Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Abstract BACKGROUND: “Should students keep their webcams on or off during synchronous online classes?”
is an unanswered question with educators’ opinions divided on this aspect. Along with educators’
perspectives, it is also important to unfold students’ perspectives on this question. The objectives
of this study were to determine the routine and opinion of students’ regarding webcam usage and
identification of students’ reasons for not using webcams during online learning.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional study was carried out at Margalla Institute of Health
Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Census was done for data collection by including all dental students(n=180)
enrolled at the institute attending synchronous online preclinical and clinical operative dentistry classes.
Data collection was carried out using a self‑administrated questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was used to
describe survey item responses. Pair‑wise differences between demographic categories (female vs. male,
and preclinical vs. clinical) were analyzed using the Pearson Chi‑Square test. Correlation of routine and
opinion with students’ reasons were done using Spearman correlation. Ordinal regression analysis was
done to associate routine and opinion with reasons. The level of significance (P value) was set at 0.05.
RESULTS: Out of 180 students, 141 submitted the survey form, with a response rate of 77.47%. The
majority of the students (n = 117, 83%) used to keep their webcams off during online classes and
were (n = 69, 48.9%) of the opinion that webcams should be kept off during online classes. The most
common reasons for keeping the webcam off during online classes were “comfort” (n = 87, 61.7%)
and “distractions” (n = 84, 59.6%). A statistically significant association of gender was obtained, with
females more likely than males due to distraction, self‑consciousness, and appearance (P = 0.000,
0.003, and 0.016, respectively). The odds of gender highly influenced routine use of cameras, and
this was statistically significant (OR: 3.478, P = 0.011). Students tended to keep their webcam off
when they were inattentative during online classes (OR; 3.743, P < 0.001).
CONCLUSION: The majority of the students did not agree to keep the webcam on during online
synchronous learning. The main reasons for students’ reluctance to keep the webcam on were
self‑consciousness, surrounding consciousness, distractions, and technological issues. Students
can be encouraged to turn the webcam on by framing strategies according to students' concerns.

Abstract BACKGROUND: Online learning self‑efficacy is considered a major contributor to academic success. 
The present study was conducted to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of 
the Online Learning Self‑Efficacy Scale.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional study was conducted on 211 medical students at 
Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2021 who were selected through the convenience method. 
Data were collected using a two‑part self‑administered online questionnaire containing demographic 
information and the Persian version of the Online Learning Self‑Efficacy Scale (OLSES). Forward and 
back‑translation methods were used to provide the Persian version of OLSES. Internal consistency 
of the Persian version was determined by the Cronbach alpha coefficient in a pilot study. Exploratory 
and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using SPSS version 20.0 and LISREL version 8.80.
RESULTS: The mean of the participants’ age was 21.40 ± 2.52 years, and most of them (56.4%) 
were female. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was determined as 0.74, 0.90, 0.75, and 0.89 for 
learning, time management, technology use subscales, and the whole scale, respectively. Exploratory 
factors analysis revealed the justifiability of factor analysis. In confirmatory factor analysis, most of 
the goodness of fit indices had an acceptable level.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study found that the Persian version of OLSES had good psychometric 
properties and can be used as a simple, valid, and reliable tool to assess students’ self‑efficacy 
related to the e‑learning environment.