A Survey Assessing the Health Science Students’ Perception Towards Online Learning at a Saudi University During Covid-19 Pandemic
24 Pages Posted: 2 Apr 2022 Publication Status: Published
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the shutting of higher education institutions (HEIs) and pushed those HEIs to shift from traditional to online learning. Hence, this study focused on revealing the appropriateness of the online learning assessment survey (OLAS) model for assessing the students' perception of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The exploratory study design was used to determine the appropriateness of the OLAS model for assessing the students' perception of online learning at a public university in Saudi Arabia. This study included the whole population of undergraduate students (N=2523) of the selected four health science colleges at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) during 2020-2021. Among the total population (N=2523), 800 students were targeted randomly and distributed with an online learning assessment survey (OLAS) using 'Google Docs'. Out of 800, 728 completed questionnaires were received. Further, the statistical analysis was done through the SPSS version-20. The structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was carried out using software termed 'Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) 5.0'. The SEM analysis revealed that each item showed a significant positive relationship with its respective variable of OLAS. The proposed OLAS model with five variables showed a good fit to assess the students’ perception of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Variables used in the OLAS are appropriate enough to evaluate the students’ perception of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Policymakers of HEIs can adopt these variables to assess and screen the quality of online learning during the new normal conditions.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, online learning, Saudi Arabia, structural equation modeling, Students perception, Survey
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