Online Educational Process During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Student Survey

Abstract

Background: On 30 January 2020, the WHO Emergency Committee declared a state of global emergency. In order to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus, at the beginning of March, the Romanian Government decided to take unprecedented measures: banning public meetings of any kind and banning population from leaving their homes for lack of good reasons. Following the #stămacasa decree, a radical and rapid change took place in the habits and lifestyle and learning of students. In the field of higher education, universities have been forced to suspend onsite teaching activities in response to the alarming number of COVID-19 infections, and have been forced to implement online education platforms to maintain the university educational process. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the opinion of students enrolled at the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology "G.E. Palade" from Targu Mures, on the quality of teaching-learning-examination assessment process on online platforms, in the context imposed by the COVID -19 outbreak. Methods: To conduct this study, we designed a questionnaire of 28 questions, which was disseminated online for completion. Results: The results of the research mark the fact that over half of the students surveyed expressed satisfaction with the measures adopted by the university management and also with the way in which the teaching-learning-evaluation process took place. The results also indicate some negative aspects, namely: poor internet connection, failures of the online platform, lack of communication and interaction in the teacher-student relationship, inability to make practical activities and lack of correctness of the evaluation and examination system (for example, the possibility of cheating). In conclusion, in the near future, the university management must re-evaluate and apply appropriate measures to address the negative aspects and to improve the performance of the online education process.