Lessons Learned from Assessing the Quality of Virtual Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Students’ Perspectives from Zahedan University of Medical Sciences

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented experiences across all facets of life, profoundly affecting medical education and the methodologies employed in teaching and learning. This global health crisis has necessitated significant adaptations within educational frameworks, fundamentally altering how medical training is delivered. The present study aimed to investigate the status of virtual learning from the perspective of students at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences (ZAUMS), Iran.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 390 students’ perspectives from five faculties of ZAUMS, were selected using a stratified sampling method from January to February 2023. A 51-item researcher-developed questionnaire with six subscales of teaching method (9 items), professors' interaction (5 items), evaluation (20 items), content delivery (6 items), students' participation (3 items), and infrastructure (8 items) was used to collect the data. Responses were rated using a 5-point Likert scale. Experts confirmed the validity, and its reliability was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha (0.86). Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman correlation were used to analyze the data in SPSS 22.Results: The response rate in the study was 92%. The total mean score of the students' perspective was 3.17±0.43. The mean scores across the six evaluated domains were as follows: teaching methods scored 3.03±0.58, professors’ interaction 3.35±0.65, evaluation 3.18±0.43, content delivery 3.22±0.57, students’ participation 2.91±0.69, infrastructure 3.34±0.50. The highest and lowest average scores were related to professors' interaction and students’ participation, respectively. A significant relationship was only found between students' views and gender (t=2.85, P=0.004). Conclusion: Students typically regarded virtual learning as quite favorable. However, there is potential to enhance the quality of virtual education, particularly in terms of student engagement. This improvement can be facilitated by incorporating discussion forums and chat rooms, assigning group tasks, developing collaborative projects, and fostering a more engaging learning atmosphere through the use of gamification and simulations.