Comparing Online and Face-to-Face Performance in Scientific Courses: A Retrospective Comparative Gender Study of Year-1 Students

Abstract

Purpose

As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, medical education at the Arabian Gulf University was instructed to apply online teaching instead of face-to-face for all phases of teaching at the University. Phase-1 is concerned with basic science courses delivered to year 1 students. We conducted this study to detect if there are any differences in the performance of medical students between online and face-to-face ways of learning. Also, a comparison between male and female performance in scientific courses was carried out in pre and during COVID-19 periods.

Methods

The participant were first year students for pre COVID-19 period from 2018 to 2019 and during COVID-19 period from 2020 to 2021. The university used Moodle and Zoom as an online way of teaching. The students’ performance in the year 1 (three-semester) -online period of teaching were compared with a three-semester-performance of conventional teaching prior to COVID-19. This is a retrospective study that attempts to shed some light on the efficiency of AGU experience in online learning for year 1 (Phase I) students. This study evaluates the outcome of both, online and face-to-face examinations for scientific courses.

Results

The results showed that the mean performance of year one medical students in all basic scientific courses (Phase I) during the coronavirus pandemic was greater than the mean performance before the pandemic with the exception of the Biostatistics course. The results by gender showed that the mean performance of females was better than males across all scientific courses before coronavirus. Also, during the COVID pandemic, the mean performance of females was better than males in all basic science courses.

Conclusion

Year −1 students’ performance in science courses during the coronavirus period seems better than pre COVID19 era. Females’ performance was better than males’ in both periods; pre and during COVID −19 periods.

Keywords:

• online
• face-to-face learning
• gender performance

Abbreviations

AGU, Arabian Gulf University; CMMS, College of Medicine and Medical Sciences; GCC, Gulf Cooperation Council; MD, Medical Doctor; MCQ, Multiple Choice Question; SD, Standard deviation.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.

All experimental protocols were approved by Ethical committee of CMMS College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain. (Reference number: E28-PI-5-22). Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Ms. Sara Abdulla for the retrieval of all data for pre and post COVID19 periods and during the study. We are grateful to the University Research and Ethical Committee for approving this study.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; have took part in drafting or writing, or substantially revised or critically reviewed the article; have agreed on the journal to which the article will be submitted; have reviewed and agreed on all versions of the article before submission, during revision, the final version accepted for publication, and any significant changes introduced at the proofing stage; and have agreed to take responsibility and be accountable for the contents of the article.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.