Advances in medical education; comparing the perceptions of the faculty and the students towards e-learning vs. traditional learning in a public sector medical college in Pakistan.

Abstract

Objective: E-learning is a growing need of modern day education generally and of medical universities particularly. This study is targeted to compare and assess different perceptions of the faculty and the students towards e-learning at a public sector medical college. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Medical Education, Sahiwal Medical College, Sahiwal. Period: 1^st May 2020 to 31^st May 2020. Material & Methods: The questionnaire was sent to all the participants by Whatsapp because of COVID-19 pandemic. MBBS students of 4^th year and final year MBBS and all the faculty members of clinical and basic medical sciences were included in the study. The participants had to choose among options of ‘agreed, neutral and disagreed‘. Results: The response rate of faculty members was 91.66% and that of undergraduate students was 91%. Among faculty members, 34 (51.50%) were males while 32 (48.50%) were females. Female students were having majority of participation (60.40%). Most of the faculty and students were disagreed with the fact that ‘E-learning is a suitable means of education for students in Pakistan’. Though there was an overwhelming agreement of students (80%) and staff (88%) with agreement on the point that ‘information and communication technologies (ICT) play an effective role in promoting education’. Fifty three percent of students and 67% of the faculty members agreed that ‘E-learning systems can fulfill the challenging needs of present times’. Conclusion: Our study concludes that there are some reservations of both students and the faculty regarding usage of e-learning over traditional learning at public sector medical college. In our study while comparing, the majority of both the groups were having almost same opinions related to implementation of e-learning methodology.