Introducing virtual microscopy at the University of Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic—Identifying and overcoming obstacles in a low-resource learning environment

Abstract

The introduction of new educational technologies into resource-challenged learning environments is often hindered by several factors, with the lack of infrastructure and computer hardware being only one critical aspect. The COVID-19 pandemic required a sudden switch to online learning and accelerated the implementation of e-learning approaches worldwide. This study follows the adoption of virtual microscopy (VM) during the COVID-19 pandemic by medical and dental students at the University of Ghana (UG) for the learning of histology and the changes that were the result of this transformation. Students' awareness and the use of VM resources for their histology education increased significantly over the time of the pandemic. Students who were actively using VM reported a lack of internet access and insufficient promotion by histology teachers as major obstacles for their use of this educational technology. Although they attributed many advantages to VM as a histology learning tool, more than 90% of UG students advocated for the combined use of traditional and virtual microscopy during histology laboratory sessions. Students who did not use VM mostly blamed a lack of hardware devices, internet access, and technical knowledge for not making use of VM. In summary, although medical and dental students voiced strong support for the implementation of this e-learning technology, a combination of factors including infrastructural limitations and a reluctance by teaching and administration staff might hinder the implementation of VM in a resource-challenged learning environment like at the UG.