Background: With the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, most schools and universities worldwide were forced to cancel their face-to-face activities and switch to e-learning and online education. This study aimed to investigate students' satisfaction with virtual education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Materials and Methods: The present study is a systematic review of Persian and English articles extracted from Persian (SID, Magiran, and CIVILICA); and English databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE) up to November 2021 using the related Mesh keywords.
Results: The students’ satisfaction with virtual education during the COVID-19 pandemic across worldwide studies ranged from 26.4% (Jordan) to 82% (Saudi Arabia). The highest satisfaction was related to students from Saudi Arabia, Poland, and South Korea, and the lowest satisfaction was related to students from Jordan, Iran, and the USA. According to respondents’ answers, the main advantages of online learning were the ability to stay home, continuous access to online materials, learning at one’s own pace, and comfortable surroundings. The results showed that the quality of e-learning was mainly derived from service quality with administrative, technical, and learning assistance through tutors and the library, teachers’ active role in the process of online education with their responsiveness and timely feedback, and the overall system quality with the mode of delivery and IT infrastructure.
Conclusion: Satisfaction with the quality of virtual education varied in different countries from 26.4 to 82%. Online learning is essential in current times but is not an effective alternative for all college students. The blended method that combines face-to-face classes and practical sessions with online learning can be a practical suggestion.