Nursing students' and educators' experience with e‐learning during a pandemic: An online survey

BACKGROUND: Nursing students' and educators' experiences with e-learning during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are unknown in most countries. AIM: To (1) describe and compare Egyptian nursing students' and educators' experiences with e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) elicit participants' preferences for responding to online versus paper questionnaires. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional online survey of nursing students (undergraduate and postgraduate; n =580) and nursing educators (n = 95) in one faculty of nursing in Egypt. The survey assessed participants'characteristics, preferences for online versus paper surveys, and 11 dimensionsrelated to the e-learning experience, such as perceived competency, satisfaction, cognitive presence, and the preferred platforms for e-learning. RESULTS: About 91% of students and 80% of educators received either no or inadequate training on e-learning before the pandemic. Students' and educators' experiences significantly differed (p-value < 0.001) in most of the examined dimensions, with educators having better experiences. About 71% of the students and 76% of the educators preferred responding to online surveys. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT analysis) of e-learning were mapped. CONCLUSION: Students are in more need of training on e-learning than educators, and this training is a must before any attempt to undertake online exams. The online survey is a preferred methodology among Egyptian nursing educators and students. The provided SWOT analysis may help administrators best implement and support e-learning during infection outbreaks.