Covid-19, an opportunity to compare in-person and online teaching

Abstract

For years it has been discussed the dichotomy between traditional in-person teaching versus online instruction. The lockdown, consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, gave us an opportunity to gain evidence and compare in-person versus online teaching by the same professor, in the same subject and by the same students which is an interesting scenario because the only variable is the teaching setup. Here, we conducted a survey of students that following a traditional in-person subject were abruptly compelled to continue it online. We summarize the students’ responses when asked to compare both types of teaching with the singularity that the rest of variables were kept constant. Finally, we compared the grades of this “hybrid taught” group of students with the grades from groups of previous years in the same subject, by the same instructor, but totally in-person. We, as medical teachers, were excited about the possibility that the online teaching forced by the Covid-19 pandemic will develop in the system for delivering our lectures in the near future. Even considering that grades were not affected and pros such as comfort and participation, according to our study, students prefer in person education mainly because the direct contact and interaction with peers and teachers.