International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | June 2021 | Vol 8 | Issue 6 Page 2908 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Kumar R et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2021 Jun;8(6):2908-2915 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Knowledge and perception of massive open online courses among medical students of Perambalur district, Tamilnadu, India Rakesh Kumar*, S. Rajesh, K. Rajesh Kanna, S. Rohit Sujin INTRODUCTION Due to coronavirus outbreak there has been a prolonged closure of educational institutes all over world including India which have affected the regular classroom studies and skill acquisition by students. Owing to pandemic there has been a tectonic shift in the way learning is happening. Restrictions on travel and physical distancing across the globe have meant that traditional means of transferring knowledge from experts to learners are challenged and online learning has taken the front seat. 1 Online learning or e-learning complements the traditional face-to-face classroom learning system, has a potential of wide reach and can be rapidly scaled-up. It is far more adaptive and provides personalized learning experience to help the students to become an independent life-long learner. Online learning can provide greater educational opportunities for students and can simultaneously enhance faculty efficiency. However, online learning requires substantial investment in human and infrastructural resources by the institute which is not always present in developing countries. 2 In recent times, several massive open online courses (MOOC) are available both free and paid which may be useful if it is blended with traditional education methods. MOOCs are online leaning platforms and are increasingly available in the area of health and medicine. When offered ABSTRACT Background: Coronavirus outbreak has forced a prolonged closure of educational institutes all over world including India which have affected the regular classroom studies and skill acquisition by students. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and perception regarding mass open online courses (MOOC) among medical students. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study using google form survey tool was conducted among undergraduate medical students. Questions were asked on demographic information, use and accessibility of information technologies, awareness and utilization of MOOC and barriers and motivations for course enrollment and completion. Results: Overall 224(54.9%) of medical students had ever heard about MOOC. Out of them, only 31.6% students had actually enrolled for any online course. Further, course completetion rate was only 11.6%. Age and year of study was significantly associated with enrolment to MOOC. Important motivation for enrolment were learning new thing, learning medicine and for better career prospects while common barriers were low internet speed and lack of time. Among those who completed the course, most of them had a satisfactory or very satisfactory level of satisfaction with regard to overall experience, quality of presented material, technology used, and video lectures. Conclusions: There is poor awareness and utilization of MOOC among medical students which can hamper their learning particularly in absence on regular classroom teaching. There is need of blended curriculum harnessing the advantages of MOOC platform which will aid students continue learning in difficult times. Keywords: Online, Learning, Education, Medical, Open, MOOC Department of Community Medicine, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital, Perambalur, Tamil Nadu, India Received: 29 March 2021 Accepted: 29 April 2021 *Correspondence: Dr. Rakesh Kumar, E-mail: drrakesh_kumar2001@yahoo.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20211993