The Quality of Online Education for Theoretical Courses of Audiology from the Perspective of Audiology Students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  
Background and Aim: The face-to-face education was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. In such situations, online education method was used. In this study, we aim to assess the quality of online education for theoretical courses of audiology from the perspective of audiology students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on 77 audiology students  of the School of Rehabilitation at TUMS. Data collection were a demographic form and two quality and satisfaction assessment questionnaires. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS version 17. 
Results: There was a significant difference in all subscales of Shourcheh questionnaire among students with different educational stages (p<0.05), but there was no significant difference between age (except for social solidarity component) and gender (p>0.05) groups. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test showed a statistically significant difference in the quality scores among students with different educational stages (p=0.033), but there was no significant difference between age (p=0.300) and gender (p=0.630) groups. 
Conclusion: The quality of online education for theoretical courses of audiology at TUMS is high from the perspective of PhD students, while it is low according to BSc and MSc students. 
Keywords: Audiology; virtual education; COVID-19; pandemic; students