International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | February 2021 | Vol 9 | Issue 2 Page 655 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Khilnani AK et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2021 Feb;9(2):655-657 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Letter to the Editor Students’ feedback on exclusive 6-months online teaching during COVID-19 lockdown: a cross-sectional survey Sir, The corona virus pandemic has disrupted the human activities all across the globe and teaching-learning activity is no exception. In India, the nation-wide lockdown was announced in late March, and since then the main mode of undergraduate (UG) medical teaching has been through online classes. This is an unprecedented situation, both for medical teachers and students. Our institute initiated online classes for UG students from as early as mid-March, 2020. It has been more than 6 months of exclusive online teaching now and it was imperative to get overall feedback from students regarding its impact on their learning. It would provide useful inputs regarding utility, efficacy and opportunities to improvise further. An online questionnaire was prepared using Google Forms and was circulated among 3 trained faculty members for validation. It was then circulated to the UG students of our institute. Participation of students was voluntary and students were asked to respond within 5 days. The responses so collected were tabulated in Microsoft Excel sheets and analyzed using descriptive analysis. Total 272 students of different semesters responded to the questionnaire. The students were asked about the optimum number and duration of online sessions per day. 118 (43.4 %) students felt that 2 online sessions were enough for a day. 163 (59.9 %) students felt that the optimum duration of an online session should be 30-45 minutes (Tables 1, 2). Table 1: Adequate number of online sessions for a day (as perceived by the students). Number of online sessions enough for a day Number of students (percentage) 1 43 (15.8) 2 118 (43.4) 3 85 (31.3) 4 18 (6.6) 5 6 (2.2) More than 5 2 (0.7) Online teaching is described as synchronous and asynchronous and thus can be through live interactive sessions on platforms like Zoom, Google Meet and Blue Jeans; or through pre-recorded video sharing (e.g. YouTube videos). We used both of these methods, however, real time online sessions predominated. Both these methods were preferred by almost equal number of students (48.2% and 51.8% respectively). The students were also asked whether teachers were able to clear their doubts and their participation was active during online sessions. The effectiveness of online teaching depends on factors related to learner, trainer and technology. The teachers had to prepare their online sessions well in advance. 208 (76.5%) students felt that the faculty members were able to clear their doubts during online sessions either partly (39.7%) or fully (36.8%). 135 (49.6%) students wished that, in addition to physical classes, online classes should continue even after lockdown was over. Table 2: Optimum duration of an online session (as perceived by the students). Optimum duration of an online session Number of students (percentage) Less than 30 minutes 36 (13.2) 30-45 minutes 163 (59.9) 45-60 minutes 68 (25) Can be more than 60 minutes 5 (1.8) Table 3: Advantages of online teaching as perceived by the students. Advantages Number of students (percentage) Safe and effective during pandemic 55 (20.2) Convenient (time, place and revision) 56 (20.5) Time saving 23 (8.5) Efficient, interactive and promotes SDL 26 (9.6) No advantage 99 (36.4) Table 3 summarizes the advantages of online teaching as perceived by the students. Students felt that online teaching was a safe and convenient method of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically, 36.4 % students felt that there was no additional advantage of online teaching over conventional classroom teaching. These mixed responses show that online teaching cannot be the sole mode of teaching in medical colleges. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20210462