Online Clinical Teaching and Learning for Medical Undergraduates during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Experience

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced medical universities in Malaysia to switch from face-to-face teaching to online teaching and learning (T&L).This new learning paradigm requires students' selfmotivation to learn in front of a computer, good access to the internet especially for those in rural areas and greater lecturers' commitment to upload learning material into the e-learning platform as well as spending more time online for synchronous teaching.Also, adjustments have to be made in the form of teaching activities, semester examinations, and final examination timetables.The online T&L and assignments are designed to ensure that students achieve the learning outcomes for each respective course.Concerns regarding online assessment methods include efficiency and accountability, and they must be at par if not more stringent than usual examination methods.Any changes in the assessment methods have to go through review and quality assurance procedures and ultimately be approved by the university's senate and must be in full compliance with the directives and guidelines issued by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) and Malaysian Medical Council (MMC).Being in the medical field where competency is of utmost importance, practical learning with real patients is still the best way of learning and is difficult to be replaced by online learning.