Background: The educational system has been extremely affected by COVID-19 pandemic;
it forced the shutdown of the institutions of higher education, which adversely affected student,
teaching and learning across the world. Aim: determine gerontological nursing students' perception
and stress of online learning during COVID-19 pandemic. Design: A cross-sectional study was
utilized. Setting: Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University, Egypt. Subjects: All undergraduate
fourth level students registered in gerontological nursing course in the 2nd semester during the
academic year 2020/ 2021. Tools: The researchers developed an electronic self-administered
questionnaire that conducted on the Google Forms platform it composed of three tools; Nursing
Students' Demographic Data and Academic Performance Structured Questionnaire, Nursing
Students' perception towards online learning and, Perceived Stress Scale. Results: Regarding
students experience with online learning 59.6% had previous experience, 74.7% use smart phones
and 57.7% were satisfied of online learning. 78% reported that online learning should be continued
during this pandemic. In addition, a strong negative correlation was found between online learning
perception and academic stress among the studied students. Conclusion: More than half of
gerontological nursing students had moderate level of stress and positive perception towards online
learning. Level of stress and perception towards online learning may depend on several factors
including, sex, GPA, father and mother's education level, and family income. Recommendations:
Training programs should be conducted to nursing students about using online learning platforms to
improve their self-confidence in using it.