Undergraduate Students’ perceptions of online assessment during COVID -19 pandemic at faculty of medicine for girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

ABSTRACT

The Corona virus-19 pandemic has forced universities globally to shut down and shift their educational and assessment activities to online platforms. This study explores the perception of undergraduate preclinical medical students about online assessment during the ongoing pandemic. A cross-sectional study based on a semi-structured online self-administered questionnaire was conducted on 654 preclinical medical students following the final online exams at Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University. Perception was investigated using a 3-point Likert scale. The overall mean score of students’ satisfaction with the quality of online assessment was (31.7 ± 3.1), and they agreed that online exams create a sense of security. However, 69.7% of students preferred paper-based exams to online exams. Furthermore, high cost, lack of ability to concentrate and only knowledge-based exams were some of the reported drawbacks. These findings highlight the importance of students’ perception through online assessment for promoting successful educational processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Online assessment
• undergraduate
• medical education
• Egypt
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heba Mohamed Abd Elgalil

Heba Mohamed Abd Elgalil - Assistant professor of Community and Occupational Medicine Department, and member of Medical Education Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Member of the Egyptian medical women association.

Fatma El-Zahraa Abd El -Hakam

Fatma El-Zahraa Abd El -Hakam - Lecturer of pharmacology, vice coordinator of E-learning committee in Medical Education Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

Islam Mostafa Farrag

Islam Mostafa Farrag: Lecturer of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Coordinator of e-learning committee in medical education unit, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University (Cairo) Egypt, 2020 FAIMER fellow & faculty.

Shaimaa Ramadan Abdelmohsen

Shaimaa Ramadan Abdelmohsen - Lecturer of Anatomy and Embryology, and member of Medical Education Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. FAIMER fellow & faculty.

Hala Elkolaly

Hala Elkolaly - Professor of forensic medicine and Clinical Toxicology, diploma of professional health of education, certified assessor, Director of Medical Education Unit Faculty of Medicine for girls AL-Azhar University Egypt