VIRTUAL PLATFORM FOR NURSING EDUCATION DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN IN NEPAL: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Since the beginning of Lockdown on March of 2020 to combat COVID-19 Pandemic, virtual learning (online classes) has been blooming in Nepal. Nursing education has also gone online. This study was done to assess the challenges and opportunities of virtual learning among the nursing students and teachers of Pokhara University (Nepal) who were involved in virtual learning. A cross sectional descriptive study was done and total enumerative sampling (non response rate of 10%) was used to select the samples. Self administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data was collected via google forms. Descriptive statistics like frequency and percentage was used to analyze the data by using SPSS version 20. The mean age of respondents was 22.78 and majority were students, married and from urban area. 86.2% of respondents used wifi for internet access. Only 8.8% of the respondents strongly agreed that virtual learning was an excellent opportunity and promotes self learning (54.1%). Very few respondents (6.1%) disagreed that flexible times and only 1.1% strongly disagreed working from the home setting being an added advantage. Majority of them responded that virtual learning is not comfortable and quality of discussion are not satisfactory(37.6%). Majority of the respondents agreed that virtual learning is difficult to concentrate and communicate (21% strongly agreed and 37.6% agreed). There were respondents who did not have enough skill to use the technology (32% ). Unreliable and unstable connection was a major challenge. Majority preferred real classroom to virtual learning. Learning practical subjects also was a major challenge in virtual learning. This study recommends that the practical/clinical aspects of nursing education has to be addressed properly by developing softwares that could help students to learn nursing skills as well. Also, making teachers and students comfortable with technology by giving trainings, and keeping their morale high is very important to ensure effective virtual learning.