Strategies for Measuring Advances in Pharmacy Student Learning

Objective. To provide guidance to authors and reviewers on how to design and evaluate educational research studies to better capture evidence of pharmacy student learning.Findings. A wide variety of assessment tools are available to measure student learning associated with educational innovations. Each assessment tool is associated with different advantages and disadvantages that must be weighed to determine the appropriateness of the tool for each situation. Additionally, the educational research design must be aligned with the intent of the study to strengthen its impact.Summary. By selecting research methods aligned with Kirkpatrick's levels of training evaluation, researchers can create stronger evidence of student learning when evaluating the effectiveness of teaching innovations.

Perspective from a Teaching and Learning Center During Emergency Remote Teaching

During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities around the globe frantically and emergently switched to remote teaching. This commentary provides the perspective from a teaching and learning center about the difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning, plus suggestions for preparing for an online fall semester.

Perception of Learning Versus Performance as Outcome Measures of Educational Research

Objective. To determine whether perception of student learning equates to learning gains. Methods. Two-hundred seventy-seven college-aged students and student pharmacists participated in the study. Participants were assessed before and after completing a reading intervention and reported their perceptions of learning by responding to various Likert-scale questions. Relationships between perception and performance were assessed by correlation analysis, trend analysis, and using measures of metacognitive accuracy. Results. There was a lack of correlation between measures of the perception of learning and actual gains in knowledge. There were weak correlations between the perception of learning and post-reading scores. Comparing student-pharmacists to college-aged individuals, both had similar metacognitive accuracy and there were little differences after the intervention. Conclusion. Perceptions of learning may not reflect knowledge gains, and perception data should be used cautiously as a surrogate for evidence of actual learning.

Improving and Restoring the Well-being and Resilience of Pharmacy Students during a Pandemic

During times of stress, such as those experienced during the novel coronavirus identified in 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, pharmacy students handle the experience differently. For some, the experience may negatively impact their sense of well-being; for others, being at home with family could actually improve their well-being. While students are completing academic work at home and after they finally return to campus, pharmacy schools need to be keenly aware of students' experiences and implement strategies to build their resilience and improve their well-being. One approach will not meet the needs of all students. Many of the challenges that pharmacy students have faced or will face when they return to the classroom are discussed along with some programs and activities that have proven successful.

Measuring Up - Defining the Quality of PharmD Programs

Objective. To define quality and associated metrics related to Doctor of Pharmacy degree programs. Methods. A three round Delphi process and online survey tool were employed to constitute and query an expert panel of randomly selected pharmacy deans representing a proportional share of public and private schools. Participants were asked about measures used to evaluate the quality of their schools; agreement was assessed for each quality category and metric identified; rankings were reported in order of importance. Results. Deans from 15 public pharmacy schools and 17 private pharmacy schools agreed to participate. Nine quality categories and 35 specific quality metrics were identified. Both public and private school leaders identified and agreed on nine categories of quality measures, with "placement" ranked as the most important measurement category. Conclusion. Identifying categories and metrics to assess quality may provide a foundation from which to compare quality across institutions.

A Faculty Toolkit for Formative Assessment in Pharmacy Education

This paper aims to increase understanding and appreciation of formative assessment and its role in improving student outcomes and the instructional process, while educating faculty on formative techniques readily adaptable to various educational settings. Included are a definition of formative assessment and the distinction between formative and summative assessment. Various formative assessment strategies to evaluate student learning in classroom, laboratory, experiential, and interprofessional education settings are discussed. The role of reflective writing and portfolios, as well as the role of technology in formative assessment, are described. The paper also offers advice for formative assessment of faculty teaching. In conclusion, the authors emphasize the importance of creating a culture of assessment that embraces the concept of 360-degree assessment in both the development of a student's ability to demonstrate achievement of educational outcomes and a faculty member's ability to become an effective educator.

A 5-year analysis of peer-reviewed journal article publications of pharmacy practice faculty members

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate scholarship, as represented by peer-reviewed journal articles, among US pharmacy practice faculty members; contribute evidence that may better inform benchmarking by academic pharmacy practice departments; and examine factors that may be related to publication rates.

METHODS

Journal articles published by all pharmacy practice faculty members between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2010, were identified. College and school publication rates were compared based on public vs. private status, being part of a health science campus, having a graduate program, and having doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) faculty members funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

RESULTS

Pharmacy practice faculty members published 6,101 articles during the 5-year study period, and a pharmacy practice faculty member was the primary author on 2,698 of the articles. Pharmacy practice faculty members published an average of 0.51 articles per year. Pharmacy colleges and schools affiliated with health science campuses, at public institutions, with NIH-funded PharmD faculty members, and with graduate programs had significantly higher total publication rates compared with those that did not have these characteristics (p<0.006).

CONCLUSION

Pharmacy practice faculty members contributed nearly 6,000 unique publications over the 5-year period studied. However, this reflects a rate of less than 1 publication per faculty member per year, suggesting that a limited number of faculty members produced the majority of publications.

Multi-institutional study of women and underrepresented minority faculty members in academic pharmacy

OBJECTIVES

To examine trends in the numbers of women and underrepresented minority (URM) pharmacy faculty members over the last 20 years, and determine factors influencing women faculty members' pursuit and retention of an academic pharmacy career.

METHODS

Twenty-year trends in women and URM pharmacy faculty representation were examined. Women faculty members from 9 public colleges and schools of pharmacy were surveyed regarding demographics, job satisfaction, and their academic pharmacy career, and relationships between demographics and satisfaction were analyzed.

RESULTS

The number of women faculty members more than doubled between 1989 and 2009 (from 20.7% to 45.5%), while the number of URM pharmacy faculty members increased only slightly over the same time period. One hundred fifteen women faculty members completed the survey instrument and indicated they were generally satisfied with their jobs. The academic rank of professor, being a nonpharmacy practice faculty member, being tenured/tenure track, and having children were associated with significantly lower satisfaction with fringe benefits. Women faculty members who were tempted to leave academia for other pharmacy sectors had significantly lower salary satisfaction and overall job satisfaction, and were more likely to indicate their expectations of academia did not match their experiences (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The significant increase in the number of women pharmacy faculty members over the last 20 years may be due to the increased number of female pharmacy graduates and to women faculty members' satisfaction with their careers. Lessons learned through this multi-institutional study and review may be applicable to initiatives to improve recruitment and retention of URM pharmacy faculty members.

Index of learning styles in a u.s. School of pharmacy

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to assess for a predominance of learning styles among pharmacy students at an accredited U.S. school of pharmacy.

METHODS

Following approval by the Institutional Review Board, the Index of Learning Styles© was administered to 210 pharmacy students. The survey provides results within 4 domains: perception, input, processing, and understanding. Analyses were conducted to determine trends in student learning styles.

RESULTS

Within the four domains, 84% of students showed a preference toward sensory perception, 66% toward visual input, and 74% toward sequential understanding. Students showed no significant preference for active or reflective processing. Preferences were of moderate strength for the sensing, visual, and sequential learning styles.

CONCLUSIONS

Students showed preferences for sensing, visual, and sequential learning styles with gender playing a role in learning style preferences. Faculty should be aware, despite some preferences, a mix of learning styles exists. To focus on the preferences found, instructors should focus teaching in a logical progression while adding visual aids. To account for other types of learning styles found, the instructors can offer other approaches and provide supplemental activities for those who would benefit from them. Further research is necessary to compare these learning styles to the teaching styles of pharmacy preceptors and faculty at schools of pharmacy.

Number and impact of published scholarly works by pharmacy practice faculty members at accredited US colleges and schools of pharmacy (2001-2003)

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the quantity and quality of published literature conducted by pharmacy practice faculty members in US colleges and schools of pharmacy for the years 2001-2003.

METHODS

The Web of Science bibliographic database was used to identify publication citations for the years 2001-2003, which were then evaluated in a number of different ways. Faculty members were identified using American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy rosters for the 2000-2001, 2001-2002, and 2002-2003 academic years.

RESULTS

Two thousand three hundred seventy-four pharmacy practice faculty members generated 1,896 publications in Web of Science searchable journals. A small number of faculty members (2.1%) were responsible for a large proportion of publications (30.6%), and only 4.9% of faculty members published 2 or more publications in these journals per year. The average impact factor for the top 200 publications was 7.6.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacy practice faculty members contributed substantially to the biomedical literature and their work has had an important impact. A substantial portion of this work has come from a small subset of faculty members.