 E-learning has its advantages and disadvantages like any method of teaching.
Many students face a challenge in terms of approch to the internet. This makes issues with attendance, participation and interest in online sessions, thereby making the adaptation of online channels of education a challenge.3
The pandemic of COVID19 has caused every educational institute towards online learning. Many studies identified the shift towards online learning as necessary for continuing the learning process. This shift initiated the question about the quality of learning and student satisfaction. As comparative to western developed countries we were not as familiar to online learning in different levels and categories of educational systems. In few fields like IT and computer sciences its comparatively easy to go online teaching learning due to more work on computer system and software but in Health Science education patient oriented practice and practical approaches are more. Online learning in India is at an early stage of development. The satisfaction of students’ during this crisis may influence student learning.2 There have been many studies on online learning examining student satisfaction, acceptance of e-learning, success factors of distance learning, and quality of learning. The pandemic of COVID-19 has made educational institutes, including instructors and learners to shift toward online, with which they were not familiar. The students were not psychologically ready for such a shift; therefore to know how students perceived the outcome of this transition and how satisfied they are with it will be investigated in this study.2 Therefore, this study aims to examine a analysis of students’ perceived learning and satisfaction among health science students.
Methodology:
Total 400 health sciences students of different courses were approached through whatsapp and email in Aurangabad, Maharashtra out of that 304 health science students were respond who attended online classes during the pandemic COVID19. Data collection was initiated during COVID Pandemic by using Google form, in 2020. 20 questions were included in the questionnaire which was based on few categories like: - Knowledge and understanding, Physical stress, environment, technical issues and acceptance. The response of the items was taken on a 5- point Likert scale. Accepted responses were analyzed.
The data obtained from questionnaire and entered into the SPSS software 23.00 version.
Personal information and inventory total scores and factor scores of candidates were given by determining frequency (f) and percentage (%) values.
Results
In this pandemic, the most affected sector is the education sector. Digital alternatives that is mobile phones and laptops are streamlined to cover up the syllabus and now have became the only supporting gadgets during the lockdown period. It’s also important to know whether the students are satisfied with online learning on terms of the physical stress, knowledge and environment.
In our study on student’s satisfaction towards online learning, we made a questionnaire on the basis of few categories like: - Knowledge and understanding, Physical stress, environment, technical issues and acceptance. Total 304 students participated where 83% of female and 17% of male students were in this study. The age group is in between 18 to 30 and maximum number of response was given from 19 - 21 age groups.
Figure no 1: Percentage of students in age groups
Table no 1: Percentage of Male & Female Students Total no of Participants Males Females
304 17% 83%
In our first criteria for environment we found that majority of students said that environment at home is more comfortable for online lectures and they can learn at their own in isolation. Most(21%) of the the students are neither agreed nor disagreed. However they also agreed on lack of self discipline and poor learning environment at home. In addition to that responses also said that they become more lazy and lethargic in online learning at home.
However all students did not experience lazy and lethargic as many of the students(23%) are neither agreed nor disagreed. Classroom teaching is irreplaceable to large extent in terms of self discipline, learning environment and efficiency, which might can be a reason for the students giving the reason of lack of self discipline and lethargic behavior towards home environment.
Only few responses were towards neutral and opposite for the same.
Most of questions were related to our second category of knowledge and understanding.
In this most of the students respond towards the favor of online learning. Here higher percentage of students said accessibility of online study material is higher in online learning and sharing of content is easy. Also, 27% of students have neutral response in terms of accessibility of online materials. However, Online assignments are helpful for the students to learn new things and maximum number of students have agreed with it, moreover online lectures can be recorded and use for revision purpose also. As it’s easy to record the lecture and watch multiple times, majority of students have agreed that online lectures are helpful in terms of recording the lectures that are beneficial for them. They also agreed that online learning is a good way to improve their knowledge via different techniques of education. In terms of class activities and class interaction is possible to take in online mode and favoritism of students reduces in online learning however interaction with the teacher is reduced in online learning. However majority percentage of students neither agree nor disagree that online teaching reduces favoritism and partiality. Few students were having a mixed or neutral response and in terms of reduced class interactivity.
According to the responses some students do not find any difference in the class interactivity when compared with the offline mode of education. Although maximum students respond in
disagree statement for clinical skills improvement and clarity of concepts in online learning. So Online learning can be considered as disadvantage for the students in terms of developing clinical skills and understanding the concepts. Majority of students have agreed with the understandability of the vocabulary in the online class.
Figure no 2: Group analysis Results in Categories
In next category of physical stress, most of the students agreed that it affects their back and neck bone and put more stress on their eyes while sitting in a bad posture for long duration in online lectures at home due to poor ergonomic structure. Very few students disagree in terms of physical stress caused by online learning. They also strongly agree that technical issue and drop in network is one of the biggest problems in online mode of teaching and learning. Technical issues can lead to lack of student attention in lectures however very few students have neutral responses
in terms of technical issues. Due to the sudden implementation of this lockdown, none of the students have enough study material with them, they are totally dependent digitally on internet sources and to those provided by teachers. Despite of getting all the material, there can be some barriers in communication. Very few students have opposite response but in the overall aspect of acceptance of online mode of learning maximum students respond towards acceptance. There are few students who neither agree nor disagree towards the acceptance of online learning, and there are few students who are not satisfied with online learning.
So observing the student’s satisfaction for online learning, with appropriate resources and teaching, this process of online learning is a boon to students pursuing higher studies. Definitely, online education is the future of education and we need to adapt to it . We believe that there is no better alternative known in this dreadful pandemic.
Discussion
This study aimed to examine an analysis of student’s perceived learning and satisfaction among health sciences students and analyze their responses in such categories that are knowledge and understanding, Physical stress, environment, technical issues and acceptance. However, it is a well-established assumption that no pedagogical approach can replace the peak position of formal education due to having teacher-taught direct interaction. But, the after COVID-19 crisis, online education became a pedagogical shift from traditional method to the modern approach of teaching-learning from classroom to e-learning, from personal to virtual and from seminars to webinars. Previously, e-learning, distance education and correspondence courses were popularly considered as the part of non-formal education, but as of now, it seems that it would gradually replace the formal education system if the circumstances enduringly persist over the time.4
In terms of environment majority of students experienced lazy and lethargic during online classes. Lack of self discipline was experienced by the students due to home environment and reduces interactivity with the teacher. Students did not face any favoritism and partiality. These all components are interrelated to each other. Face interactions is important to build confidence.
Lack of interactivity makes student to turn off their videos during lectures which affects their discipline and interest in learning. These environmental factors will be achieved by physical and co curricular activities that induce group management, communication skills, and overall
personality development. Similar results also found in study of Naman Wadhwa (2020) and Michał Bączek (2020).2,7
Maximum number of students faced technical issues with online learning. A study by Naman wadhwa (2020) says that the internet connectivity in our nation is another factor that affects productivity in implementing online education. Technical proficiency of teachers and learners related to usage of computer and internet is a major factor determining the effectiveness of online classes. The major factor for technical issue is poor internet connectivity which may affect implementation of education through E-learning. The importance of frequency of interaction in making online classes was also explained by Huggett (2014). It was also found that lack of immediacy in getting answers to their queries was also found to be a challenge in online learning. It was also reported by Hara and Kling’s (1999); Petrides (2002); Vonderwell’s (2003) ,Hence care should be taken by the instructor to answer the queries of the learners immediately9. E-learning is new concept for India as compare to other countries. As India is developing country, students took time to adapt online way of learning. Because of these reasons, student were having difficulty in downloading videos and access for online material.6 Also the factors such as computer skills, technical background, training programs and computer literacy are key factors for faculty to implement e-learning in developing countries are also important for consideration. Users in developing countries are not as familiar with technology as users in developed countries and will not likely see the importance of technology in education. Increasing technology awareness as well as familiarity, computer skills, and knowledge are important factors of e-learning success in developing countries.10
Physical stress such as neck pain and back pain are common problems occurring in students due to online classes. Long term sitting for online classes makes students to adapt wrong postures which cause stress on the muscles of spine further leading to pain. Students spend most of the time attending e‑classes in front of a computer or mobile screens. These devices cause harm by emitting short high energy waves that can penetrate eyes and can eventually contribute to damage to the retinal cells, making an individual vulnerable to eye problems ranging from dry eye. Finally, online based education also raises some health-related issues connected predominantly to spending long periods of time working with computers. 6,7 In order to enhance the productivity of the learners’ long duration classes should be avoided and sufficient break
should be given between two consecutive classes. It will not only avoid cognitive load but also takes care of the physical strain caused due to prolonged use of electronic gadgets. 4
In terms of knowledge and understanding, our results said it to a good way to record lectures according to their feasibility. The e learning apps used for online learning are having the advantage of recording the lectures which had led to ease of access to educational materials and the ability to choose the time and place to study. The online apps getting study material easily to develop knowledge is a good way through online learning. Convenience and flexibility were identified as the strength of online classes. Petrides (2002) claimed that respondents indicated that it was convenient to work in an online course in collaborative groups without rearranging the schedule for everyone as one would do in traditional classroom learning. Poole (2000) found that learners often accessed resources for the course from their home computers, the most convenient location for them. Hence care should be taken to fix the online classes based on the learner’s convenience and it will be better if recorded videos are uploaded in the university website so that the learner can access the videos as per the convenience.10 However in class interactivity, clearing of concepts and practical skills are getting affected. In case of health sciences student’s clinical skills develop when they practically implement their knowledge. So with online learning this has been affected.8 Similar study of Mohammed Arshad Khan showed the same results in terms of “Access Study Resources Effectively” the results showed students have indicated this factor as a positive one. Thus, it can be concluded that with the help of e-learning system students can get easily the various study resources. Majority of students, e-learning has emerged as a convenient option when matter comes to flexibility of time and geographical space. Flexible- learning can be understood as learning mode where teaching-learning are independent of any geographical location, time or pace.9
Considering the following above factors Students are satisfied with online learning in terms of knowledge and understanding. Online distance education courses offer a convenient way for millions of degree-seeking students who are otherwise unable to attend classes in a residential setting to continue their studies. While controversial, research appears to have demonstrated that a degree earned online is in many ways similar to one earned in traditional settings, but successful students tend to indicate that they are “equally or more satisfied” with their courses when compared to those in “traditional” instructional settings (MacFarland, 1999; Sikora, (2003).
variations in success in an online course may be attributable to a student’s age, learning style, and motivation (Dyrud, 2000; Diaz, 2002).11
Study has few limitations. Sample was taken from Aurangabad in health science students only and other categories of students were not included. For future reference samples can be taken from students of other cities with different streams of education and faculties also to investigate perceived learning and satisfaction among specific faculty.
Conclusion:
The results of the present study suggest that in various aspects of knowledge and understanding, accessing study material and new advancements in education system online learning is accepted and students are satisfied with this however few weaknesses are here related to clinical practice and technical issues.
Acknowledgement
We thank all the participants who participated in the survey
References
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