Staff survey about the satisfaction with virtual and face-to-face teaching

Introduction The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the delivery of teaching with rapid transition from face-to-face (FTF) to virtual sessions. We surveyed staff about their satisfaction and challenges associated with this change, from both the presenter's and learner's perspectives, including the impact on less than full-time (LTFT) trainees. Design Online survey. Method Three online surveys were conducted amongst Obstetrics and Gynaecology doctors in a District General Hospital, including all doctors in the audience cohort and two subgroup surveys for LTFT trainees and presenters. Results The audience cohort (n = 13) reported variable satisfaction rates with FTF teaching pre-Covid. The satisfaction scores were highest amongst the registrars (3.4/5), as compared to SHOs (3/5) or consultants (2.7/5). Nearly half (46%) were very satisfied (score 4) overall. The main issue was difficulty attending the sessions (38%). After the first 10 virtual sessions were delivered, 54% of doctors attended 7-10 sessions, 23% attended 4-6 and 23% joined 1-3 sessions. Increased accessibility and improved consultant presence were identified as the positive aspects. The barriers were low familiarity with technology (31%), insufficient number of consultant-led sessions (8%), lack of social networking (8%) and absence of protected time (8%). The majority of responders reported better attendance virtually and all preferred online or combined learning. All LTFT trainees (n = 10) reported the existence of teaching sessions on their non-working days with 30% attending these most of the time, 50% sometimes and 20% rarely or never. Those unable to attend usually had other personal (n = 4) or academic (n = 2) commitments or did not consider the sessions useful (n = 1). Overall, 70% of LTFT trainees found virtual teaching beneficial and 40% accessed recorded meetings from home. When surveying the presenters (n = 9), only 44% found virtual presenting more enjoyable than FTF and 66% found it more challenging, mainly because of lesser interaction with the audience. The presenters preferred FTF (44%) or combined (33%) teaching. Most presenters (55%) preferred for the audience camera/microphone to be switched on. Conclusion Our surveys showed good attendance at virtual teaching and audience preference for this format. Accessibility was seen as the main advantage and many LTFT trainees value the opportunity to attend on nonworking days. Presenters found virtual teaching more challenging, with lower presenter satisfaction. pandemic has offered an opportunity to accelerate use of virtual learning and our initial surveys show this may be preferable with scope for further development.