A ray of sunshine in the COVID-19 environment, with a virtual sunburst elective

Abstract

Traditionally there has always been a one-month elective opportunity for third-year medical students at the Univesity of Pretoria, South Africa. In pre-pandemic years, students have used this elective to explore a future area of specialisation and/or gain practical experience at a self-selected suitable health facility or placement. The completion mark for the elective was based on the submission of a student-generated reflective report about their experience. This practice was, however, severely challenged in the prevailing COVID‑19 pandemic with movement restrictions and concerns about transmission. Therefore, a decision was made and supported by the Deanery to explore the possibility of a virtual self-paced online elective for 300 medical students. Of note here is that not only were these students adjusting to lecture-led online-synchronised classes, but they also had never before been exposed to online learning in the form of massive open online courses (MOOCs) as part of their formal qualification.