Background and Aim: Students' learning during their studies is one of the most important educational goals in any university. With the spread of the corona pandemic, universities were forced to change traditional methods and turn to virtual education. However, the new methods were not investigated as they should be; therefore, this study was conducted to compare the learning efficiency of students in virtual and face-to-face education during the outbreak of the corona pandemic in the faculties of health and paramedicine of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences.

  Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 210 students with different fields via convenient sampling. To collect data, a two-part questionnaire was used: demographic information including nine questions and a standard learning efficiency questionnaire consisting of 45 questions. After collecting the data, they were entered into SPSS version22 and analyzed using appropriate statistical tests.

  Results: The average scores of learning efficiency in face-to-face and virtual training were 165.96 ± 32.07 and 104.79 ± 25.39, respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference between the two training methods (p=0.000). According to the Wilcoxon test, the total score of learning efficiency and each component in the questionnaire were significant and higher in the face-to-face training group than the virtual training (p<0.05).

  Conclusion: In this study, students in face-to-face training group had higher learning efficiency. Thus, the virtual training method should be mixed and blended with the face-to face learning as the compliment to enhance efficiency in future programs. 

  Keywords: Education, Virtual education, Face-to-face education, Learning efficiency, Corona pandemic