Evaluating the Effectiveness of Online Learning Platforms in Delivering Medical Curriculum and Identifying Best Practices for Their Implementation

ABSTRACT
This study evaluated the effectiveness of online learning platforms in delivering medical curriculum to medical students in Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). This study was designed as cross-sectional survey that involves using digitalised (ODK) semi-structured questionnaires to obtain information about online learning experience, user satisfaction, perception of features that enhance overall learning experience. A total of 269 students from four medical departments: anatomy, medicine, med lab, and nursing were surveyed. The data collected were analysed using SPSS version 26 (IBM, Armonk, USA) chi-square for distributional differences and t-test for test of mean differences. From the results, the mean score for online learning was 4.15±0.40, user satisfaction was 4.08±0.44, and student’s perception of features that enhance overall learning experience (88% positive perception). The results revealed that course was a significant factor for online experience (P=0.02), sex (P=0.02) and course (P=0.01) were significant factors for user satisfaction, while course, while the perception of the overall learning experience did not differ significantly across the demographics (P>0.05). In conclusion, for students who used online learning, they more positive about their online learning experience, had a high user satisfaction. Overall, the use of online learning was accepted among medical students in ESUT.