Instructor-Blinded Study of Pharmacy Student Learning When a Flipped Online Classroom Was Implemented during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

A multi-cohort instructor-blinded research study was completed at the School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo, to test the impact on study learning endpoints when an online flipped classroom teaching style was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. The learning endpoints were gain in factual knowledge and gain in self-confidence in clinical skills (assessing a patient, developing a care plan for a minor ailment, and implementing the care plan by counselling patients on the condition). Gain in factual knowledge was assessed with an instructor-blinded multiple-choice test administered before and after the course. Gain in self-confidence in clinical skills was assessed with a survey asking students to report their self-confidence in completing 10 clinical tasks on a 5-item Likert scale. Students being taught in an online flipped classroom cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic trended toward having a higher gain in self-confidence throughout the course but a lower gain in factual knowledge when compared with a traditional classroom cohort in the previous year.

A SWOT Analysis of Pharmacy Students’ Perspectives on e-Learning Based on a Narrative Review

“…Some pharmacy students classified e-learning as not effective or helpful [ 8 , 13 , 21 , 39 , 43 , 57 ], which confirms that online education can present some constraints/limitations. For instance, less knowledge acquisition was reported with e-learning in comparison to in-person sessions in some studies [ 11 , 12 ].…”

“…Globally, 39 papers and 1 report were selected: PubMed (n = 33) [ 10 , 13 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ], SciELO (n = 1) [ 52 ], Google Scholar (n = 6) [ 8 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ], and sites of known international organizations (n = 1) [ 3 ].…”

“…The selected publications were classified as follows: 7 reviews [ 8 , 13 , 23 , 41 , 43 , 52 , 53 ]; 31 original research publications [ 10 , 21 , 22 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 55 , 56 , 57 ]; 1 commentary [ 47 ]; 1 case study [ 54 ]; 1 report [ 3 ].…”

“…In general, pharmacy students declared improved feelings, such as self-confidence, acceptance, engagement, satisfaction, motivation (e.g., hedonic motivation), intellectual development, and security in relation to patient interactions (e.g., virtual patients) or a positive general perception about online education [ 8 , 13 , 21 , 39 , 43 , 57 ]. Students declared being satisfied with the possibility of applying previous computer or other technological skills (e.g., “I have satisfactory computer skills for dealing with online course/assignments”) [ 48 ], and students recognized the usefulness of e-learning (e.g., “My attention to the class tasks during e-learning session was greater in comparison to the traditional face-to-face class meetings”) [ 24 ].…”

“…There was an eventual degradation of the quality of education, with some students declaring being unsatisfied and less motivated. For instance, students’ acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies was negatively affected in some studies (e.g., practical and laboratorial classes) [ 39 , 53 , 55 ]. In general, the provision of lab classes was recognized as more difficult/complex online than in-person, although some strategies can be adopted, such as the use of recorded videos to demonstrate key practices, submission of videos, role-plays, or using the MyDispense software [ 23 , 27 ].…”