Medical Staff Members' Experiences with Blackboard at Taif University, Saudi Arabia

The coronavirus COVID-19 has had very serious impacts on many aspects of people's lives worldwide, including the negative effect on the educational system that disturbed the normal functions of medical faculties. Understanding the experiences of medical faculty members will help to better prepare for making improvements in similar future crises. Moreover, to our extended knowledge, there is no study on e-learning in the field of medical university education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how online learning was applied at Taif University after the total transformation from traditional education to Blackboard during the COVID-19 crisis and how it can be improved.

The study used a descriptive qualitative study design. Staff from four medical colleges at Taif University, Saudi Arabia were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. Eight Saudi lecturers participated, and data were analysed using thematic analysis.

This study revealed four themes: Blackboard is professionally well designed; obstacles to the use of Blackboard; the need for Blackboard training; and student behavior through Blackboard.

The use of the Blackboard has its advantages and disadvantages, and the education sector needs to do more research to find out that issues and work to improve it.