Implementation and lessons learned from a mock trial as a teaching-learning and assessment activity

Feasibility of virtual mock trials as a parallel teaching-assessment activity for student pharmacists at two American pharmacy programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

“…Therefore, a recommendation for future VMTs is to incorporate IT support to enhance students' experiences. Nonetheless, the VMT was implemented smoothly following the process that the authors laid out in advance (Rosenberg et al, 2018). This is due to the continuing collaborative relationship among faculty from both programmes and the extensive prior experience of implementing mock trials for four years.…”

“…The Mock Trial Project (MTP), a previously validated teaching-assessment process (Rosenberg et al, 2018) was implemented in 2020 as a Virtual Mock Trial (VMT) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the VMTs, pharmacy students debated controversial issues in healthcare, pharmacy practice and/or pharmacotherapy in a courtroom style format.…”

“…During the VMTs, pharmacy students debated controversial issues in healthcare, pharmacy practice and/or pharmacotherapy in a courtroom style format. Throughout the semester, student-teams researched assigned trial topics, identified best evidence to develop trial arguments supporting their respective positions, and debated in a mock trial (Rosenberg et al, 2018). Following the stay-at-home orders, the mock trials took place virtually on 13 th April Trial procedure for the VMT replicated the previously described trial procedure in the classroom with no modification (Figure 1) (Rosenberg et al, 2018 Three witnesses testified for each side; the decision to use experts or lay witnesses was left to students on trialteams.…”

“…Throughout the semester, student-teams researched assigned trial topics, identified best evidence to develop trial arguments supporting their respective positions, and debated in a mock trial (Rosenberg et al, 2018). Following the stay-at-home orders, the mock trials took place virtually on 13 th April Trial procedure for the VMT replicated the previously described trial procedure in the classroom with no modification (Figure 1) (Rosenberg et al, 2018 Three witnesses testified for each side; the decision to use experts or lay witnesses was left to students on trialteams. Student-teams also strategised whether an actual expert would testify in the respective witness-roles, or alternatively, whether a student on the team would roleplay the part of an expert or lay witness.…”

“…Often employed in legal (Kravetz, 2001) and political science education (Bengtson & Sifferd, 2010), mock trials have been adopted in other educational contexts such as medicine (Gilber et al, 2003), nursing (March et al, 2011;Troxel, 2012), and physical therapy (Heiss & Basso, 2003). A pharmacy programme on the West Coast of the United States (Programme B) implemented a mock trial project, subsequently expanding the project to include a second pharmacy programme on the East Coast (Programme A) (Rosenberg et al, 2018). To the authors knowledge, mock trials in pharmacy education have not previously been implemented virtually.…”