JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The international recognition of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has prompted Chinese institutions to implement online learning. However, the actual responses of teachers and students to online education remain unknown.

Objective:

the current research was conducted to test the learning and teaching abilities during online teaching and learning. Moreover, estimating the physiological conditions and the difficulties facing teachers and students through the online classes during the pandemic

Methods:

: An online questionnaire survey was conducted, among medical students and teachers of Universities and colleges in Zhejiang. The questionnaires investigated the participants actual opinions on online learning and teaching.

Results:

A total of 1036 valid interviewees were involved in the present study, 478 males (46.1%) and 558 females (53.9%), including 155 teachers (15%) and 881 students (85%) (Chinese and international). The participants' age was divided into five categories 18 – 25 (62.2%), 26-30 (15.3%), 31-35 (12.7%), 36-40 (3.9%), and above 40 5.9%). The results reflected that teachers and students encouraged e-learning education during the pandemic as most of them could be adapted to the recent teaching style. They indicated that usage of electronic devices was very good (32.2%), and the internet connection during online classes was excellent, especially for Chinese students (32.5%). In addition, the majority of teachers and students responded to questions like “was the online communication easy and effective” was “yes” (54.20% teachers vs. 44.50% students), “what is the preferred method of communication during online learning” as “face-to-face communication (video call)” (43.90% teachers vs. 33.70% students), and “do you think learning or teaching the same as you were before the COVID-19 pandemic” as “somewhat” (49.70% teachers vs. 39.70% students). Furthermore, lockdown and quarantine were one of the concerns of the pandemic, especially for participants who traveled for their study (34.80% teachers vs. 25.20% students). On the other hand, there was a significant change in gender between Chinese and international interviewees as the Chinese females were more than international ones (58.9% Chinese vs. 45.7%) . In contrast, the international males were more than the Chinese ones (41.1% Chinese vs. 54.3% international). Additionally, international participants showed that the main struggle during the pandemic was the online classes (30.10% Chinese vs. 34.20% foreigners).

Conclusions:

most instructors and students supported online education. Although teachers were less adaptive to online education, many still had favorable evaluations. The acceptability of online instruction was affected by sexual orientation.