Assessing Student Perceptions of Blended and Online Learning Courses in Pharmacoeconomics, Management, and Leadership

Abstract

Objective: Blended learning combines traditional face-to-face education with online instruction. This learner-centered approach has been shown to improve student engagement, critical thinking, and performance outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess and trend student pharmacist perceptions of blended and online learning used to teach pharmacy management, leadership, and economics within a Pharm.D. curriculum. Methods: Qualitative methods were employed using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Second-and third-year student pharmacists were recruited by purposeful and snowball sampling and interviewed to a point of saturation. The interview guide was based on social cognitive theory (SCT). Themes identified through initial deductive thematic analysis were categorized by the three domains of SCT: cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors. The coding team additionally analyzed the transcripts using inductive thematic analysis to ensure no themes outside of SCT were missed. Results: Twenty students were interviewed. Themes reveal perceptions that blended learning facilitated greater understanding of course material, increased motivation among learners, provided more flexibility in workload completion, and was a more enjoyable way to learn compared to traditional, didactic instruction. Furthermore, blended learning offered additional distinct advantages over traditional and online-only pedagogies. Conclusion: Student pharmacists perceive blended and online learning positively and acceptable for the delivery of a pharmacy course on management, leadership, and economics over traditional didactic instruction. Blended learning may enhance innovation, leadership, management, and economics content delivery and the student learning experience.

Evaluating Sustainable Online Education: A Cross-Disciplinary Analysis of IT Device Utilization among Slovakian and Hungarian University Students

“…Overall, however, only 25% of them would completely stop online education, while others would continue to use the opportunities offered by online education, either in full or in a hybrid method. Frederick et al [32] obtained the same result. It is clear from their studies that during both online and hybrid education, young people considered flexibility, autonomy and the diversity of curriculum as positives.…”

“…The easier accessibility of learning materials was evaluated as a positive aspect, while Slovak students also prefer remote exams. The time and cost savings from the absence of travel, flexible schedules, and home comfort, which are mentioned in the literature as essential positives [4,24,25,28,[31][32][33][34], were not mentioned as decisive factors for the students surveyed in this study. Even though the digital generation's use of IT devices and the Internet has recently increased, regardless of the pandemic, university students still use the materials and literature provided or recommended by the lecturer and do not take the trouble to search and develop literature on the subject themselves.…”

Pharmacy students’ perceptions and attitudes toward face-to-face vs. virtual team-based learning (TBL) in the didactic curriculum: A mixed-methods study

“…Similarly, Ahmed et al (2021) found that while some students showed interest in online learning, most preferred traditional FTF lectures [ 33 ]. On the other hand, a recent study by Frederick et al (2023) demonstrated that pharmacy students perceived blended learning positively for delivering a pharmacy course on management, leadership, and economics compared to FTF learning [ 34 ]. Bączek et al (2020) did not find a difference between medical students’ opinions toward FTF and online learning in terms of increasing knowledge [ 35 ].…”

Exploring the Three-Stage Blended Learning Model and Its Effectiveness in Teacher Training Programs

“…Blended learning has several advantages for both teachers and students. Teachers can facilitate students' independent learning [4], and they can also foster students' critical thinking in solving real world problems [5] Blended learning can also enhance students' engagement in the classroom through lively interactions [6,7]. In higher education, blended learning model not only improve students' knowledge and skills acquisition, but also saving educational cost [8,9].…”