A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ONLINE AND OFFLINE METHODS TEACHING CHEMISTRY IN A MEDICAL SCHOOL

Abstract

Higher medical education has never been distant or implemented online. The years of pandemic have changed the situation. Online lessons become more common even in medical schools. Our purpose was to find out the advantages and disadvantages of online and offline studying methods from students' points of view. We had a unique opportunity to compare online and offline education through the eyes of students who studied in their first year online for the first half of the semester, and offline for the second half of the semester. These students could compare the pros and cons of these learning formats when studying chemistry. The survey was designed to collect information to compare the online teaching and offline teaching of chemistry for medical students. Since different teaching and learning methods were compared by the same people, the contribution of subjectivity in the comparison was reduced. The results of questionnaire answers of students from Kazakhstan were analyzed and compared with other studies' results made all around the world. In this research, the authors believe that feedback from students can help develop and use more accessible and modern ways of teaching as well as ways to improve the quality of education for medical students.