PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES
FOR THE
DOCTOR OF PHARMACY DEGREE PROGAM
COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Delivery of Curricular Content
In 2002 the College of Pharmacy opened distance education campuses in Jacksonville, Orlando-Apopka, and St. Petersburg-Seminole in addition to the campus in Gainesville. Most of the lectures from faculty are delivered to students in the distance education campuses via technology involving video streaming of information. Lectures by faculty are videotaped by technical personnel in Gainesville and video streamed to all pharmacy students one to two hours later. This approach allows students to view lecture material at times more convenient to them as well as allowing them to be better prepared to participate in the learning process. The video capture of each lecture permits students to slow down or speed up the pace of the lecture, revisit lecture material for clarification at any time during the academic year, and view the lectures individually or with peers. This flexibility is an attractive feature of the technical delivery of a significant portion of the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum.
Students enrolled at three distant campuses must take advantage of this approach to receive lectures by our faculty. Students in Gainesville may take advantage of this technology or attend classes; however, in selected courses they must utilize this electronic delivery of lecture material.Students on all four campuses state that they value the advantages of the video streaming of lectures. In fact, most students in Gainesville predominantly utilize this approach and do not attend classes. Some courses are available only via video streaming and incorporate special computer-based interactive exercises designed to enhance learning.
The flexibility afforded by delivering lecture material via video streaming is also attractive to faculty. Many faculty members have lectures videotaped well in advance of class meetings or prior to the start of the semester. Thus, class time is not used solely to lecture to students, but instead used to engage students with case presentations, question and answer sessions, or other forms of discussion at all four campuses. On the other hand, some faculty members have prepared their coursework to be accessed online without any classroom-based activity. Therefore, students in Gainesville, like their peers in the distance education campuses, are not always in a classroom to learn subject matter.
Furthermore, some courses (e.g., pharmacotherapy IV,V, and VI) in the Doctor of Pharmacy degree program are replicated at each campus because the emphasis is on active learning exercises that cannot be videotaped in one campus and shared with the other campuses. In these courses, students at each campus must directly engage faculty and student colleagues in the classroom and demonstrate critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. Also, laboratory exercises and integrated case studies in practicum courses require classroom attendance at all four campuses.
The pedagogical approach is the same for all students in the College enrolled at all four campuses. From one perspective each campus operates in the distance education campus modality with lectures being viewed outside of a classroom just as readings and homework assignments are done external to the classroom. From another perspective, students from all four campuses must come to their local campus to attend selected classes, laboratory session, discussions groups, classroom role-playing exercises, exam reviews, and for administration of exams.
Hence, students’ perceptions that the Gainesville campus is preferred because it yields more interaction with faculty in classrooms full of students is dependent upon individual students’ behaviors. Students at all four campuses are engaged with faculty in a variety of formats: presentations and discussions regarding integrated case studies in the classroom, discussion boards on WebCT, email, classroom lectures and role playing, laboratory exercises, practicum experiences, videoconferences, and video streaming of lectures. Students in Gainesville do have the option to attend lectures in selected courses in lieu of watching video streamed lectures. However, the reality is that most students do not routinely come to class. Moreover, students who do regularly attend lectures also frequently view the lectures by video streaming afterward to reinforce their understanding of information. Consequently, a high-speed internet connection on a computer to view the video streaming of course content is mandatory for all students at the four campuses.
Parity in academic credentials on admission exists among students at all four campuses. The same educational approaches, curricular content, and examination content and procedures ensure that the educational outcomes are similar among students at all four campuses while they progress in the curriculum and upon graduation.
Prospective students should read about the educational philosophy of the College of Pharmacy as stated below.
Educational Philosophy
At the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, our educational philosophy in the Doctor of Pharmacy program can be described as Case-Assisted Student Centered Learning (CASCL). We have elected to utilize as the foundation of this program several teaching and learning strategies that provide clinical correlates in our courses in an environment that will stimulate student-centered, active learning. Our goal is to provide a strong educational foundation so that our students will become pharmacists who embrace the concept of being a life-long learner.
We value several concepts that guide the strategies to deliver the highest educational experiences for our pharmacy students. These include the concept that our students should be able to work in a team or group setting because this is the health care environment of the present and future. Our pharmacy students should develop their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities to assist in providing pharmaceutical care. Active learning should include opportunities to develop and strengthen professional behaviors. A critical component to our program is the ability of our students to utilize computers and emerging technologies in the educational process and for communication with faculty, students, staff and other health professionals. We value the philosophy that our curriculum should enable a student to improve and refine his/her verbal and written communication skills. These concepts are developed in conjunction with the desired professional and general ability-based outcomes in our curriculum.
We believe in a multitude of educational strategies that provide a linkage to the practice of pharmacy through simulated/actual patient cases or problem-solving activities in order to optimize the overall educational experience. We consider the CASCL approach to be the blending of aspects from the problem-based learning format with lecture format. Our teaching strategies include lectures, student-centered activities, and computer-assisted activities. Examples of student-centered activities range from classroom dialogue, homework assignments, role-playing, group and panel discussions, classroom assessment techniques, course portfolios and individual student presentations. We also value the importance of well-designed and crafted lectures that engage students.
If CASCL is to be optimized with respect to the educational process, this involves the development of examination approaches that can enable the assessment of the student's ability to apply and utilize information in solving problems and/or enhancing patient care. While it is critical to have the necessary knowledge in the various pharmacy disciplines, an examination should be constructed to allow one to determine the student's knowledge base and the extent to which a student can integrate concepts and solve basic or clinical-based problems. Written examinations, if possible, should contain various testing formats ranging from multiple choice, short answer and essay, fill-in-the-blank, mathematical problems and case-based questions. All examinations should enable the students to practice their written communications skills when appropriate. In other cases, the ideal format may be an oral or take-home examination, however, these should also be focused around solving problems or simulated/actual patient cases.
Date: February 6, 2007