Virtual vs Traditional Seminar Course Satisfaction Among Two Groups of Pharmacy Students: Survey Observational Study

Abstract

Background:Distance learning in pharmacy schools has gained importance with the growth of technology. However, facing the COVID-19 pandemic governments worldwide have dramatically accelerated the pace of implementing virtual learning not only to prevent the spread of the virus but also to ensure continuity of education. Studies have provided emerging evidence assessing the distance learning environment, barriers, obstacles, perceptions, and attitudes of educators as well as learners since the outbreak. Objectives: To evaluate students’ satisfaction in seminar course conducted virtually due to distance learning model in comparison to previous conventional seminar presentation.Materials and Methods: A total of 102 students’ responses to 8-questions survey were collected and analyzed. The responders were 42 students from batch 5, the conventional in-class seminar model (41%) and 60 students from batch 6 students, the virtual seminar model 59%) were included. The survey score was compiled for all questions to reflect the students’ satisfaction. In this study, we have used the descriptive statistics like mean and standard deviation and to find the comparison between group-1 (Batch 5) and group-2 (batch-6) using independent sample t-test, p<0.05 was fixed as level of significant.Results: Virtual seminar model (batch 6) reported a conveniently high satisfaction like the conventional in-class seminar model (batch 5).Conclusion: The college of pharmacy at King Saud bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Science was successfully able to modify the seminar course due to the COVID-19 outbreak to ensure the safety of students and staff while maintaining the quality of the course, and further improving the students’ satisfaction.