A hierarchy of needs for remote undergraduate medical education: lessons from the medical student experience

PURPOSE: The disruption of undergraduate medical education (UME) by the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked rapid, real-time adjustments by medical educators and students. While much is known about online teaching in general, little guidance is available to medical educators on how to adapt courses not originally designed for the online environment. To guide our faculty in this transition we conducted a needs assessment of students enrolled in virtual courses across all 4 years of UME training. METHODS: Using a mixed-methods approach, we conducted a single-institution virtual learning needs assessment in May and June of 2020. We developed and disseminated a survey to assess student experiences with virtual learning. We conducted quantitative and qualitative analysis of responses (n = 255 or 39%) to identify emergent themes. RESULTS: We identified six interdependent themes that need to be met for medical students to fully reach their learning potential: access to stable internet and quiet study spaces, flexible course design with asynchronous, self-paced components, clear expectations for engagement with content and each other, a sense of connectedness with faculty and peers, synchronous classes that maximize interactivity, and assessments that foster a sense of learning over performance. Interpersonal relationships with faculty and peers affected students’ sense of learning more than any other factor. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our findings we propose a hierarchy of needs for virtual learning that provides guidance on adapting existing medical school courses to the remote setting and overcoming common challenges. We highlight opportunities for how virtual elements may enrich in-person courses going forward, including in the clinical setting. Although the solutions required to meet the threshold of need at each level may differ based on the context, attending to these same fundamental needs can be extrapolated and applied to learners across a range of environments beyond the virtual. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-022-03479-4.