Perceptions of nursing students towards online learning during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: During COVID-19 pandemic, many academic institutions in Nepal and the world turned to online learning. The present study aimed to explore nursing students’ perception towards online learning. 

 Method: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted to identify the perception of nursing students towards online learning in School of Nursing and Midwifery, Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS), Lalitpur, Nepal during October 2020. A total enumerative sampling technique was used to collect data. Ethical approval was taken from the Institutional Review Committee (IRC) of PAHS. Data were collected using a self-developed structured questionnaire via Google form. The collected data were entered into SPSS version 16. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard division) and Chi-square test was used to analyze the data.       

Result: Out of 348 nursing students, it was found that 186(53.4%) of the nursing students had positive perception and 162(46.6%) of the students had negative perceptions towards online learning during COVID-19 pandemic. The perception was associated with the academic year, access to the internet, need for use of mobile data, and academic level.

 Conclusion: The overall perception of nursing students is not satisfactory towards online learning. Academic institution should plan the online learning giving the priorities on the factors associated with negative perception so that students can learn effectively through virtual.