Rongbin Yu

Bio: Rongbin Yu is an academic researcher from Nanjing Medical University. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 1 citations.

Students’ and Teachers’ Perspective on the Implementation of Online Medical Education in China: A Qualitative Study

Abstract: Objective: Due to the quarantine measures during the outbreak of COVID-19, medical schools in China had to shift to online education overnight. Researchers wanted to survey the online medical education status quo and find out the underlying challenges and probable solutions in terms of online medical education to better understand improving and developing medical education in China. Methods: Researchers distributed self-administered and piloted surveys regarding the implementation of online medical education on WeChat and Wenjuanxing. Researchers distributed three phases of online surveys to the undergraduate medical students, and one online survey to the medical teachers on phase three. Results: Online medical education was carried out smoothly in China. Seventy-six percent of the students were satisfied with online medical education, and it hardly changed after a month. Courses with the quiz and live-stream courses were rare compared with courses incorporated with other elements. Most parents would remind their children to study online at home. At first, the biggest challenge of learning online was the lagging platform. Nevertheless, as time went by, the major challenge became the learning motivation. Most students thought it necessary to re-teach face-to-face after online education, while most teachers did not think so. Conclusion: Generally speaking, online medical education was satisfying for both students and teachers, although online courses’ diversity with different forms and elements could be enhanced. Infrastructure construction should be considered first for the schools intended to promote online medical education. If the infrastructure were ready, learning motivation would become the biggest challenge for online medical education. Online medical education efficacy evaluation tools need to be developed in the future to narrow the discrepancy of the evaluation between teachers and students.

Health professions faculty’s perceptions of online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: The global societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is incalculable with profound social suffering, deep economic hardships and enforced closure of schools, businesses, and higher learning institutions through the imposition of lockdown and social distancing in mitigation of the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 infection. Institutions have had to hastily migrate teaching, learning and assessment to online domains, at times with ill-prepared academics, students and institutions and with unwelcome and disorienting consequences. Our study surveyed perspectives of faculty at the University of Zimbabwe Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (UZFMHS) towards the hastily adopted online teaching, learning and assessment implemented in response to the mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty nine (29) faculty in all the major disciplines and career hierarchy. There were mixed responses regarding the use of this modality for teaching, learning and assessment: training before online teaching, learning and assessment, advantages and disadvantages, cost effectiveness, effectiveness for teaching, learning and assessment, effect on student feedback, disruptions from internet connectivity issues, interaction with students, suitability for practical training, and barriers to online teaching, learning and assessment. These results would enable the UZFMHS develop institutional and personalised approaches that would enable execution of online teaching, learning and assessment under the current and post COVID-19 pandemic.

Online Teaching Readiness, Challenges and Satisfaction as Perceived by Nursing Faculty Members during COVID -19 Pandemics

Abstract: Background: Faculty members must be prepared to teach online as a strategy during the current COVID-19 epidemic. There is a rising demand and necessity for online teaching at higher education institutions. A crucial success factor for online education is the government's proactive efforts in analyzing educator readiness, problems, and satisfaction. Aim: the present study aimed to assess online teaching readiness, challenges and satisfaction as perceived by nursing faculty members during COVID -19 pandemics. Research Design: Descriptive correlational design was used in this study. Setting: different universities included in the study ( Cairo, Beni Suef , Ain Shams, Port Said, South valley and Zagazig).Sample: Convenient sample (n= 203) of faculty members from different universities who agreed to participate in the study and experience online teaching were involved in the study. Tools of data collection: data collected using three questionnaires Include: 1-: Online teaching readiness questionnaire, 2Challenges of online teaching questionnaire and 3-Online satisfaction questionnaire. Results: Data revealed that nursing faculty members had high level readiness regarding online teaching. They all agreed that there is inadequate technology support and frequent technology failures. The highest percentage of them was satisfied with on-line education to a moderate degree. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between study subject perception of readiness and satisfaction with online teaching. Recommendation: Universities should provide educators with ongoing training on how to teach online courses. To facilitate online education, educators should be provided with appropriate infrastructure (laptops, technical support, etc.). University leaders should develop a strategy to address the problems of online teaching and create strategies to boost instructors' satisfaction with online teaching.

Online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study among final year medical students at the University of Zambia

Abstract: Background Since the globe was faced with the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019, numerous adjustments have been made in all sectors to curtail the spread of infection. Most elementary and tertiary schools were closed or suspended until the transmission rates dropped. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, medical schools in Zambia have sought ways to replace face-to-face medical learning with virtual clinical teaching. The objectives of this study were to explore the perceptions of online learning among University of Zambia medical students and understand the barriers and facilitators to effective online learning. Methods A qualitative descriptive approach was used, enrolling final year medical students from the University of Zambia; the consenting participants were sampled purposively and interviewed through virtual platforms until data saturation was reached upon interviewing the 11th participant. A total of 14 participants were interviewed, audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and data was analyzed using six steps of thematic analysis. Results Three broad themes arose from the interviews: online learning perceptions, facilitators and barriers to online learning. Regarding perceptions of online learning, they highlighted that the delivery was simple to understand, with convenient scheduling and the benefit of being able to refer back to the recorded lectures. Some barriers encountered during the online learning were poor network connection, frequent power outages, lack of patient-student interaction and challenges with learning space in their homes. The facilitators were self-paced learning, availability of lecturers and the desire to complete their training despite the lockdown being in effect. Conclusions Most medical students had positive perceptions of online learning despite its challenges. With the improvement in technology, online education should be incorporated into the traditional training of medical students to get the best outcomes.

Factors affecting the self-efficacy of medical teachers during a health crisis – a qualitative study on the example of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: The diversity of tasks entrusted to medical teachers with their simultaneous responsibility for the safety of patients and the effective education of future healthcare professionals requires maintaining a skillful balance between their teaching, scientific and clinical activities. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the work of both healthcare facilities and medical universities, forcing already overworked medical teachers to establish a new balance. One's ability to perform effectively in new, ambiguous, or unpredictable situations was described by Albert Bandura as a self-efficacy concept. Consequently, this study aimed to identify factors affecting the self-efficacy of medical teachers and the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on them.Twenty-five semi-structured interviews with medical teachers were conducted using a flexible thematic guide. They were transcribed and analyzed by two independent researchers (researcher triangulation) with phenomenology as the qualitative approach.Identified themes demonstrate a process of the evolvement of clinical teachers' self-efficacy in response to the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, namely the decline of self-efficacy in the first phase of the crisis, followed by building task-specific self-efficacy and the development of general self-efficacy.The study shows the significance of providing care and support for medical teachers during a health crisis. Crisis management decision-makers at educational and healthcare institutions should consider the different roles of medical teachers and the possibility of overburden associated with the cumulation of the excessive number of patient, didactic, and research duties. Moreover, faculty development initiatives and teamwork should become a vital part of the organizational culture of medical universities. A dedicated tool acknowledging the specificity and context of medical teachers' work seems necessary to quantitatively evaluate their sense of self-efficacy.