Online Learning in Nigerian Universities During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Nursing and Radiography Undergraduate Students

Online education spreads even in the medical field where traditional method of learning is more convenient. This study was designed to evaluate the experiences of nursing and radiography undergraduate students of online learning in Nigerian universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study, which included 540 nursing and radiography students. The completed questionnaires were retrieved by the researchers. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for statistical analysis with significance level set at p < .05. Large numbers, 41.3% (n = 223) of the respondents perceived the online learning to be slightly stressful, and the least, 7.4% (n = 40) perceived the online learning to be extremely stressful. The challenges were financial constraints (29.6%, n = 160), no internet access (22.2%, n = 120), lack of technical know-how (14.8%, n = 80), and poor communication with lectures and peers (5.6%, n = 30). This study revealed good and positive attitudes of the students toward the online learning method during the COVID-19. Most of them perceived online learning method to be beneficial to their educational progress. The challenges encountered by the students as revealed in this study included the following: financial constraints, internet access, unstable/slow internet access, lack of mobile data, poor communication with lecturers and peers, and no access to computer device.