Nursing University Students' Experience of Online Education in COVID-19 Pandemic: A Content Analytic Study

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent online mode of education have challenged the national educational system and higher education. Thus, the present research aimed to explore students' experience of the advantages and disadvantages of online education at Bandar Abbas University of medical sciences during the pandemic. The present qualitative research conducted a content analysis of 26 nursing students' experiences. The sampling method was purposive. Unstructured face-to-face interviews were conducted with participants of the study to collect the required data. The interview protocol was followed. The required social distance was kept, and the ethical code was adhered to. The participants were interviewed as already arranged at a place of convenience. The interviews took between 40 and 60 minutes, depending on the immediate condition. The data collection continued until data saturation. The data analysis led to the extraction of 5 themes and 8 categories, including teacher-student miscommunication, student-student miscommunication, evaluation issues, anxiety, distancing from active learning, materials/sources, lack of physical attendance, non-educational activities, and 22 subcategories. The present findings could help professors and education authorities to better understand students' expected learning and the challenges of online education. They could, thus, be better aware of the existing barriers and could better plan to remove them.