Iranian Journal of Medical Education

Introduction: Universities have also used online courses as a tool to establish lifelong learning among students. Lifelong learning has become part of the way of life due to the dynamic nature of modern society. The community's demand for lifelong learning will be supported by the growth of online learning courses. Universities can reduce the cost of education providers by developing distance learning and e-learning programs.

Methods: This qualitative study is the conventional content analysis. Medical and nursing students formed the population. Sampling was purposeful and with maximum variability. Data were collected using semi-structured individual interviews. The interview begins with general questions, and deeper questions were gradually posed in line with the research objectives.

Results: After conducting interviews, 324 initial codes were retrieved. The themes and sub-themes are as follows:1) Perceived benefits (strengths and advantages of e-learning, and opportunities of virtual learning program), 2) Perceived weaknesses, (problems and shortcomings of the program in various dimensions, and fundamental threats of the program), and 3) Strategies to overcome obstacles and threats (infrastructure solutions and management solutions).

Conclusion: Considering that virtual education received serious attention with the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, there are some shortcomings in this regard. Utilizing the results of the benefits and opportunities of virtual education can provide a good platform to improve the quality of this type of education. Besides, by looking at the obstacles and threats extracted in this study, plans can be made to solve the problems and challenges of virtual education.