Medical Students’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Online Flipped Learning

The purpose of this study was to investigate medical students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of online flipped learning during the COVID-19 pandemic to determine changes in perceived effectiveness, differences by gender, and differences by level of academic achievement. The study involved 42 second-year medical students at A medical school who were new to online flipped learning. Quantitative data on medical students’ perceptions of the effectiveness were collected using Korean Educational Development Institute’s national assessment of student engagement in learning questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of six items, in three domains 1) problem solving and understanding, 2) active participation, and 3) self-directed learning. Data analysis was done using the SPSS 27.0, where the Mann-Whitney U test and paired t-tests were applied. All perceived effectiveness scores increased after the implementation of online flipped learning. In particular, there was a statistically significant high in the scores in the area of self-directed learning. It was found that differences in the perceived effectiveness of online flipped learning according to gender and students’ academic achievement. The male students were more effective than female students in the all domains. While high-grade level students scored higher on problem-solving, low-grade level students scored higher on self-directed learning. The results of this study will provide a foundation for medical schools preparing for online flipped learning. For online flipped learning to be educationally successful, the students need to be analyzed from multiple perspectives.