Readiness and Satisfaction with Online Learning Among Medical Students Undergoing Clinical Rotation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Online learning has become an important teaching method across academic programmes during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Students’ readiness and satisfaction with online learning and their association with selected variables were examined. A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students who undergo clinical rotation during restricted movement orders when face-to-face teaching and learning are converted into an online method. Participants were recruited conveniently by inviting students from targeted clinical years to fill up the Online Learning Readiness Scale (OLRS) and E-Course Satisfaction Scale (ECSS) distributed via the digital platform. One-hundred and eighty-three (n = 183) students in the clinical posting of Years 3 (33.9%), 4 (32.2%), and 5 (33.9%) completed the survey voluntarily. The majority were female (n = 142, 78%), with a mean age of 22.85 [standard deviation (SD) = 1.19]. Overall, they reported high readiness and satisfaction with online learning. A positive moderate to good correlation existed between readiness and satisfaction (r = 0.61, p < 0.001). Readiness was significantly associated with age (β = 1.12, p = 0.037), type of clinical posting (β = –4.09, p = 0.003), online attendance (β = 0.45, p = 0.008), and learning duration (β = 3.44, p = 0.036). Only the duration of learning showed a significant linear relationship with satisfaction. Medical students reported high levels of readiness and satisfaction with online learning, despite heavily relying on this online learning mode to complete their clinical posting during the COVID-19 pandemic.