Since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, strict physical distancing regulations were put in place around the world to delay the spread of the pandemic. With this, almost all institutions came to a standstill, including educational institutions; with no sign of slowing down of the pandemic and the emergence of new variants of the virus. Many medical schools turned to online mode of teaching. Although the online mode of teaching was followed in the medicine undergraduate programs in the Kingdom even before this pandemic, it was limited to assignment and group discussions [13]. The pandemic resulted in forced transformation from the conventional face to face teaching to the use of online mode of teaching which was new to many students. Hence, our study was done to evaluate the perspectives, experience, and preference with regards to online learning, both the synchronous form and the asynchronous form.
In our study, the students, both boys and girls, were comfortable with both synchronous and asynchronous methods of learning and found both methods equally enjoyable. This finding was further endorsed by the fact that they found both methods to be equally effective in enhancing their knowledge. Enjoyment of any form of online learning could be due to the flexibility it provides to the students. Moreover, enjoyment of learning can have a direct effect on the enhancement of knowledge. This fact was also pointed out by Ma et al., in their study where most of the students found the blended learning method enjoyable and helped them increase their knowledge and skills [14].
Time management among medical graduates is crucial as it can have a direct impact on learning [15]. Optimal time management is essential not just for achieving high grades but also to attain quality educational outcomes [16]. Various studies have pointed out that the exponential increase in knowledge within a defined time limit has been identified as a challenge for medical graduates. For this reason, medical institutes had to adopt newer teaching learning methodologies [17]. In this context, any major change in the mode of learning warrants an inquiry regarding time management. In our study, the students both boys and girls were of the opinion that their time management was better with the asynchronous method as compared to the synchronous method (P < 0.001) (Tables 1 and 2). This was probably due to the fact that in asynchronous learning, the reading materials were given before-hand and discussion was done later. This helped the students to plan their schedule and work according to their convenience rather than attend live lectures at a particular time as required in synchronous learning. Having the freedom and flexibility to plan their studies could also be the reason why the student found asynchronous learning easier and more convenient as compared to synchronous learning. Although this was opined by both boys and girls, the response of female students was statistically significant (P = 0.001). Similar to this, studies done on students’ perspectives towards asynchronous learning showed that asynchronous learning gave them flexibility in time and place as well [18, 19].
Effective learning depends upon good interaction. Asking questions, giving explanations, providing timely feedback, and group activities among students are some crucial communication that enhance learning [20]. Although face to face elements interaction is an integral part of traditional classroom teaching, various systems are being adopted to improve interaction in online learning enviroments. In fact, the quality of interaction between a learner and an online facilitator has been considered as one of the vital components which determines the efficacy of online learning [21]. Hence, we enquired about the students’ view on interaction during both asynchronous and synchronous learning. Our study showed that the students, girls in particular (P = 0.03) found the synchronous method to be more interactive than the asynchronous method. This was because the synchronous method involved live online lectures in real time just like classroom teaching, sans face to face interaction. This enabled the teacher and students to ask questions during the ongoing lectures rather than post questions through the discussion board of the LMS. There are some limitations to our study. This study was conducted on the final year student of one medical college. Moreover, it was done only regarding the surgery lectures. Therefore, similar studies from other departments and colleges would be necessary to generalize the findings.