Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Evaluation of e‑learning in a department of Community Medicine as a response to COVID‑19 pandemic

Document Type : Original Article

Abstract
BACKGROUND: COVID‑19 pandemic pushed all educational institutions to rely exclusively on 
technology‑based learning. As this was done for the first time, it is ideal to evaluate the e‑learning 
program to refine and consolidate the learned experience. Hence, the current study was undertaken 
to evaluate the online learning and teaching experiences of students and teachers.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This program evaluation on e‑learning was carried out in the 
department of Community Medicine (DCM) in a private medical college using context/input/process/
product framework among IV, VI, and VII semester undergraduate students and faculties in DCM 
who were exposed to e‑learning for the period of 2 months since April 2020. Google Forms was 
used to design a survey questionnaire that was conceptualized as per the needs of the evaluation 
framework. Ethics Committee approval was obtained. Descriptive analysis was done for quantitative 
variables and manual content analysis using Lewin’s force field framework was performed for the 
qualitative data.
RESULTS: Out of 301 undergraduates contacted, 196 (65.1%) responded to online survey. Their 
mean age was 19.9 years and 128 (65.3%) were females. Mobile phone was used by 93.4% to 
access e‑learning. Combined modality of learning was preferred by 58.2% of them in future. Six 
“for” and “against” factors on e‑learning emerged out of content analysis pertaining to three main 
stakeholders, namely administrator, faculty, and student.
CONCLUSION: Our evaluation conveys that for effective e‑learning in any subject, the students, 
educators, and institutional factors that were identified need to be considered throughout all phases 
of program development with careful assumptions about its acceptance by the millennial.

Keywords

Community medicine
e‑learning
evaluation
millennial
pandemic
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 12, Issue 6
July 2022
Pages 1-6

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