Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges of virtual education during the pandemic from the perspective of students and the factors affecting their academic resilience.
Method: This research was a cross-sectional study conducted in the academic year 2021-2022. The samples included 425 Azad University, Rasht branch students, who were selected by stratified random method. The data collection tool included the Samuels Academic Resilience Questionnaire and questions about students' views on the challenges of virtual education. Data were analyzed with SPSS/ 24 software, and correlation tests, one-way ANOVA, and t-test.
Findings: The average score of students' academic resilience was 109.24±13.78. 59.2% of the studied medical students believed that the virtual education in the last semester led to their academic decline. The lack of proper technical support and the low speed of the internet and its frequent disconnection and connection were two important challenges from the users' point of view. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference in the average score of academic resilience based on age, gender, and marital status of students (P<0.05). A statistically significant correlation was observed between the academic performance of medical students and the academic resilience score (p=0.001).
Conclusion: Academic continuity plans, considered one of the main functions of resilience, are necessary to provide a comprehensive framework that allows an effective response to the crisis and continues academic activities with the least possible interruption. These include supporting to access and use of new technologies and undertaking new teaching modalities toward resilience building.