An Active-Learning Strategies Primer for Achieving Ability-Based Educational Outcomes

Objectives. To evaluate hospital and outpatient pharmacists' pharmacogenomics knowledge before and 2 months after participating in a targeted, case-based pharmacogenomics continuing education program. Design. As part of a continuing education program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), pharmacists were provided with a fundamental pharmacogenomics education program.Evaluation. An 11-question, multiple-choice, electronic survey instrument was distributed to 272 eligible pharmacists at a single campus of a large, academic healthcare system. Pharmacists improved their pharmacogenomics test scores by 0.7 questions (pretest average 46%; posttest average 53%, p50.0003). Conclusions. Although pharmacists demonstrated improvement, overall retention of educational goals and objectives was marginal. These results suggest that the complex topic of pharmacogenomics requires a large educational effort in order to increase pharmacists' knowledge and comfort level with this emerging therapeutic opportunity.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Evaluation of a Pharmacogenomics Educational Program for Pharmacists

Formea

Nicholson

McCullough

et al. 2013

“…[10][11][12] In the pharmacy academy, active-learning strategies are recognized as important to achieving educational outcomes and, therefore, widely adopted in professional programs. [13][14][15] However, the use of active-learning strategies is not uniformly distributed. Faculty members in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences are 3 times less likely than faculty members in the clinical and social and administrative sciences to use these techniques.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning Strategy Enhances Students’ Higher Level Thinking Skills in a Pharmaceutical Sciences Course

Soltis

Verlinden

Kruger

et al. 2015

Objective. To determine if the process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) teaching strategy improves student performance and engages higher-level thinking skills of first-year pharmacy students in an Introduction to Pharmaceutical Sciences course. Design. Overall examination scores and scores on questions categorized as requiring either higherlevel or lower-level thinking skills were compared in the same course taught over 3 years using traditional lecture methods vs the POGIL strategy. Student perceptions of the latter teaching strategy were also evaluated. Assessment. Overall mean examination scores increased significantly when POGIL was implemented. Performance on questions requiring higher-level thinking skills was significantly higher, whereas performance on questions requiring lower-level thinking skills was unchanged when the POGIL strategy was used. Student feedback on use of this teaching strategy was positive. Conclusion. The use of the POGIL strategy increased student overall performance on examinations, improved higher-level thinking skills, and provided an interactive class setting.Keywords: POGIL, active learning, process skills, instructional assessment INTRODUCTIONDeveloping students' critical-thinking and problemsolving skills is an educational goal common to perhaps every academic program or discipline. Critical to achieving this goal is the use of teaching and learning strategies that engage students and promote development of the process skills of application, analysis, and evaluation. Yet, despite a growing body of evidence demonstrating the efficacy and superiority of active-learning strategies and national reports calling for the adoption of these methods, 1-4 instructional strategies in science and math disciplines tend to be passive, leading to student disengagement and contributing to the "leaky pipeline" of science. [5][6][7][8][9] The reasons science faculty members give for being reluctant to adopt active-learning strategies include the significant amount of time needed to prepare materials, the reluctance to reduce the amount of material covered, and the perception that students are unwilling to engage in or prepare for these types of classroom activities. [10][11][12] In the pharmacy academy, active-learning strategies are recognized as important to achieving educational outcomes and, therefore, widely adopted in professional programs. [13][14][15] However, the use of active-learning strategies is not uniformly distributed. Faculty members in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences are 3 times less likely than faculty members in the clinical and social and administrative sciences to use these techniques. 15 Process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) is a teaching strategy that was initially developed in college chemistry and biology courses and is used successfully to engage students in the classroom and to promote learning. [16][17][18][19][20] The POGIL strategy begins with introducing students to a model, diagram, problem, or set of data and then requires them to ...

“…Active-learning components documented in the literature include use of an audience-response system, small-group discussions, and team-based learning. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Although many of these studies involve undergraduate nonpharmacy courses, the theories related to teaching and learning presented therein were used in the redesign of this selfcare course.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Redesign of a Large Lecture Course Into a Small-Group Learning Course

Ferreri

O’Connor

2013

208

146

Objective. To describe the redesign of a large self-care course previously delivered in a traditional lecture format to a small-group case-based course. Design. Prereadings and study guides were used to facilitate students' independent learning prior to class. Large lecture classes were replaced with smaller group-based learning classes. This change in delivery format allowed students to spend the majority of class time conducting small-group learning activities, such as case studies to promote communication, problem solving, and interpersonal skills. Assessment. Changes in course delivery were assessed over a 2-year period by comparing students' grades and satisfaction ratings on course evaluations. A comparison of course evaluations between the class formats revealed that students were provided more opportunities to develop verbal communication skills and tackle and resolve unfamiliar problems in the revised course. The activities resulted in better overall course grades. Conclusions. Redesigning to a small-group discussion format for a self-care course can be accomplished by increasing student accountability for acquiring factual content outside the classroom. Compared with student experiences in the previous large lecture-based class, students in the smaller-class format reported a preference for working in teams and achieved significantly better academic grades with the new course format.