DISTANCE EDUCATION DURING THE WAR VS. COVID-19 LOCKDOWN: COMPARING OF FOREIGN STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN STUDDING OF MEDICAL INFORMATICS IN TNMU
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11603/m.2414-5998.2026.2.16449Keywords:
medical education; war threats; COVID Lockdown; Distance Education; comparative analysis; Medical Informatics; students’ performanceAbstract
The article outlines the current challenges facing the medical education system of Ukraine and describes the process of developing and implementing distance learning components in the educational process of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University (TNMU). It presents the key elements involved in organizing a full-scale distance educational process at TNMU during the COVID-19 lockdown and after the onset of the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine by the russian federation in 2022.
The aim of the study was to present the results of a comparative analysis of the academic performance of international students while studying Medical Informatics using distance learning technologies during the COVID-19 lockdown and after the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.
Materials and methods. The paper highlights the specific features of distance teaching in the course “Medical Informatics and Biostatistics” at TNMU. It summarizes the experience gained during the two most recent periods of complete transition to distance learning. Data are provided for a comparative analysis of academic performance in the course “Medical Informatics and Biostatistics” among 184 international students in the 2019/20 academic year and 330 international students in the 2021/22 academic year, during both face-to-face and distance learning periods.
Results. The findings were visualized graphically and statistically confirmed (p << 0.05) using nonparametric hypothesis-testing methods, demonstrating the presence of a significant difference in student academic performance after the transition to a fully distance learning format. It is substantiated that the continuous use of distance education components in the educational process at TNMU since 2019, the introduction of synchronous real-time online communication via MS Teams since 2020, together with a safe educational environment, contributed to better learning outcomes among international students in the 2021/22 academic year under distance learning conditions, compared with the period of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2019/20.
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