PHARMACY STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCES IN ONLINE LEARNING DURING GLOBAL PANDEMIC
Abstract
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many universities in the world shifted their traditional teaching towards online teaching learning using different platforms. For the developed countries, these imposed changes might not cause any difficulties, but for some poor countries this might have negative consequences because the learners are not prepared to meet these challenges. Several studies have found that students feel isolated and stressed by online learning during the Global pandemic and are worried that the quality of post-secondary education has deteriorated. Therefore, the present study aims to add some additional results on pharmacy students’ attitudes and their online learning experiences during this time. The participants of the study were 93 pharmacy students at the State University of Tetovo (SUT) in Macedonia. The research method used was a 4-domain survey which includes: Technology access of the students, Online skills, Motivation, and Online versus face-to face learning with 26 items. The survey was sent to them online and participants’ responses were analysed and discussed thoroughly. The results of this research revealed that the participants do not have positive experiences during online classes even though, majority of them do have access to laptop or a mobile phone. One thing that was attractive for them was the online exams because they were less stressful than in-class exams. Generally, students prefer to be in class listening to the lectures and doing in-class tasks and socializing with their peers.
Keywords: global pandemic; pharmacy students; online learning; experiences; attitudes.
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References
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