Enhancement of collaborative student learning through

innovation in the delivery of the post-graduate Diploma of Clinical

Pharmacy

The PHRM7020 example

Presented by

Carl Kirkpatrick

On behalf of

Julie Stokes, Jacqui Bond, Judy Burrows, & Lisa Pulver

School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland

Triggers for changes to Clinical Pharmacy program

• Less time away from the workplace

• Provide opportunities for better application of knowledge to practice

• Need for more collaborative learning

• Greater student numbers

• Used PHRM 7020 as starting point– Some changes in other courses

• Trial of CT&LC rooms• Use of Blackboard & Turnitin• Revision of learning objectives & assessment tasks

Starting point for PHRM7020

• 4 blocks with 4 assignments over 1 year• Problems with:

– Sustaining work by students between blocks especially statistics

– Student application of concepts taught in blocks

– Negative student feedback about the course • took them out of their comfort zone • could not see future application in their practice

– Student expectations of workload ≠ actual workload required to complete course

2006 Design• 4 face-to-face teaching sessions

– Clinical evidence – lectures + literature evaluation workshop– Quantitative research – lectures + analysis of 3 datasets– Survey research – lectures– Design of a research project – lectures on design, ethics,

proposal writing, funding & publication

• Self-directed learning guide (pdf)– Topics to cover, questions to direct learning & where to find

information about the topics

• Assessment – all individual assessment– Evaluation report on a new drug for formulary committee– Quantitative data analysis on a dataset– Design a survey instrument– Write a Quality Use of Medicines project research proposal

Changes introduced in 2007• Learning objectives revised• Blackboard site established• Learning tasks devised to:

– Cover content areas in less didactic way e.g. EBM, – Require less face-to-face time in blocks– Spread learning between blocks– Illustrate application to clinical pharmacy practice

• Use of real life examples, data sets, research questions

• Activities to promote self-directed learning and application of concepts

– Promote collaboration and overcome distance/isolation issues • Anonymous discussion board

• e-Discussion tasks

• Group tasks using Wiki & blog tools

• Use of mentoring via email/discussion lists/blogs

Anonymous discussion thread• Set up for 7020 but ad hoc use by students to discuss issues for all 1st year courses

• Used for complaints, clarifications and collaborations

• Technical problem – loss of posts prior to 29 May

• No longer used by the end of the course

New between block learning activities

• Initial research methods skills self-reflection blog

• Online study module (RAPID with pharmacy specific examples)

• On-line tutorial questions via discussion board

• 3 on-line discussion tasks (EBM, qualitative methods & research into quality in health)

• On-line quiz using Blackboard quiz tool (given datasets & need to analyse data to respond to questions)

• On-line group work – survey design (using BB wiki & blog tools)

Discussion tasks• Groups of 10-13 students to discuss topic

– Questions and readings to prompt discussion– Initially difficulties with e-conversations but collaboration developed

Online quiz

Group project – Design a survey instrument

• Aim: to apply the principles of survey research in pharmacy practice research

• Design a survey instrument for theoretical application in pharmacy practice research & justify the survey topic and design– specific study question within 1 of 3 broad topic areas

• Groups of 3-4 students to collaborate remotely using wiki & blog tools in blackboard

• Plus mentoring from coordinator on refinement of research question

Groups assigned & topics selected

Combine Wiki & Blog tool• Used Blog as communication tool

– Not for marks– Allowed coordinator to mentor project development

• Use Wiki to develop assignment to be submitted for assessment

• Needed technical help to set up access for each group

Wiki assignment survey justification

Shared editing of final submission

From HistoryStudent 1 - 11 editsStudent 2 - 13 editsStudent 3 – 12 edits

Wiki survey page example

Reflections on 2007 experience• Some of new strategies effective

• The change to more SDL was too fast– resource issues for development of new materials

& learning tasks

• Expectations dissonance– Students had unrealistic expectations about workload

and standards for Post Graduate study

– Staff expectations of student abilities at start of course may have been too high

• Variable undergraduate experience in topic areas• Early in course, examples of expected output or standards

not clearly outlined

Reflections on 2007 experience• Other

– Included topics that did not belong in PHRM7020• RAPID course & elements of Evidence Based Medicine

– Too many learning tasks & assessment

– Use of IT, computer/e-library foreign for some

– Rusty “Exam skills” of practitioners returning to study

– Technical IT problems with CT&LC for practice of key statistical software

– Hospital-based practitioners are reluctant to travel to St Lucia

– Class size CT&LC – small rooms too small & big rooms too big

Changes proposed for 2008• Give students realistic expectations of program

• Change duration to one semester

• More intensive face-to-face sessions but use collaborative problem-oriented tasks & tutorials developed in 2007 within sessions

• Have moved some course content

Changes proposed for 2008• Retain health service research examples to illustrate

application of research methods to pharmacy practice

• Reduce assessment tasks

• Retain group survey assessment task and add virtual ethics committee group task

• Remaining Issue– Change to shorter blocks with more inter-block work not liked by

the students, but appreciated by the employers• Needs more investment in staff to develop “on-line” learning tasks• Change in teaching application/methodology by course coordinators

Conclusions

• All courses in the clinical pharmacy suite have been critically reviewed and changed to allow us to apply a more flexible and collaborative learning environment– we plan to role this out to the remaining 5 courses in the suite

• PHRM7020 has undergone a significant change and will change again slightly in 2008 to fix “small mistakes”– collaboration and between block learning was achieved!

• Employee vs employer expectations on times and blocks remains an issue