Therapeutics 4 Redesign
Rob Barras, Anisa Braja, Alex Isaacs,
Jacob Kirkwood, Ben Talbert
Goals
• Redesign course to encourage higher Bloom levels • Implement pre-class readings with assessments to allow
more lecture time for clarification pharmacotherapy and case based learning
• Involve students in more active and cooperative learning among students through utilization of disease specific cases
• Use new technologies to create more interactive lectures • Describe proper room assignments to provide
opportunities for group collaboration • Improve availability of faculty and communication
between students and faculty
Outcomes
• Effectively communicate pharmaceutical and health-related information and collaborate with other healthcare professionals to ensure the provision of quality patient care.
• Apply knowledge and skills to make appropriate decisions regarding the safe and effective use of medications or the need for referral to their health care providers. These decisions should include consideration of social, economic and cultural factors
• Practice independent and collaborative learning and modify ideas and behaviors based on newly acquired knowledge.
Barriers
• Faculty set in their teaching ways and unfamiliar with new technologies– Education of new teaching techniques to all faculty – Teach them about problem based learning and how to
implement this for therapeutics
• Requires more pre-lecture readings which could be problematic with students. – Assessments prior to class can help make sure students stay up
to date with readings and studying
• Students “paying to learn” so should be lectured by professor
Overcoming Barriers with Problem Based Learning
• UNC pharmacy school switched from lectures 3 times a week to once weekly interactive group sessions with online multimedia to facilitate learning– Interestingly, students felt it only took slightly more outclass
preparation– Students felt problem based learning structure supported their
learning and they did not indicate they missed instructor contact time
– Students disagreed that they missed out on learning because of the class format
– Students felt more confident about tacking unfamiliar problems
Perskey AM, Pollack GM. Transforming a large-class lecture course to a smaller-group interactive course. Am J Pharm Educ. 2010;74(9):170.
Benefits of Problem-based Learning
• Practice-focused instead of grade-focused learning • Critical thinking instead of just memorizing• Learning that is
– Active– Problem-based– Student-centered instead of teacher-centered
• Better preparation for rotations to focus on APPLICATION of information
Ross LA, Crabtree BL, Theilman GD, et al. Implementation and refinement of a problem-based learning model: a ten-year experience. Am J Pharm Educ. 2007;71(1) Article 17.
Out-of-class expectations
• Students will be expected to read about the general pathophysiology, etiology, and pharmacotherapy about the given disease in preparation for the quiz and cases in-class.
• Come up with questions to be addressed at the beginning of class
In-class expectations
• Work together in groups of 5 and participate during the in-class cases and use critical thinking to come up with the best therapeutic option.
• Utilize guidelines, posted readings, and other references to obtain information instead of relying solely on the professor
• At the beginning of class, take a short quiz to make sure that the reading was done– Small percent of the semester grade (5%)
Assessment
• Exam will be within normal cluster schedule• 50% case based to evaluate critical thinking• 50% content based to evaluate drug knowledge
Staffing Requirements
• Many teachers for T4– Instructors have other jobs
• Scheduling of “office” hours– Skype or WebEx
• One teacher per lecture
Room requirements
• Need a room that can support group learning– PB150 – 156
• Swivel chairs and tiers to promote interaction between students
• Multiple screens to do things on
Technology Use
• Panopto
• One note live share
• PollEverywhere
Curricular Placement
• Bloom level 1 & 2 knowledge base built during 1st half of Therapeutics 1
• During the rest of the semester and over subsequent semesters, topics increase in complexity• Often knowledge learned previously can be applied in new topics
Therapeutics 1
Therapeutics 2
Therapeutics 3
Therapeutics 4
Knowledge Base
Student Preparedness• Students should not be thrown into a new, case
based (Bloom level 5 & 6) teaching style…
• There should be a transition that slowly incorporates case−based learning over the entire curriculum
• Begin transition with incoming Therapeutics 1 class
Example Curriculum Transition• Therapeutics 1
• 1st cluster material consists of content that lecturer should lecture on.
• Rest of semester begin introducing in−class, case−based learning along with lectures• Groups of 4−5• 15−20 minutes, once a week
• Therapeutics 2• Pre−read lecture sections
• Set up an open response PollEverywhere for student questions
• Case−based learning: 15−20 minutes every class
Example Curriculum Transition
• Therapeutics 3• Assign more of lecture as pre−reading assignment
• Set up an open response PollEverywhere or interactive Q&A
• Case−based learning: 45 minutes every class
• Therapeutics 4• Pre−read all lecture notes
• Set up an open response PollEverywhere or interactive Q&A
• Answer question at beginning of class• Case−based learning: 3 cases per class
Conclusion
• Our goal with the redesign is to move Therapeutics 4 towards a case focused learning experience which incorporates the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Education:– Active learning– Cooperation among students – Prompt feedback – Time on task – Diverse ways of learning – High expectations for students
Reference Page
• Benedict N. Virtual patients and problem-based learning in advanced therapeutics. Am J Pharm Educ. 2010;74(8) Article 143.
• Blouin RA, Riffee WH, Robinson ET, et al. Roles of innovation in education delivery. Am J Pharm Educ. 2009;73(8) Article 154.
• Diemers AD, Dolmans D, VanSanten M, VanLuijk SJ, Janssen-Noordman A, Scherpbeir A. Students’ perceptions of early patient encounters in a PBL curriculum: A first evaluation of the Maastricht experience. Medical Teacher. 2007;29:135-142.
• Perskey AM, Pollack GM. Transforming a large-class lecture course to a smaller-group interactive course. Am J Pharm Educ. 2010;74(9): Article170.
• Ross LA, Crabtree BL, Theilman GD, et al. Implementation and refinement of a problem-based learning model: a ten- year experience. Am J Pharm Educ. 2007;71(1) Article 17.