Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic had severely hampered education system, affecting nearly 1.6 billion students globally. The uncertainty about the duration of this pandemic and social distancing measures have triggered the use of online methods of teaching-learning activity. This study aimed at assessing perceptions of faculties and students of a teaching hospital of Kolkata, regarding online mode of teaching during the pandemic. Materials and methods: A descriptive study with convergent parallel mixed-methods design was conducted among 645 undergraduate medical students and 4 faculties of a teaching hospital in Kolkata, from 2020-2022. A questionnaire and an in-depth interview guide were used to obtain data. Results: About 68.1% undergraduate medical students were between 21 - 23 years of age. Only 29% had attended online classes before COVID-19 pandemic. The most common mode of conducting online theory examination was real time face to face viva (65.7%). Almost half (50.6%) had ‘satisfactory perception’ towards online teaching. Students of MBBS 2017 batch, attending online classes for 1 or 2 days per week, use of mobile phone for attending classes, poor interaction with teachers during online classes, had significantly higher odds of having unsatisfactory perception respectively. Conclusion: Uncertainty about the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic warranted prompt attention towards continuity of medical education. Thus, online learning had become a key component in medical education curriculum during the pandemic.