Impact and perception about distant online medical education (tele-education) on the educational environment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Experiences of medical undergraduate students from India

INTRODUCTION: The impact of online medical education using videoconferencing platforms on the education environment during the present COVID-19 pandemic is not known. The objectives were to evaluate the impact of online teaching using videoconferencing platforms on the education environment, satisfaction, and perception of the medical undergraduate students to online teaching. METHODS: This prospective observational survey undertaken at a medical college included voluntarily participating medical undergraduate students from first (2(nd) semester), second (4(th) semester), and third year MBBS (6(th) and 8(th) semesters). The education environment was evaluated using the validated Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM). The perception of the students was evaluated using questionnaire with five point Likert scale response. RESULTS: The response rate in our survey was 77.5% (465 out of 600 students). The mean DREEM score of medical undergraduate students was 132.3 ± 19.8. Domains of DREEM evaluated were students’ perception of learning (30.1 ± 6.3), students’ perception of teachers (29.7 ± 4.6), students’ academic self-perception (21.3 ± 4.9), students’ perception of atmosphere (32.5 ± 6.2), and students’ social self-perception (18.7 ± 3.5). Two hundred and fifty five students (54.8%) were extremely satisfied and quite satisfied with the online teaching–learning modalities. Two hundred and fifty eight students (55.5%) rated online learning methods to be very useful and quite useful during the lockdown period. CONCLUSION: The educational environment at our medical college was positive and students had a positive perception and attitude toward the role of the videoconferencing platforms for learning (telemedicine) during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.