lessons learned from virtual education during covid-19: experience of online exams in hormozgan university of medical sciences

Background: the epidemic of coronavirus (covid-19) had several consequences. one of the sectors that were severely affected by this crisis was education, which led to a change in the face-to-face approach to virtual. in this new mode, there are advantages such as access to educational content from anywhere and anywhere, creating virtual discussions and groups, and holding virtual exams. but this change also posed challenges for educational institutions and universities. in this regard, the use of experiences and the transfer of lessons learned during this period to promote virtual education in universities of medical sciences is necessary. accordingly, the purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of hormozgan university of medical sciences (hums) regarding the challenges and practical strategies for online exams.method: in this qualitative study with the purposive sampling method, semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2021 with 10 experts and faculty members involved in the virtual education center of hums with more than 3 years of work experience. sampling was continued until data saturation was reached. the obtained information was analyzed by content analysis and coding method including three steps (open, axial and selective).results: identified topics related to the benefits of e-exams included the ability to monitor question design, facilitate test analysis and reporting, speed up calculation and announcement of test results, reduce computational error and easier handling of objections, easier access to the question bank, the positive impact of feedback, and reduced costs. the extracted challenges also include the main categories 1) pre-exam phase with sub-categories of exam tools, standard question design, infrastructure and exams implementation planning 2) during the exams time with sub-categories of exams security, immoral behaviors and fraud, infrastructure, users inadequate readiness, stress and strain, evaluation of the process of holding and support during the exams and 3) post-exam phase with the sub-categories of feedback management, open-questions analysis, and question bank limitations. finally, some of the suggested practical strategies consist of developing clear in-university guidelines, developing practical standards in the virtual evaluation process, strengthening the monitoring team, auditing student behaviors and user activity tracking during the test, access to appropriate bandwidth and internet, creating virtual students groups to receive experiences and closely communicate with them as well as utilizing students' capacity for the support process and improving technical skills.conclusion: it is hoped that by purposefully using the experiences from all universities along with using more creativity and innovation and strengthening the structure and technologies, we will see the growing development of standard virtual education and evaluation systems in the country. also, after the end of the epidemic, to be used these types of methods as a complement to the in-person programs.