Perception of Medical Faculty about Online Teaching During COVID-19 Pandemic, Telangana, India: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: The recent Coronavirus Disease (COVID) pandemic disturbed the medical education and training all over the world. Online education program is increasing rapidly, and the faculty need to be more competent for better student outcome. Faculty may be reluctant to embrace different forms of online teaching due to fear of change, concerns about reliability of technology, skepticism about outcome. Aim: To determine the perceptions of medical faculty about online teaching during pandemic and to identify the barriers faced by them. Materials and Methods: It was a cross sectional study , carried out at Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, between March 2021 to August 2021. The faculty involved in regular online teaching, were given pre- validated questionnaire consisting of 15 questions through Google forms . A Total of 80 faculty members responded to the questionnaire. The data was entered in Microsoft Excel and responses were recorded in terms of frequency and percentages. Results: Amongst the total 80 participants of the study, it was observed that 74 (92.5%) felt that technical training is needed prior to online teaching, 70 (87.5%) agree that absence of face to face interaction with students is a disadvantage of online teaching and 60 (75%) disagree that online teaching can replace traditional teaching in future. Conclusion: Online teaching demands more technical training for medical faculty. There is more apprehension and anxiety in faculty members towards technical issues and more time is required for online class preparation.