Perceptions of undergraduate students of allied health sciences program toward online assessments

Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic changed the pattern of learning from regular face-to-face classes to entirely digital and virtual learning. Assessments also had to be, and were, conducted online. Hence, we thought of assessing the level of satisfaction toward this mode of assessment among the allied health students in our institute. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the level of satisfaction and usefulness with the online practical and theory assessments among different phases of allied health sciences students belonging to different programs. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was prepared after discussions among faculty members of the medical education department, appropriately validated and administered as Google Forms to the participants. Consecutive sampling technique was followed. Of the total 59 participants, 31 belonged to BSc Optometry and 28 belonged to BSc. Medical laboratory technology (MLT) courses. Results: The mean ± standard deviation (SD) of satisfaction of online theory/ practical assessments among the students of BSc. MLT was 5.893 ± 2.097 and BSc. Optometry was 6.194 ± 2.227. Usefulness of online theory/ practical assessments in testing knowledge and practical skills of BSc. MLT was 5.607 ± 2.061 and BSc. Optometry was 6.419 ± 2.363. Both of these were not found to be statistically significant. The median (Q1–Q3) of usefulness of online assessment in testing practical skills of students among the four phases was 5(2–6), 3(2–3), 2(2–6) and 3(3–5) and was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: Most of the students felt that online assessments were useful only for theory examinations and that this modality was unsuitable to test practical skills.