JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has imposed unprecedented hurdles to health care systems and medical faculties alike. Lecturers of practical courses at medical schools have been confronted with the challenge to transfer knowledge distantly.

Objective:

We sought to evaluate the effects of an online-only medical microbiology course on learning outcomes and student perceptions.

Methods:

During the summer term 2020, medical students at the University of Saarland, Germany, participated in an online-only course in medical microbiology. Teaching content comprised clinical scenarios, theoretical knowledge and instructive videos on microbiological techniques. Test performances, failure rates, and student evaluation, including open-response items, of the course during the summer term 2020 were compared to the summer term 2019.

Results:

Student performance was comparable between both the online-only group and the on-site comparator for both the written (average grades 7.6 vs. 7.3; p=0.1985) and the oral exam (33.6 vs. 33.4, p=0.7749). Failure rate did not significantly differ between the online-only group and the comparator group (2.4% vs. 3.3%). While lecturer expertise was graded similarly high from students of both groups, students from the summer term 2020 gave lower grades for interdisciplinarity, possibilities for interaction, and the extent to which the educational objectives were defined. Main critiques formulated within the open-response items concerned organizational deficits.

Conclusions:

Online-only courses in medical microbiology are a feasible teaching option, especially in the setting of a pandemic, leading to similar test performances in comparison to on-site courses. The lack of interaction and sustainability of acquired manual skills warrant further research.