Experience of Sudden Shift from Traditional to Virtual Problem-Based Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic at a Medical College in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a sudden shift to online education. PBL was one of the components that was transformed to online. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of the sudden shift to virtual PBL during COVID-19 pandemic in achieving the intended learning objectives of the PBL and to explore the students’ perception of the virtual versus traditional PBL. Methods This is a retrospective study that was conducted in the college of medicine, King Saud University. We compared the perception of third year students who participated in traditional face-to-face PBL in 2019–2020 and in the virtual PBL in 2020–2021. We compared the performance of the students in the traditional face-to-face and in virtual PBL. An online survey was distributed from October to December 2021. The survey contained 7 sections. Each section included several questions comparing virtual and traditional PBL in that aspect. Results Out of 284 third year medical students, 124 students responded with a response rate of 43.66%. More than half of the students (n = 77, 63%) felt significantly motivated to actively participate in PBL sessions in a virtual learning environment, motivated to learn and support group work and gained critical thinking skills (mean = 3.54 ± 0.12 versus 3.59 ± 0.14, p < 0.001). The majority of students (n = 82, 66%) felt significantly more satisfied about their learning during the virtual PBL versus traditional PBL (mean = 3.48 ± 0.42 versus 3.91 ± 0.59, p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the students’ performance in traditional versus virtual PBL (mean = 4.77 ± 0.22 versus 4.79 ± 0.29, p = 0.2). Conclusion The results of this study showed that students were significantly more satisfied with the experience in the virtual versus traditional PBL. Medical students’ performances in virtual PBL were comparable to the traditional face-to-face approach.

Digital Redesign of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) from Face-to-Face to Synchronous Online in Biomedical Sciences MSc Courses and the Student Perspective

“…While in the present study, there was a split decision regarding their preferred mode of delivery, others have reported that the majority of students showed increased satisfaction online [2,8,18]. Some students indicated that one of the reasons for preferring online PBL is that it saves travel time and cuts down on cost.…”

“…Still, other students indicated that their learning was disrupted by online delivery [6]. In studies where knowledge was evaluated, and with the exception of one study that showed lower performance of online PBL on learning outcomes [14], they either found no difference in the performance of students in online PBL or a moderate improvement [2,5,8,18,19]. In regards to skills, in a study by Foo et al (2021), tutors assessed student PBL performance (participation, communication, preparation, critical thinking, and group skills) and found that the distance learning group performed statistically lower, although the difference was small (by 0.21-0.42 points on a scale from 0-10) [20].…”