The Use of a Web-based Application in an Integrated Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry Course

The Use of a Web-based Application in an Integrated Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry Course

Grant:
Gilbert Whitaker Fund for the Improvement of Teaching
Academic Year:
2015 - 2016 (June 1, 2015 through May 31, 2016)
Funding Requested:
$10,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
mbeleh
Overview of the Project:
A new course series introduced in 2011 at the College of Pharmacy integrates the pharmacology and medicinal chemistry courses, aligns topics with the therapeutics series and provides struggling students with in-class remediation. Assessment data show that the integration process is a success, however a few problems linger; a perceived heavy workload, students viewing the content as separate courses and having difficulty correlating the material to clinical applications and the lack of tools to further aid the remediation process. A new web-based application to address some of these concerns is the focus of this project. This application is based on an online textbook integrating the course content from both disciplines for each section of a topic. The online textbook will use an interactive learning environment, with a split screen; the first provides the information as text with links that are projected as interactive animations and media into the second window. Clinical case studies designed in a hierarchical model that allows students to review and modify their decisions based on outcomes will be included. The final component of the application are remedial tools tailored specifically for struggling students to help them address knowledge deficiencies. These tools allow students to pick their own learning path and provide an assessment at the end of each path for immediate feedback. The effectiveness of the web-based application will be assessed using surveys, focus groups and comparing students’ scores on course examinations prior to and after introducing the application and based on patterns of use.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

The objective of the project is to develop and introduce a new web-based application to complement the Principles of Drug Action course series at the College of Pharmacy. The application provides students with an integrative learning environment, provide step-by-step illustration of the important concepts discussed, questions to test student knowledge and a tool to create review sheets for each section. AS the application evolves, we plan to add a number of tools tailored to struggling students to address their knowledge deficiencies.

Project Achievements:

The application has been used extensively by students as an accompanying learning tool for the past two years in two of the three courses in the course sequence (MC600 and MC610), ranging between 40-70% of enrolled students depending on the section. Among students who utilized the tool, over 90% felt that the tool positively enhanced their learning and were beneficial supplement to lectures. Over 85% of users felt that it helped them better integrate the knowledge of concepts discussed in the courses and that each of the individual tools within the application were helpful to their studies. Finally most students rated this application as the one that helped them most in their studies as compared to other available resources. The effect of the use of the application on student learning as measured by improvement in grades showed mixed results. When comparing between grades prior to the introduction of the application (Fall 2016) and after its availability, in some course section we observed statistically improvement in grades, while in some other sections, we did not see such effect. In no cases did we see a statistically significant decline in course grade due to the introduction of the tool. When comparing users and non-users of the application within the same cohort of students, we observed significant improvement in grades of students moderately using the application (between 3-5 hours) as compared to non-users, light users (1-3 hours) or heavy users (over 5 hours).

Continuation:
Yes, we plan on adding more sections to the application (currently the application covers around 60% of the course series contents). We also plan on adding tools that specifically targets struggling students in the course series and tools that integrate application of clinical knowledge to the course series content.
Dissemination:
The project findings, once finalized, will be distributed to all faculty involved in the course series. We also plan on presenting the findings at an upcoming pharmaceutical education conference, most likely as a poster presentation at the 2019 AACP annual meeting.
Advice to your Colleagues:
Constantly reminding students of the presence of the tool helps with the higher rate of use; with all their coursework, they tend to overlook these tools. I also added a link on the courses' Canvas page, which students found useful.
When creating a web-based application, make sure that the designer provides good documentation of the different aspects of the application.
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