Introduction: COVID-19 had enforced educational institutes to adopt online learning. Objectives: This study was designed to compare the learning outcome of online case and online lecture based learning in the undergraduate Oral pathology module of our institute and to compare the perception of students towards the course atiended. Methodology: The 3rd year dental students (N=25) were split into – online case based learning (A1=6, A2=6) and online lecture based learning groups (B=13) randomly. An online multiple choice questions tests were conducted before and after the interventions. An online questionnaire based survey was conducted to evaluate students' perceptions toward the course attended. The statistical analysis was done using paired t test and Mann Whitney U test. Results: Online case based learning was found to be a more effective learning method than online lecture based learning group (online case based learning post test mean rank=16, online lecture based learning post test mean rank=9.54, P=0.026). Significantly more students in the online case based learning group had positive perception towards the course atiended (online lecture based learning; mean value =2.5+/- 0.54, online case based learning; mean value =2.87+/-0.2, P=0.041). Conclusion: Online case based learning should be integrated in Oral Pathology curriculum amidst such pandemics when onsite classes are not possible.

Background: Online learning has become a common mode of delivering education in Covid-19 era and our institute is not an exception. The objective of this study was to examine the perception of our students regarding the equivalence of online and face to face learning. Methods: This questionnaire based online study was conducted at Gandaki Medical College, Pokhara among all the medical and dental undergraduate students with a sample size calculated as 180. The students’ perception in terms of general equivalence, flexibility, level of interaction, knowledge gained, and ease of online courses were collected. The data was entered in SPSS 20 and descriptive statistics was performed. The correlation between the variables was done using Spearman’s correlation analysis. Results: The total participants in this study were 187. Online learning wasn’t perceived to be equivalent to face-to-face learning in general (2.82±1.10). Online class was perceived to be more flexible (4.49± 1.10), to provide less opportunity to interact with instructor and peers (3.17±1.13), and to gain less knowledge (3.36± 1.27). However, both were perceived to be relatively similar in terms of ease (3.79±0.8). The comparatively less interaction was correlated to less knowledge gained through online classes (r value = 0.67, P<0.01). Conclusions: The result of this study suggests that the students didn’t find the online learning to be equivalent to face-to-face learning and the online learning experience can be correlated with interactive sessions.