Research Article

Nursing Instructors’ and Students’ Experiences of Transition from Face-to-Face Education to Virtual Education during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Table 1

The subcategories, subthemes, and main themes of nursing instructors’ and students’ experiences of virtual education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ThemesSubthemesSubcategories

VE as a double-edged swordVE as a threatBoring and nonattractive virtual education
Challenges and problems of virtual education
Students’ and instructors’ limited commitment to virtual education
Instructors’ limited control over the process of virtual education
Reduced quality of learning in virtual education
VE as an opportunityContinuation of education in a safe environment
Enjoyment education without serious limitations and coercion
Possibility to attend different webinars without serious limitations
Necessity to improve VEPlanning and revising at the macrolevel
Empowerment of instructors and students
Improvement of instructors’ and students’ commitment to education

Weaknesses in clinical educationReduced quality of clinical educationStudents’ poor clinical skills due to nonattendance in hospital settings
High risk of affliction by COVID-19 in clinical education
Provision of clinical education through theoretical courses
Clinical education in inappropriate and irrelevant wards
Necessity to compensate for students’ retarded clinical learningContinuation of face-to-face education through adherence to COVID-19 prevention protocols
Using complementary educational methods

Reduced effectiveness of virtual student evaluationCheating as a problem of virtual evaluationCheating through different methods
The high probability of copying assignments from each other
Stresses and tensions of virtual evaluationStress over the disconnection of the internet or the problems of the virtual evaluation system during exams
Inadequate time to answer questions
Arbitrary evaluation by instructors
Necessity to use new strategies in virtual evaluationFlexibility in evaluation
Formative evaluation throughout the semester
Giving assignments and class projects