Katherine Martha Birt* and Shiby Stephens
Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of health care professionals; therefore, the education of future Doctors is highly relevant. This year, as medical student lectures have been delivered via online platforms like Zoom, it is important to explore attitudes towards Zoom lectures, to establish their impact on student welfare and education. The attitudes were of 1st year medical students. The hypotheses were: medical students would be negative towards Zoom online lectures; the age of the student would impact the perception of Zoom online lectures; and females would be more positive towards Zoom online lectures compared to males.
Methods: 20 randomized statements regarding Zoom online lectures were devised (ten positive and ten negative) and then scored according to the Thurstone and Chave method. An online survey was designed in Google Forms and, following ethical approval, distributed amongst 1st year medical students. Responses from 52.5% of Cardiff University 1st year medical students were received, and mean scores were calculated. The Wilcoxon test evaluated significant differences between groups.
Results: Medical students had an overall positive attitude towards Zoom online lectures. There was no significant difference by gender (p=0.8826 W=3257.5). 20+ year old students had the most positive perception which was significantly more positive than 18 (p=0.0002501 W=1625.5) and 19-year-olds (p=0.009936 W=1476.5).
Conclusion: 1st year medical students showed a positive perception towards online Zoom online lectures. Gender had no effect; however, age played a significant role, with those aged 20+ having a more positive perception than 18- and 19-year-olds.
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Journal of Morphology and Anatomy received 63 citations as per Google Scholar report
