Maintaining the quality of problem-based learning in developing countries during the pandemic era

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is referred to as an unpredictable phenomenon and a challenge that stimulates change, one of which is in the field of medical education. Online learning as the main solution in the field of education certainly offers positive and negative impacts for medical students. Therefore, learning design is a strategy that continues to be developed in improving the quality of teaching that is more effective and innovative. The purpose of writing this review is to find out more about the quality of problem-based learning in developing countries during the pandemic era. This type of study is a literature review that uses the literature study method. The sources used in this review consist of relevant journals from search engines such as Pubmed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and Cochrane Library. The results of the literature search show that pandemic conditions encourage learning to be carried out using virtual methods. To implement online learning during this pandemic, various technologies have been developed, ranging from digital problem-based learning (PBL) which has been implemented at the National Taiwan University College of Medicine, web video conferencing learning (WVC) at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia which is effectively used in the case-based discussion (CBD) process, as well as various platforms that support online learning, such as Tencent Meeting, DingTalk, and Edmodo. EdTech Start-ups and SWAYAM portal in India also aims to maintain equitable distribution, access, and quality in times of pandemic. Some applications that can support live streaming based on video conferencing are Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Lark, Zoom. Seeing the various advantages and problems faced in implementing online lectures during the pandemic, various improvement strategies need to be carried out in maintaining the quality and learning outcomes, starting from infrastructure, personnel, methods in delivering lectures, learning outcomes, institutional responses, and support from the government.