TY - JOUR
T1 - Taking a leap of faith
T2 - A study of abruptly transitioning an undergraduate medical education program to distance-learning owing to the COVID-19 pandemic
AU - du Plessis, Stefan S.
AU - Otaki, Farah
AU - Zaher, Shroque
AU - Zary, Nabil
AU - Inuwa, Ibrahim
AU - Lakhtakia, Ritu
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Stefan S Du Plessis, Farah Otaki, Shroque Zaher, Nabil Zary, Ibrahim Inuwa, Ritu Lakhtakia. Originally published in JMIR Medical Education (https://mededu.jmir.org), 23.07.2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Medical Education, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://mededu.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities worldwide to immediately transition to distance-learning. Although numerous studies have investigated the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on universities in the Middle East, none have reflected on the process through which medical education programs for health professions underwent this transition. This study aimed to elucidate the rapid transition to distance-learning of an undergraduate medical program at the College of Medicine, Mohammad Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. An action research approach constituted the foundation of this collaborative effort that involved investigations, reflections, and improvements of practice, through ongoing cycles of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Efforts of transitioning to distance-learning were grouped into four interrelated aspects: supporting faculty members in delivering the program content, managing curriculum changes, engaging with the students to facilitate distance-learning experiences, and conducting web-based assessments. Challenges included the high perceived uncertainty, need for making ad hoc decisions, lack of experiential learning and testing of clinical skills, and blurring of work-life boundaries. Our preliminary findings show the successful generation of a strong existing digital base, future prospects for innovation, and a cohesive team that was key to agility, rapid decision-making, and program implementation.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities worldwide to immediately transition to distance-learning. Although numerous studies have investigated the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on universities in the Middle East, none have reflected on the process through which medical education programs for health professions underwent this transition. This study aimed to elucidate the rapid transition to distance-learning of an undergraduate medical program at the College of Medicine, Mohammad Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. An action research approach constituted the foundation of this collaborative effort that involved investigations, reflections, and improvements of practice, through ongoing cycles of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Efforts of transitioning to distance-learning were grouped into four interrelated aspects: supporting faculty members in delivering the program content, managing curriculum changes, engaging with the students to facilitate distance-learning experiences, and conducting web-based assessments. Challenges included the high perceived uncertainty, need for making ad hoc decisions, lack of experiential learning and testing of clinical skills, and blurring of work-life boundaries. Our preliminary findings show the successful generation of a strong existing digital base, future prospects for innovation, and a cohesive team that was key to agility, rapid decision-making, and program implementation.
KW - Action research
KW - COVID-19
KW - Change management
KW - Curriculum content
KW - Curriculum delivery
KW - Distance-learning
KW - Learning
KW - Medical education
KW - Pandemic
KW - Teaching
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111301851&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85111301851&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2196/27010
DO - 10.2196/27010
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34227994
AN - SCOPUS:85111301851
SN - 2369-3762
VL - 7
JO - JMIR Medical Education
JF - JMIR Medical Education
IS - 3
M1 - e27010
ER -