Teaching Transition in Biochemistry Laboratories during the COVID-19 Outbreak: Tunisian Experience

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the transfer of face-to-face instruction to an online mode. The current study sought to describe the delivery of online biochemistry laboratories to undergraduate students. The paper also attempted to assess its advantages and disadvantages at the faculty of dental medicine of Monastir (FDMM), Tunisia. Four online biochemistry laboratory sessions were offered to FDMM year 2 students. To ensure the installation of forums, videos, handouts, workshops, and test-taking, the Moodle platform was employed; however, to conduct synchronous meetings, Microsoft Office Teams was used. More than 95% of students actively participated in e-resources consultation, pretest, and exam taking. However, the student percentage in workshops decreased from phase 1 to phase 2. Just 52% of students attended the forums. The overall overview percentage, students who attended "equal to or more than 80% of the entire activities", was 27%. Students performed better scores in the first and second exams than in the third and fourth ones. Forums, workshops, and videos were the most important teaching tools that led to the success of the online laboratory. These methods improved conceptual knowledge and scientific process abilities. The current study contributes to the previous literature by investigating the major factors impacting successful e-learning adoption.