Reflection of connectivism in medical education and learning motivation during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected the global healthcare and economy but threatened the world of education altogether. Malaysia is not spared from this pandemic as all universities were forced to close and initiate online learning with the implementation of Movement Control Order since mid-March 2020.The abrupt shift from conventional medical education to fully virtual learning definitely deserves a reflection on how it affects the learning motivation among medical students. Hence, this is the first study that compares the effect of digital learning on learning motivation among medical students in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A modified Students Motivation towards Science Learning (SMTSL) was used to assess the learning motivation of UKM medical students throughout Year 1-5. The number of students that use digital learning during COVID-19 is significantly higher compared to before COVID-19 (p<0.05). However, there is no significant difference (p=0.872) in learning motivation among medical students before and during COVID-19 crisis. Higher frequency in digital learning usage frequency does not exert a great impact on learning motivation. Reflections from each participant were collated to justify the current situation. This could be due to motivation coming from the very choice to pursue medicine as a doctor, which is mainly influenced by intrinsic motivation, and ability to adapt in difficult situations. Thus, medical educators should be creative in enhancing extrinsic motivation by making use of digital learning as a platform so that medical students are able to independently fish for information in the vast pool of digital information and apply in actual medical practice in the future for life-long learning.