innovative e-learning methods in health sciences education, future directions after covid-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Background: universities were compelled to transition from in-person instruction to online instruction following the covid-19 pandemic. nevertheless, this transition has presented a plethora of obstacles, necessitating the development of innovative solutions to guarantee that all students have access to effective and inclusive learning experiences.objectives: we conducted a review investigating the innovative e-learning methods in health sciences education.methods: this study was designed as systematic review. we searched pubmed, scopus, eric, google scholar, and iran scientific database from start of the pandemic to september 2021. papers meeting our inclusion criteria were reviewed for data extraction. screening of articles, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment was done in double-blind groups. our primary objective was to provide a comprehensive overview of emerging e-learning methods and to assess their effectiveness using eleven commonly used metrics that are used to quantify the efficacy of online learning. as a secondary outcome, we employed kirkpatrick's four levels of learning to assess the quality of online learning.results: six thousand four hundred ninety two papers were identified, thirty records were included, the majority of studies reported (n= 25) a transition of previous methods to online formats. five studies described innovative methods. the included studies were classified as moderate to high risk of bias. in the study of success factors, the most ignored area was 'usage of suitable assignments' (37.5%), while 'optimal quality of media' emerged as the most consistently used component (67%). all studies assessed kirkpatrick's level 1, 76% had assessed level 2. none described kirkpatrick levels 3 or 4.conclusion: e-learning can be alternatively utilized for health education. future e-learning research should incorporate randomized designs and adhere to principles of kirkpatrick model, with a particular focus on levels 3 and 4, to develop more effective evidence-based systems.