OVERCOMING CHALLENGES OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN ONLINE HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY, QUALITATIVE STUDY

Authors

  • Sana Khan Department of Medical Education, Gajju Khan Medical College, Swabi, Pakistan
  • Sher Afghan Khan Department of Pharmacology, Gajju Khan Medical College, Swabi, Pakistan
  • Zainab Khattak Department of Community Medicine, Gajju Khan Medical College, Swabi, Pakistan
  • Brekhna Jamil Department of Medical Education, Gajju Khan Medical College, Swabi, Pakistan
  • Sameer Ahmed Department of Pharmacology, HBS Medical College, Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Fauzia Aitazaz Department of Physiology, AJK Medical College, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69656/pjp.v20i2.1633

Keywords:

Student engagement, faculty development, health professions education, ; online teaching

Abstract

Background: Student engagement is a major issue faced in online education. This study aims to explore the challenges of student engagement in online learning for a health professions education program. Methods: This qualitative explorative study was done involving 6 faculty members and 12 students from Pakistan’s three Masters in Health Professions Education (MHPE) programs using semi-structured interviews and NVivo v12.0 for inductive, thematic analysis. Results: The study focused on addressing student engagement challenges and post-pandemic learning preferences, identifying 9 themes including teacher training, internet connectivity, student participation, distraction reduction, online learning environment improvement, and engaging activities. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift to online medical and dental education in Pakistan. However, challenges persist in student engagement. To boost student engagement, medical colleges should implement proper training, high-speed internet and smaller class sizes, requiring administrative efforts and proper infrastructure.

Pak J Physiol 2024;20(2):65-9

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Daniel SJ. Education and the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospects (Paris) 2020;49(1–2):91–6.

Li W, Gillies R, He M, Wu C, Liu S, Gong Z, Sun H. Barriers and facilitators to online medical and nursing education during the COVID-19 pandemic: perspectives from international students from low-and middle-income countries and their teaching staff. Hum Resour Health 2021;19(1):64.

Nguyen T. The effectiveness of online learning: Beyond no significant difference and future horizons. J Online Learn Teach 2015;11(2):309–19.

Biner PM, Dean RS, Mellinger AE. Factors underlying distance learner satisfaction with televised college?level courses. Am J Distance Educ 1994;8(1):60–71.

Azar AJ, Khamis AH, Naidoo N, Lindsbro M, Boukhaled JH, Gonuguntla S, et al. Design, implementation and evaluation of a distance learning framework to expedite medical education during COVID-19 pandemic: A Proof-of-Concept Study. J Med Educ Curric Dev 2021;8:23821205211000348.

Rajab MH, Gazal AM, Alkattan K. Challenges to online medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cureus 2020;12(7):e8966.

Dixson MD. Measuring student engagement in the online course: the online student engagement scale (OSE). Online Learn 2015;19(4). DOI: 10.24059/olj.v19i4.561.

Polit, DF, Hungler R. Beck, CT. Essentials of nursing research: methods, appraisal, and utilization. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2001.

Farooq F, Rathore FA, Mansoor SN. Challenges of online medical education in Pakistan during COVID-19 pandemic. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak 2020;30(6):67–9.

Jiang Z, Wu H, Cheng H, Wang W, Xie A, Fitzgerald SR. Twelve tips for teaching medical students online under COVID-19. Med Educ Online 2021;26(1):1854066.

Elshami W, Taha MH, Abuzaid M, Saravanan C, Al Kawas S, Abdalla ME. Satisfaction with online learning in the new normal: perspective of students and faculty at medical and health sciences colleges. Med Educ Online 2021;26(1):1920090.

Kwon K, Park SJ, Shin S, Chang CY. Effects of different types of instructor comments in online discussions. Distance Educ 2019;40(2):226–42.

Tanis CJ. The seven principles of online learning: Feedback from faculty and alumni on its importance for teaching and learning. Res Learn Technol 2020;28:2319.

Zhang W, Wang Y, Yang L, Wang C. Suspending classes without stopping learning: China’s education emergency management policy in the COVID-19 outbreak. J Risk Financ Manag 2020;13(3):55.

Nambiar D. The impact of online learning during COVID-19: students’ and teachers’ perspective. Int J Indian Psychol 2020;8(2):783–93.

Dunn KE, Mulvenon SW. A critical review of research on formative assessments: The limited scientific evidence of the impact of formative assessments in education. Pract Assess Res Eval 2009;14(7):11 p.

Benjamin S, Robbins LI, Kung S. Online resources for assessment and evaluation. Acad Psychiatry 2006;30:498–504.

Bell DS, Fonarow GC, Hays RD, Mangione CM. Self-study from web-based and printed guideline materials: a randomized, controlled trial among resident physicians. Ann Intern Med 2000;132(12):938–46.

Hickey CM, McAleer S. Designing and developing an online module: a 10-step approach. Acad Psychiatry 2017;41(1):106–9.

Morton CE, Saleh SN, Smith SF, Hemani A, Ameen A, Bennie TD, et al. Blended learning: how can we optimise undergraduate student engagement? BMC Med Educ 2016;16:195.

Torous J, Franzan J, O’Connor R, Mathew I, Keshavan M, Kitts R, et al. Psychiatry residents’ use of educational websites: a pilot survey study. Acad Psychiatry 2015;39(6):630–3.

Downloads

Published

30-06-2024

How to Cite

1.
Khan S, Khan SA, Khattak Z, Jamil B, Ahmed S, Aitazaz F. OVERCOMING CHALLENGES OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN ONLINE HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY, QUALITATIVE STUDY. Pak J Phsyiol [Internet]. 2024 Jun. 30 [cited 2024 Oct. 18];20(2):65-9. Available from: https://pjp.pps.org.pk/index.php/PJP/article/view/1633