Digital teaching 2020: students assess attention during an online lecture as equivalent to a face-to-face lecture

Abstract

Background: The corona pandemic has led to short-term adjustments of the procedures in medical courses. In many departments classroom teaching was no longer possible so that it was necessary to implement digital courses to provide an adequate medical training. Methods: We developed a digital curriculum based on the contents of our established courses using primary in-house tools, such as Cisco WebEx and Moodle. We then performed a student survey to evaluate the implementation of the concept. Results: The evaluation showed good ratings according to teaching content and didactics. The communication with the students and between each other was also considered good. Students assessed attention during the course to be equivalent in comparison to classroom teaching. As expected, the training of practical skills was evaluated as poor. For future courses most of the students could imagine a combination of digital and classroom teaching. Discussion: Implementing a digital course was a sudden challenge for students and tutors. With suitable software solutions and good communication, it is possible to adequately teach theoretical content via digital courses. Students assessed the digital training in most parts to be a good and an equivalent option compared to classroom teaching. A remaining problem is the lack of practical training.