How COVID-19 kick-started online learning in medical education—The DigiMed study

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257394
• Publication Date: 2021-09-21T18:10:55Z
• Authors: Fabian Stoehr; Lukas Müller; Adrian Brady; Antoni Trilla; Aline Mähringer-Kunz; Felix Hahn; Christoph Düber; Nicole Becker; Marcus-Alexander ...; Julius Chapiro; Jan Bernd Hinrichs; Deniz Akata; Stephan Ellmann; Merel Huisman; David Koff; Sebastian Brinkmann; Fabian Bamberg; Oscar Zimmermann; Nikoleta I. Traikova; Jens U. Marquardt; D.-H. Chang; Fabian Rengier; Timo A. Auer; Tilman Emrich; Felix Muehler; Heinz Schmidberger; Bettina Baeßler; Daniel Pinto dos ...; Roman Kloeckner
• Keywords: Attendance; Pandemic; Computer-assisted web interviewing

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to far-reaching restrictions of social and professional life, affecting societies all over the world. To contain virus, medical schools had restructure their curriculum by switching online learning. However, only few implemented such novel learning concepts. We aimed evaluate students’ attitudes provide a broad scientific basis guide future development education. Methods Overall, 3286 students from 12 different countries participated in this cross-sectional, web-based study investigating various aspects On 7-point Likert scale, participants rated situation during at schools, technical aspects, current role Results majority managed rapid switch (78%) most were satisfied with quantity (67%) quality (62%) courses. Online provided greater flexibility (84%) unchanged or even higher attendance courses (70%). Possible downsides included motivational problems (42%), insufficient possibilities for interaction fellow thus risk isolation (64%). vast felt comfortable using software solutions (80%). Most convinced that education lags behind capabilities regarding estimated proportion before 14%. In order improve curriculum, they wish more balanced ratio least 40% teaching compared on-site teaching. Conclusion This demonstrates positive attitude towards Furthermore, it reveals considerable discrepancy between what demand offers. Thus, COVID-19 might be long-awaited catalyst new “online era”