Medical students' acceptance and perceptions of e-learning during the Covid-19 closure time in King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah

Background: Nowadays, there is a paradigm shift in medical education. This shift occurred following the Covid-19 crisis. The world uses digital e-learning to support the public health response to this pandemic. The study's objective was to determine the medical students' acceptance and perceptions of e-learning during the Covid-19 closure time in Jeddah. Methods: A cross-sectional, web-based study was done among 340 medical students from King Abdulaziz University, 2020. A standardized, electronic, self-administered, Google Form data collection sheet was distributed. It included the E-learning acceptance measure (ElAM) containing three constructs, namely: tutor quality (TQ), perceived usefulness (PU), and facilitating conditions (FC). The sheet also inquired about the students' perceptions of the benefits, enablers, and barriers to e-learning. Descriptive, inferential statistics and multiple linear regression analyses were applied. Results: Blackboard and Zoom were the most preferred Learning Management Systems (LMS) by our medical students. The mean score of ElAM was 102.82 +/- 24.102. Better achievers obtained significantly (P < 0.001) higher scores in all ElAM constructs. About three-fifths of the students confirmed that e-learning substituted classical on-campus learning and was an adaptable, and less time-consuming method. The educator's good e-learning skills, the subject, instructional design, interaction, motivation, and good LMS were agreed as enablers of e-learning. However, most students accepted that clinical teaching is the most challenging learning outcome and that exams could be affected by low internet quality. Conclusion: Medical students moderately accepted e-learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic closure time. More training of the students and tutors, better designing e-courses, more interaction, motivation, and blended learning are recommended. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.

Automated summary

This study investigated the acceptance and perceptions of e-learning among medical students in Jeddah during the Covid-19 closure time. The results showed that most students considered e-learning as a substitute for traditional on-campus learning, finding it to be adaptable and time-saving. Further training of students and tutors, better course design, increased interaction, motivation, and blended learning are recommended for future e-learning implementation.