Aim: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, educational systems all over the world faced the challenge of an abrupt switch from traditional to virtual classroom; undergraduate medical teaching has been one of the most affected area. There are some qualitative differences between teaching face-to-face and teaching online, and these are easily understandable to both the teacher and the learner. The current paper explores the views of teachers and bachelor of medicine and surgery (MBBS) students at a non-Government Medical College of Bangladesh, regarding their experience in online classes during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Methods: All teachers and MBBS students of Chattagram International Medical College who were involved in online teaching-learning activities from June 2020 to November 2020 and gave informed written consent, were included in this study. It was a cross-sectional study, and a pre-tested questionnaire in Google form was used for data collection. This study was approved by the institutional review board of Chattagram International Medical College (CIMC/IRB/02/20-4 and CIMC/IRB/03/20-6).

Results: Among all participants, 85% of teachers and 87% of students responded to the study. Among the students, 20% never felt interest in the online class. Remarkably, 58% of teachers and 74% of students never felt online class as a substitute for a face-to-face class.

Conclusion: The current study found similarities with other studies in terms of a lack of appropriate interaction in the classroom, a lower effectiveness of online classes for clinical students, a lack of preparedness among teachers, and a refusal to accept online classes as a complete replacement for face-to-face classes.

Keywords: Medical education in COVID pandemic, online class, students’ views, teachers’ views