importance of infrastructure and learners readiness for administration of e-learning in undergraduate medical education

background: a combination of teaching modalities instead of a single method may enhance learning. the purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of integrating e-learning modules into the syllabi of clinical contents from different clinical majors at different levels. methods: a total of 108 undergraduate students enrolled from various clinical majors, and participated via using sub-syllabi from gynaecology courses in classroom-based sessions and e-learning modules. all students were proposed to attend pre- and post-test sessions in addition to training. prior to being admitted to the study, all participants filled out a questionnaire regarding their attitude toward, and desire to participate in, e-learning. results: mean exam grades increased significantly in 3 items including abnormal uterine bleeding (from 1.28± 1.11 pretest to 2.3± 1.11 post-test), breast masses and malignancies (from 2.61± 1.3 pretest to 3.9± 1.11 post-test) and gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (from 1.12± 1.04 pre-test to 3.58± 0.76 post-test).  discussion: the results dramatically demonstrated that access to suitable infrastructure and students’ readiness are crucial perquisites for e-learning and without them, lack of collaboration and engagement of the learners significantly diminish effectiveness and usability of the learning material, despite high quality content provided within suitable environment.