Learning and virtuality in medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic: students' interpretations of a fully online course at a public university in northeastern Argentina

Abstract

The emergency remote teaching imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 forced medical programs to reorganize training proposals designed primarily for in-person clinical instruction. This article presents the main results of a qualitative research study that aimed to characterize the didactic-curricular context of the virtual delivery of the medical program at the National University of the Northeast (UNNE) during 2021 and to analyze students' interpretations of their learning processes within that context. The study, based on Grounded Theory, used the 2021 cohort of the Pediatrics I course as a case study and integrated three sources: analysis of curricular documents (syllabus, program, and virtual planning), evaluation of classroom quality, and semi-structured interviews with students. The findings show a positive assessment of resource availability, the ability to self-regulate study time, and teacher feedback in Moodle classrooms, but also reveal tensions related to the digital divide, reduced clinical interaction with real or simulated patients, and an overload of asynchronous activities. It is concluded that the emergency shift to online learning reconfigured the student's role toward more autonomous and metacognitive participation, but it does not replace in-person clinical practice. Therefore, it is proposed to move toward blended learning models that preserve the benefits of online learning without sacrificing the practical component.