Redesigning a Pharmacology Course to Promote Active Learning

Abstract

Objective. To redesign a Pharmacology course to incorporate active learning sessions and explore commonly perceived barriers to implementing active learning.Methods. Upon redesign, the course met for 50 minutes 2X/week with all students in lecture and then students were divided into 1 of 3 50 minute recitations/week where they applied course concepts to cases, problems and situations. Previous iterations met 2X/week for 75 minute sessions. Data is presented from the 2 years before the redesign and 2 years after it.Results. The average course grade increased 2.5% after the redesign with a Cohen d of 0.4. Average student evaluations of the course and instructor increased around 0.3 points on a 5 point scale.Conclusion. The outcomes from this redesign indicate that student knowledge and performance increased with the altered course delivery format. This work can serve as a blueprint into how to convert a lecture only course into a hybrid lecture recitation model.

Improving Learning Achievement on Family Medicine Topic by Increasing Learning Activity for Medical Students

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“…Some examples of active learning in the medical context are making presentations in the form of poems, songs, and stories [8]. Lecturers can also have discussions outside the classroom [11] or create small group discussions [12] or provide Problem-Based Learning to students [13].…”

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“…However, there is likely advantages to using computers in courses that are not lecture based. For example, in the author's other courses, 16,18 students often require computers to access information to help them complete the case or problem they are exploring, and that teaching method leads to increased student performance. 16 There are limitations to this study.…”

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