One academic year under COVID-19 conditions: two multicenter cross-sectional evaluation studies among medical students in Bavarian medical schools, Germany students’ needs, difficulties, and concerns about digital teaching and learning

Abstract

Background Since March 2020, COVID-19 has created a need for adaptation in many areas of life. This study explores medical students’ perspectives on digital teaching under conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on expectations and concerns about digital teaching, the evaluation of specific aspects of teaching, and requests for future teaching. Methods Six German faculties have joined forces within the Bavarian network for medical education to develop and deploy a common core questionnaire. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted at the end of the summer semester 2020 and winter semester 2020/21. Medical students from different semesters participated in the online survey. Data was analyzed descriptively and/or inferentially. Item differences across semesters were examined using contingency tables and Chi2 tests. Mean values were compared using the independent samples t-test; answer frequencies in retrospective and prospective concerns were compared using contingency tables and Chi2 tests with Yates’ correction. Results In the summer semester 2020, 1565 students and in winter semester 2020/21, 1727 students took part in the survey. Students’ main prospective concern was lack of social exchange between fellow students (70%), but also with teachers. Second and third most often concerns were a lack of practical training (68%) and lack of integration of on-site digital teaching (50%). Approximately 7% of the students lacked sufficient access to technical equipment.. Approximately 39% of the students lacked a sufficient internet connection for synchronous digital teaching, 17% for asynchronous digital teaching. On-site teaching was the preferred form of teaching (60%), and there was a preference for asynchronous (24%) over synchronous (15%) digital teaching. Teaching recordings (79%) were particularly popular to complement future on-site teaching. Conclusions The following areas of education under COVID-19 conditions are highly important to medical students: adequacy of information sharing, integration of opportunities for exchange with fellow students and teachers, possibility to perform practical trainings. After the normalization of the pandemic situation, on-site teaching should be supplemented with blended learning concepts such as the inverted classroom model. Graphical abstract Percentages of results are rounded averages from summer and winter semesters.

Student Evaluation of Distance Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey on Medical, Dental, and Healthcare Students at Sapienza University of Rome

“…These results are in accordance with those of similar cross-sectional studies from other countries. A multicenter cross-sectional study among German medical students [ 31 ] revealed similar concerns about poor exchange between fellow students and with teachers as well as the lack of practical training. Additionally, a proportion of students was unable to participate in DL due to the lack of adequate devices.…”

Students' and lecturers' perspectives on the implementation of online learning in medical education due to COVID-19 in Germany: a cross-sectional pilot study

“…At the beginning of the pandemic, the establishment of digital teaching formats was often viewed negatively from the point of view of the lecturers since the implementation was a major challenge for the lecturers and the medical universities ( 21 ). At the beginning of the establishment of digital teaching concepts, the students had a positive attitude, although this attitude changed over the course of the pandemic years ( 22 ). The once divergent picture between lecturers and students is getting closer over the course of time.…”

Experiences Shared by the (Future) Public Health Workforce during the COVD-19 Pandemic in Germany: Results of A Survey on Workload, Work Content, and Related Challenges among Students and Young Professionals

“…To our knowledge, this is the first study focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workload, work content, and related challenges among the public health workforce in Germany, which includes data on students and young professionals. Previous studies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic have either focused on specific aspects -particularly related to digital teaching -within medical students or healthcare personnel [22][23][24] or on mental health issues due to social isolation [1,25]. Although knowledge is available that as an adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic education and job training have been disrupted or delayed for many young adults and traditional ways of working encountered serious challenges [26], there has been limited attention on the public health workforce [27,28] in Germany.…”