The Effects of Distance Education Applied Due to COVID-19 on Clinical Neurology Education

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare distance and face-to-face learning models applied in neurology clinic education during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Materials and Methods: Medical faculty students who received clinical neurology education in the 2019-2020 academic years were included in the study. The online questionnaire used in the study consisted of three parts. The first part contained questions on students' sociodemographic data and education; in the second part, questions were asked on the students' competence level in meeting the cognitive and practical learning objectives of clinical neurology education; and in the third part, the medical school students' attitudes toward online learning scale was included. Results: The average passing grades of the 45 students (84.3) who took the clinical neurology education face to face were lower than those of the 40 participants (91.1) who received distance education. In 30 of the 40 cognitive goals and 39 of the 40 practical goals, the group averages of the students who received face-to-face training were higher than those of the distance education group. There was no correlation between passing grades and total scores on cognitive and practical goals. There was a significant correlation between the cognitive and practical total scores of the students and attitude scale toward distance/online learning scale score in the distance education group. Conclusion: Distance education was started for clinical neurology education in the COVID-19 pandemic. The proficiency levels declared by students regarding their learning goals after distance education were lower. The results achieved with distance education, especially in practical goals, were worse. Conversely, student grades were higher in the distance education group. These results show that there are serious difficulties in measurement and evaluation methods in distance education. It is necessary to review the experiences gained from the pandemic to eliminate deficiencies and improve clinical neurology education.