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British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research - Vol. 10, No. 2
Publication Date: April 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/jbemi.102.14422.
Alamry, N., Almoteri, N., Bagadood, M. H., & Alghabbashi, M. T. (2023). Perceptions Regarding Online Nursing Education Among
Students in College of Nursing – Umm Al Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research,
Vol - 10(2). 338-350.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Perceptions Regarding Online Nursing Education Among
Students in College of Nursing – Umm Al Qura University,
Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Nora Alamry
Nursing specialist
Nada Almoteri
Nursing specialist
May H. Bagadood
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5675-2194
Assistant professor, Faculty of Nursing, Umm Al-Qura University
Maram T. Alghabbashi
Assistant Professor at Nursing Science & Research Department
at Faculty of Nursing-Umm Al QuraUniversity-KSA
ABSTRACT
Background: The common ways of providing education to students, online learning,
blended learning, flipped learning, tutorials, and seminars. Aim: This study aimed
to assess the perception of nursing students toward online learning during
theCOVID‐19 pandemic. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional research
design was used on 136 nursing students were selected conveniently. Results:
There is appositive statistically significant correlation were years of study, age, and
advantage of online education only in the items related to supportive, easily
understood, availability, improved abilities, and feedback. Conclusion and
Recommendations: There is a growing demand for strategies that take into
consideration all the needs of nursing students toward online learning and
formulating curricula that improving online educational environment and
outcomes.
Keywords: Perceptions, online Education, Nursing Students
INTRODUCTION
Research Problem
Education is considered as the basic element in the civilized society where the system of
education depends upon either formal education as well as informal education. Formal
education emphasizes on the standardization of the course content with the appropriate
development of skills and competencies to fulfill the future professional’s demand. Therefore,
formal education is considered as the one that is necessary to develop certain skills and
competences to fully function. For the sake of fully functioning there is a need for a process
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Alamry, N., Almoteri, N., Bagadood, M. H., & Alghabbashi, M. T. (2023). Perceptions Regarding Online Nursing Education Among Students in College
of Nursing – Umm Al Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research, Vol - 10(2). 338-350.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/jbemi.102.14422.
which is known as learning. This learning process is done by the collaborative work of an
educator and a learner who simultaneously perform the enhancement in knowledge (Eliot,
2020).
The traditional method teaching, and learning resulted in gaining knowledge and acquiring
valuable skills in controlled environment, which helps in competency development whereas it
also bromized the students to jot down notes instead of trying to understand and absorbing
newer information. Lecture in the traditional classroom does not cater to each individual but
accommodates the whole group as a single entity. Also, presentation is given more importance
resulting in the provision of very little time for practice in a traditional classroom (Kint et al.,
2017). Whereas environmental hazards and situational factors made the traditional learning
process difficult for the students as well as the educator and education system. therefore, it is
important to establish an appropriate way to minimize the effect of environment and
situational factors (Macdonald & Wester, 2021). In the recent past where the outburst of the
covid-19 pandemic situation appeared on the face of a world showing drastic consequences
toward life. In that situation traditional passes of learning were impossible therefore to
continue the process of learning education policy makers and organizers jot down the
mechanism of e- learning process that not only initiates the effective learning strategies but
also enhances the interest, aptitude, and compassion towards the learning process of the
student. (Nahar et al., 2016). Study will enable to understand the process of e-learning properly
along with the student perceptions regarding the e-learning process (Ramos-Morcillo et al.,
2020). Student perceptions are the vital element in the learning process because it gives
information about the beliefs, opinions, and subjective thinking processes. It also gives
information about the potential benefits and harm to the learning process as well as the
attainment and preservation of knowledge, skill acquirement, competency development and
deriving satisfaction among the students and performance of skills by nursing students in a self- efficacious way. Similarly, the Current study will result out beneficial results for educational
managers of university, colleges and schools, educators, researchers, policy makers and for
knowledge enhancement process. In online education, learning is divided into asynchronous
or synchronous or a mixture of together. Asynchronous education is schooling and culture that
do not take place at a similar occasion, other than synchronous culture considered as lessons
and scholarship that occurrence at the parallel instant, in cooperation of which is conducted by
means of digitals for instance internet. As soon as online learning happening in the 20th
century, most online courses and curriculum were synchronous through make conversation
(Sun & Chen, 2016).
However, Khalil et al. (2020) classified online learning into two main types; synchronous or
asynchronous which synchronous technology Provides for “live” interaction between the
instructor and the students (e.g., audio conferencing, videoconferencing, webchats, etc.) while
asynchronous technology includes significant delays in time between education and its receipt
(e.g., E-mail, earlier video recording, discussion forums, etc.)
Challenges and Success Factors in Online Education:
The challenges faced during online classes that affected the perception and behavior of the
nursing students towards online classes were communication issues, time management issues,
cost issues, and lack of administrative support (Sharma & Arora, 2021).
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British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research (BJHMR) Vol 10, Issue 2, April- 2023
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
In Mosul by Hussien and Khaffaf (2013) who reported that most of the students used the
internet to get information directly which is more flexible than traditional learning, and around
half of the students surveyed felt that online learning was better than traditional learning.
In Russia, Mukhametshin et al. (2021) reported that in the framework of the pandemic of Covid- 19, the bearing of the changeover to secluded forms of training has increased not only for part- time students but also for full-time education. Online learning derived from utilizing several
electronic educational platforms, differs significantly from the traditional system and totally
shifts the whole educational process, including the forms of knowledge gaining and assessment
methods. (Mukhametshin et al., 2021)
Fedynich et al. (2015) stressed the importance of investigating student's perceptions regarding
recognized were adequate learner hold up that associated with colleges resources, and
requirement for facilitating students' aspiration to learn. Indifference, students were highly
satisfied with the simplicity of both instructions with sufficient resources, and the instructor's
responsibility was known as creature crucially significant to students' satisfaction.
Kauffman (2015) stressed that online learning may not be suitable for all students. Moreover,
discovering learner characteristics may help faculty in planning quality online curriculum to
convene students’ requirements as sufficient instructional system, guidance, course
composition, and content which can smooth the advancement of student achievements and
satisfaction.
Role of Internet Technology and Multi-Media in Learning
In Vietnam, a study conducted to examine online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic
through comparing traditional learning to online learning for at least two months, which
created significant challenges for both social work educators and students, given the fact that
most social work courses require the practice and direct interaction components, and a lot of
students have limited access to technology facilities (Dinh & Nguyen, 2020). Gharib et al. (2016)
found that the huge amount of instructional content was found to be an obstacle to critical
thinking in online learning. Also, Yoo et al. (2021) reported that the barriers of online education
included issues like technical issues – mainly internet connection problems and difficulties in
communication and interaction between students and teachers. In the Philippines, Medical
students faced several barriers as they tried to adjust to online learning styles, having to act
upon responsibilities at home, and poor communication between instructors and learners.
Through implementing student-centered interventions, medical schools and educators play a
major role in covering these challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic (Baticulon et al., 2021)
METHODS
Research Designs
During the pandemic in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, a quantitative web-based, cross-sectional survey
was conducted to determine nursing students' impressions regarding online learning
Research Setting
Students from the College of Nursing at Umm Al Qura University's in Makkah area, KSA were
selected for this research. They were specifically selected because they were easily accessible
during the pandemic. Students would be readily accessible for data collection during the
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Alamry, N., Almoteri, N., Bagadood, M. H., & Alghabbashi, M. T. (2023). Perceptions Regarding Online Nursing Education Among Students in College
of Nursing – Umm Al Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research, Vol - 10(2). 338-350.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/jbemi.102.14422.
pandemic since they are all enrolled in online classes and can be contacted via the internet,
reduced expense, user convenience, minimized since the results are inserted directly into a
database, there are less transcription discrepancies and reduced costs for entering data (Tai et
al., 2018).
Sampling
The study subjects were chosen using a convenient random sampling process. Nursing students
from Umm Al Qura University's college of nursing in the Makkah area made up the study's
population. Nursing students must have experience and expertise in patient care, which can be
achieved by a good educational program. In the event of a pandemic, conventional classroom
instruction is impossible due to the risk of students contracting and transmitting COVID-19
(Wilcha. 2020). Consequently, it is important to learn how the students feel regarding the
experience of online education whether is beneficial or detrimental to them.
Inclusion Criteria:
Students who are willing participate in second, third and fourth year of their study
Exclusion Criteria:
1. Students in the first year as they were still in the preparatory year, and they will not be
exposed to study nursing courses.
2. Students in the internship year as they
Outcome measures
Part I (Student's Sociodemographic Characteristics Questionnaire):
It was developed by the researcher and includes sociodemographic characteristics like age,
gender year of study to better understand how people perceive online education across
different age groups and genders. The survey items were evaluated in relation to the socio- demographic results. Identifying the structure of the respondents' demographic characteristics
was assist in deciding how well the sample represents the population. It also allowed
distinguishing between various sub-groups. This segmentation could provide information that
would not have been elicited if only aggregate data would have been collected (Heidarian et al.,
2015).
Part III: Student's Perception of Online Education Questionnaire:
It contains 20 questions related to assessing the student's perception of online learning
especially its advantages and disadvantages among nursing students. This tool was adapted
from Cooper et al. (2016) and Abbasi et al. (2020) to elicit diverse perspectives on the various
modalities of online education, specifically the benefits and drawbacks of online education. It
consisted of questions concerning both positive perceptions which concerned with advantages
and negative perceptions as disadvantages. Its scoring system based on a Likert Scale with five
options ranging from strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and disagree strongly. In the
original study, authors found this scale as valid and reliable as originally a= 0.789. (Cooper et
al., 2016; Abbasi et al., 2020)
Ethical Consideration
The Institutional Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Boards (IRB) at Umm Al-Qura
University gave their approval, and qualified participants were given an online self-
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administered questionnaire. Before the study began, each participant gave consent, outlining
the purpose of the study and all essential information's that the participant should be aware of
before deciding whether to participate and the study participants confidentiality was
maintained.
Data Analysis
The socio-demographic (gender, age, and year) and research (educational) characteristics were
both subjected to descriptive statistics (year of study). Multifactorial analysis was used with
the updated Questionnaire. The questionnaire is a five-point Likert scale of 20 items ranged as
(one = strongly disagree, two = disagree, three = neutral, four = agree, and five = strongly agree)
(Bishop & Herron, 2015). The data was collected from nursing students via questionnaires and
then transferred to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for further study. After coding each
questionnaire sheet to obtain descriptive statistics that included frequency, mean, percentages,
and standard deviation for defining and multivariate statistics, the data from the students'
responses in every semester via the online assessment using SPSS version 21 (SPSS, vs. 21,
Chicago, IL). (Jacob., 2016). For the collection and analysis of survey results, SPSS version 26 is
used by researchers, survey firms, and correlation coefficient test was done by using Spearman
Rho correlation coefficient and One way ANOVA test between and within groups (Pandey et al.,
2019). Finally, the study findings were presented in the form of tables and graphs.
RESULTS
Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of study participants from the College of
Nursing, Umm Al Qura University in Makkah region of Saudi Arabia, it was noted that 83.8% of
females and 16.2% of males were studying in that university. Nevertheless, analysis of the
number of participants according to their age showed that 39.7% of the respondents’ age was
between 19 to 21 years old, 31.6% of them have aged more than 23 years old, 27.2% of the
respondents were in the age group between 21-23 years old. In the analysis of the number of
participants based on their academic year, it was noted that 41.9% of respondents were in the
fourth year, 37.5% of them in the second year, and 20.6% of the respondents in the third year.
Table 1 Distribution of nursing students in relation to their demographic
Characteristics(n=136)
Table 2 shows student's perceptions regarding online education which revealed that (66.5,56.6,
52.9, 51.4) of students strongly agree in the items of perceptions related to It takes a lot of time
to ask any question in online learning, I can communicate with my classmates and my teacher
in real-time, Through online learning I feel comfortable in using modules that have been
Demographic Characteristics f %
Gender Female 114 83.8
Male 22 16.2
Age Less than 19 2 1.5
19-21 54 39.7
21-23 37 27.2
More than 23 43 31.6
Year of study Second year 51 37.5
Third year 28 20.6
Fourth year 57 41.9