E-LEARNING: EXPLORING THE FACTORS INFLUENCING FACULTY READINESS DURING COVID -19 PANDEMIC FOR ONLINE TEACHING

Objectives: The study aimed to assess the e- learning readiness amongst faculty members in the discipline of Medicine, Dentistry & Allied.Materials and Methods: The present descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to analyze faculty readiness for online teaching of the University from May 2020- July 2021. The ethical approval was obtained from the ethical committee of the University. Faculty members from Dental College, Medical University and Allied Departments were selected with the census sampling method and sample obtained was 222. An online survey method was selected for data collection and pre structured validated questionnaire “Students’ E-learning Readiness Scale” developed by Watkins et al was used. Subject expert validated the questionnaire.Results: The overall mean score ranged from 2.11 – 3.12, indicated that experience of online readiness for the faculty members was found to be low. The highest mean score of 3.12 was reported from the faculty members of the Dental College followed by Faculty of Medical College (mean score= 2.94) and Allied (mean score=2.72) regarding readiness for online discussions.Conclusion: The overall readiness is found to be low and this is common for all faculties of all levels. The faculty from Dental College was found to be ready for conducting online lectures as compared to the faculty from Medical and Allied Departments of the University. It should be mandatory that Medical Education Department of the university to conduct more series of workshops for the faculty so that they feel motivated to conduct online teaching.