- Email: [email protected]
The use of short downloadable lectures to supplement didactic lectures
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 4 (2012) 16 –18 http://www.pharmacyteaching.com
Short communication
The use of short downloadable lectures to supplement didactic lectures Benjamin Chavez, PharmDa,*, Francis Hughes, PharmDb b
a University of Hawaii at Hilo, College of Pharmacy, Hilo, Hawaii Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Piscataway, NJ
Abstract Pharmacy school faculty who teach in the pharmacotherapeutics courses have a lot of information to present in a small amount of time, making it difficult to incorporate active learning strategies in the classroom. We evaluated student-reported use and students’ impressions of listening to a downloadable audio file to introduce specific topics in a therapeutics course before coming to class. Using inexpensive equipment and shareware recording software, faculty members were able to prepare a short introductory lecture that could be downloaded as an MP3 file. Of the 420 students offered the audio lecture, 178 (42%) reported downloading and listening to the MP3 file before class. Students who listened to the audio lecture were more likely to report feeling more prepared for class. In addition, students reported that they would rather listen to a short audio presentation before class instead of reading material in the textbook. Our results are limited because of the low response rate and subjective quality of the data collected. However, downloadable lectures represent a new method for presenting information to students while potentially allowing more time in the classroom spent on active and cased-based learning. More studies are needed to assess the impact of downloadable lectures on performance and grades. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Instructional technology; Audio lectures; Active learning
Introduction Students currently enrolled in Doctor of Pharmacy programs use technology in the learning process more than their counterparts of 10 to 15 years ago.1 Instructional technology allows faculty to teach and students to learn in unique ways, including distance and hybrid courses, in addition to in-classroom methods, such as student response systems including i⬎clicker® and TurningPoint®.2,3 Active learning methods, such as student response systems, are seen as viable tools to increase learning and as being particularly useful in providing immediate feedback during nongraded activities.3 A survey of students in biology courses showed that most students had favorable impressions with regard to the use of student response systems and * Corresponding author: Benjamin Chavez, PharmD, University of Hawaii at Hilo, College of Pharmacy, 200 W Kawili Street, Hilo, Hawaii 96720. E-mail address: [email protected]
also thought the technology improved their interest in the course, attendance, and understanding of course content.4 It seems that this generation of students finds the use of technology in the classroom to be a helpful tool that, if used effectively, can enhance learning in the classroom.5 Technology could help make classroom time more beneficial to students. Pharmacy students commonly request that more time is spent on cases in the pharmacotherapeutics courses. Faculty often do not have enough time to cover all aspects of a disease and its treatment and still have time to provide interactive case discussions. It has been suggested that we stop using most classroom time for the simple transmission of facts.1 Providing students with a short downloadable audio lecture that covers the background material for a disease state can provide more time during class to incorporate casebased learning. These short audio files can include material such as etiology, epidemiology, pathophysiology, and characteristics of a disease state. Students can listen to these lectures on MP3 players, tablets, or computers. It may be
1877-1297/12/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2011.10.003
B. Chavez et al. / Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 4 (2012) 16 –18
more convenient for students to listen to a 20-minute recording on the background of a disease state instead of reading the material found in heavy, bulky therapeutics textbooks. After listening to the audio lecture, students are more likely to come to class prepared, thus allowing faculty members to spend more time using cased-based examples to prepare students for clinical rotations, residencies, and future careers.6 In this manuscript, we describe the use of short downloadable lectures as supplemental material for didactic lectures in the pharmacy curriculum. We also describe the students’ use and impression of this supplemental learning method.
17
Seventy-eight percent of respondents from Class 1 and 68% of respondents from Class 2 reported they would be more likely to listen to a downloadable lecture instead of completing the required reading before class. Only 5% of respondents from Class 1 and 10% from Class 2 reported they would be more likely to do required reading. Three percent of respondents from Class 1 and 10% from Class 2 reported they would do either one equally, and 14% and 12% of respondents from Class 1 and Class 2, respectively, reported they would do neither. Compared with other lectures in the same course, 52% and 65% of respondents from Class 1 and Class 2, respectively, reported feeling more prepared for the lecture in which the audio file was used.
Methods Using a USB-microphone (Griffin iMic Sound Card, Griffin Technology, Nashville, TN), lapel microphone, and a shareware online audio recording software (Audacity; http://audacity.sourceforge.net), a faculty member recorded a 20-minute lecture as an MP3 file. The total setup cost was approximately $70. The audio recording included the first 20 minutes of a lecture, which covered the background, etiology, and symptoms of a disease state. The audio followed the first part of a set of slides that would be used during class. No slides were repeated from the downloadable audio lecture in class. The MP3 file, along with the slides, was made available for download via the online classroom management system. This was attempted for one lecture in two different courses covering the topics of depression (Class 1–third professional year, n ⫽ 216 students) and pneumonia (Class 2–second professional year, n ⫽ 204 students). Because the audio recording was part of the lecture in the past, this did not take any significant time to complete. Both faculty recorded their lectures within 30 minutes. Students were instructed to listen to the audio file before class and informed that any questions related to the material would be answered in class but that the material would not be repeated during class time. Both classes were surveyed anonymously online to assess use and impressions of the downloadable audio lectures. Results In Class 1, 123/216 (57%) students completed the online survey in which 109 students (50% of the class) reported listening to the audio lecture. In Class 2, 69/204 (34%) students completed the online survey in which 48 (23% of class) reported listening to the audio lecture. Of all the students from the two classes that downloaded the audio lecture, 97% stated it was very or somewhat easy to download the MP3 file. Thirty percent and 19% of respondents from Class 1 and Class 2, respectively, stated that they planned to listen to the lecture again as a study tool before the examination.
Discussion Our results show that students reported using the downloadable audio lectures and they felt it helped them prepare for class. According to our survey, students found the MP3 file easy to download and use. This represents an innovative way to use technology in the pharmacy curriculum. The audio recordings were easy for the faculty to produce and can be done from any computer or laptop with the right program and hardware. There was a higher response rate in Class 1; however a trend is seen in both classes that most responders listened to the downloadable lectures. Students who did not take the time to download and listen to the lecture may also not take the time to complete the survey. A limitation of our study is that it is only student-reported use. There is a possibility that students may have over- or under-reported their use of the downloadable MP3 file. Unfortunately, because our survey was anonymous, there was no way to assess test scores with using the downloadable lecture. Also, because we only used this teaching method for one lecture in an entire course, assessing grades would have been difficult. Perhaps a more thorough implementation of this method in an entire course can be done in the future, and grades compared with previous years. This would provide more objective data to evaluate this teaching method, because our current survey only evaluated subjective data. Another limitation of our survey is the relatively low response rate. Overall, we only received a 42% response rate from both classes combined. Perhaps in the future surveys can be mandatory to ensure a higher response rate. This fact, along with the subjective nature of our results, may make these data hard to generalize. The current generation of students is technologically oriented. Most students have the capability to listen to an audio file on a device, such as an MP3 player, smartphone, laptop, or tablet computers (e.g., iPad). As technology improves, many of these devices have the capability to view slides and document files, as well as play audio, and they allow students to listen to or view the lectures while outside, exercising, on public transport, or simply while at home.
18
B. Chavez et al. / Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 4 (2012) 16 –18
The accessibility and ease of use of this media may make it more preferable to some students rather than reading a textbook or other print material. The results of our survey confirmed this, with more students stating they are willing to listen to a short audio lecture rather than read required literature before class. If students listen to the short audio lectures that focus on background material before class, this can free up classroom time for discussion and application of knowledge to patient cases. However, some students may not feel this is the best method of learning for them. Some students may still prefer to read from a textbook or listen to lecture strictly in class. Although downloadable audio lectures may not be for every student, it may help facilitate learning for some students, particularly students who are more auditory learners or more comfortable with technology. Our approach of using MP3s combined with slides serves the needs of both auditory and visual learners. By making both files available, the student can choose to listen to the audio file alone or in combination with the slides. However, it was our intention that the two files be used concomitantly. Conclusion Downloadable lectures provide a new method of teaching in the pharmacy curriculum to engage students. Students found this method of learning easy to use and made them feel more prepared for class, and the faculty did not find it
difficult or time-consuming to record a 20-minute lecture. This teaching method helped to free up class time for use in knowledge applications, such as patient cases. A majority of students reported they would rather listen to a short audio recording before class than read a textbook. Further research is needed to assess the outcomes on grades using short downloadable lectures over textbooks, and to identify whether this is a better method of learning for only certain students.
References 1. Blouin RA, Riffee WH, Robinson ET, et al. Roles of innovation in education delivery. Am J Pharm Educ 2009;73:154. 2. Hovenga EJ, Bricknell L. Current and future trends in teaching and learning. Stud Health Technol Inform 2004;109:131– 42. 3. Medina MS, Medina PJ, Wanzer DS, et al. Use of an audience response system (ARS) in dual-campus classroom environment. Am J Pharm Educ 2008;72:38. 4. Preszler RW, Dawe A, Shuster CB, et al. Assessment of the effects of student response systems on student learning and attitudes over a broad range of biology courses. CBE Life. Sci Educ 2007;6:29 – 41. 5. Alexander CJ, Crescini WM, Juskewitch JE, et al. Assessing the integration of audience response system technology in teaching of anatomical sciences. Anat. Sci Educ 2009;2:160 – 6. 6. Jham BC, Duraes GV, Strassler HE, et al. Joining the podcast revolution. J Dent Educ 2008;72:278 – 81.
Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 4 (2012) 16 –18 http://www.pharmacyteaching.com
Short communication
The use of short downloadable lectures to supplement didactic lectures Benjamin Chavez, PharmDa,*, Francis Hughes, PharmDb b
a University of Hawaii at Hilo, College of Pharmacy, Hilo, Hawaii Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Piscataway, NJ
Abstract Pharmacy school faculty who teach in the pharmacotherapeutics courses have a lot of information to present in a small amount of time, making it difficult to incorporate active learning strategies in the classroom. We evaluated student-reported use and students’ impressions of listening to a downloadable audio file to introduce specific topics in a therapeutics course before coming to class. Using inexpensive equipment and shareware recording software, faculty members were able to prepare a short introductory lecture that could be downloaded as an MP3 file. Of the 420 students offered the audio lecture, 178 (42%) reported downloading and listening to the MP3 file before class. Students who listened to the audio lecture were more likely to report feeling more prepared for class. In addition, students reported that they would rather listen to a short audio presentation before class instead of reading material in the textbook. Our results are limited because of the low response rate and subjective quality of the data collected. However, downloadable lectures represent a new method for presenting information to students while potentially allowing more time in the classroom spent on active and cased-based learning. More studies are needed to assess the impact of downloadable lectures on performance and grades. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Instructional technology; Audio lectures; Active learning
Introduction Students currently enrolled in Doctor of Pharmacy programs use technology in the learning process more than their counterparts of 10 to 15 years ago.1 Instructional technology allows faculty to teach and students to learn in unique ways, including distance and hybrid courses, in addition to in-classroom methods, such as student response systems including i⬎clicker® and TurningPoint®.2,3 Active learning methods, such as student response systems, are seen as viable tools to increase learning and as being particularly useful in providing immediate feedback during nongraded activities.3 A survey of students in biology courses showed that most students had favorable impressions with regard to the use of student response systems and * Corresponding author: Benjamin Chavez, PharmD, University of Hawaii at Hilo, College of Pharmacy, 200 W Kawili Street, Hilo, Hawaii 96720. E-mail address: [email protected]
also thought the technology improved their interest in the course, attendance, and understanding of course content.4 It seems that this generation of students finds the use of technology in the classroom to be a helpful tool that, if used effectively, can enhance learning in the classroom.5 Technology could help make classroom time more beneficial to students. Pharmacy students commonly request that more time is spent on cases in the pharmacotherapeutics courses. Faculty often do not have enough time to cover all aspects of a disease and its treatment and still have time to provide interactive case discussions. It has been suggested that we stop using most classroom time for the simple transmission of facts.1 Providing students with a short downloadable audio lecture that covers the background material for a disease state can provide more time during class to incorporate casebased learning. These short audio files can include material such as etiology, epidemiology, pathophysiology, and characteristics of a disease state. Students can listen to these lectures on MP3 players, tablets, or computers. It may be
1877-1297/12/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2011.10.003
B. Chavez et al. / Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 4 (2012) 16 –18
more convenient for students to listen to a 20-minute recording on the background of a disease state instead of reading the material found in heavy, bulky therapeutics textbooks. After listening to the audio lecture, students are more likely to come to class prepared, thus allowing faculty members to spend more time using cased-based examples to prepare students for clinical rotations, residencies, and future careers.6 In this manuscript, we describe the use of short downloadable lectures as supplemental material for didactic lectures in the pharmacy curriculum. We also describe the students’ use and impression of this supplemental learning method.
17
Seventy-eight percent of respondents from Class 1 and 68% of respondents from Class 2 reported they would be more likely to listen to a downloadable lecture instead of completing the required reading before class. Only 5% of respondents from Class 1 and 10% from Class 2 reported they would be more likely to do required reading. Three percent of respondents from Class 1 and 10% from Class 2 reported they would do either one equally, and 14% and 12% of respondents from Class 1 and Class 2, respectively, reported they would do neither. Compared with other lectures in the same course, 52% and 65% of respondents from Class 1 and Class 2, respectively, reported feeling more prepared for the lecture in which the audio file was used.
Methods Using a USB-microphone (Griffin iMic Sound Card, Griffin Technology, Nashville, TN), lapel microphone, and a shareware online audio recording software (Audacity; http://audacity.sourceforge.net), a faculty member recorded a 20-minute lecture as an MP3 file. The total setup cost was approximately $70. The audio recording included the first 20 minutes of a lecture, which covered the background, etiology, and symptoms of a disease state. The audio followed the first part of a set of slides that would be used during class. No slides were repeated from the downloadable audio lecture in class. The MP3 file, along with the slides, was made available for download via the online classroom management system. This was attempted for one lecture in two different courses covering the topics of depression (Class 1–third professional year, n ⫽ 216 students) and pneumonia (Class 2–second professional year, n ⫽ 204 students). Because the audio recording was part of the lecture in the past, this did not take any significant time to complete. Both faculty recorded their lectures within 30 minutes. Students were instructed to listen to the audio file before class and informed that any questions related to the material would be answered in class but that the material would not be repeated during class time. Both classes were surveyed anonymously online to assess use and impressions of the downloadable audio lectures. Results In Class 1, 123/216 (57%) students completed the online survey in which 109 students (50% of the class) reported listening to the audio lecture. In Class 2, 69/204 (34%) students completed the online survey in which 48 (23% of class) reported listening to the audio lecture. Of all the students from the two classes that downloaded the audio lecture, 97% stated it was very or somewhat easy to download the MP3 file. Thirty percent and 19% of respondents from Class 1 and Class 2, respectively, stated that they planned to listen to the lecture again as a study tool before the examination.
Discussion Our results show that students reported using the downloadable audio lectures and they felt it helped them prepare for class. According to our survey, students found the MP3 file easy to download and use. This represents an innovative way to use technology in the pharmacy curriculum. The audio recordings were easy for the faculty to produce and can be done from any computer or laptop with the right program and hardware. There was a higher response rate in Class 1; however a trend is seen in both classes that most responders listened to the downloadable lectures. Students who did not take the time to download and listen to the lecture may also not take the time to complete the survey. A limitation of our study is that it is only student-reported use. There is a possibility that students may have over- or under-reported their use of the downloadable MP3 file. Unfortunately, because our survey was anonymous, there was no way to assess test scores with using the downloadable lecture. Also, because we only used this teaching method for one lecture in an entire course, assessing grades would have been difficult. Perhaps a more thorough implementation of this method in an entire course can be done in the future, and grades compared with previous years. This would provide more objective data to evaluate this teaching method, because our current survey only evaluated subjective data. Another limitation of our survey is the relatively low response rate. Overall, we only received a 42% response rate from both classes combined. Perhaps in the future surveys can be mandatory to ensure a higher response rate. This fact, along with the subjective nature of our results, may make these data hard to generalize. The current generation of students is technologically oriented. Most students have the capability to listen to an audio file on a device, such as an MP3 player, smartphone, laptop, or tablet computers (e.g., iPad). As technology improves, many of these devices have the capability to view slides and document files, as well as play audio, and they allow students to listen to or view the lectures while outside, exercising, on public transport, or simply while at home.
18
B. Chavez et al. / Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 4 (2012) 16 –18
The accessibility and ease of use of this media may make it more preferable to some students rather than reading a textbook or other print material. The results of our survey confirmed this, with more students stating they are willing to listen to a short audio lecture rather than read required literature before class. If students listen to the short audio lectures that focus on background material before class, this can free up classroom time for discussion and application of knowledge to patient cases. However, some students may not feel this is the best method of learning for them. Some students may still prefer to read from a textbook or listen to lecture strictly in class. Although downloadable audio lectures may not be for every student, it may help facilitate learning for some students, particularly students who are more auditory learners or more comfortable with technology. Our approach of using MP3s combined with slides serves the needs of both auditory and visual learners. By making both files available, the student can choose to listen to the audio file alone or in combination with the slides. However, it was our intention that the two files be used concomitantly. Conclusion Downloadable lectures provide a new method of teaching in the pharmacy curriculum to engage students. Students found this method of learning easy to use and made them feel more prepared for class, and the faculty did not find it
difficult or time-consuming to record a 20-minute lecture. This teaching method helped to free up class time for use in knowledge applications, such as patient cases. A majority of students reported they would rather listen to a short audio recording before class than read a textbook. Further research is needed to assess the outcomes on grades using short downloadable lectures over textbooks, and to identify whether this is a better method of learning for only certain students.
References 1. Blouin RA, Riffee WH, Robinson ET, et al. Roles of innovation in education delivery. Am J Pharm Educ 2009;73:154. 2. Hovenga EJ, Bricknell L. Current and future trends in teaching and learning. Stud Health Technol Inform 2004;109:131– 42. 3. Medina MS, Medina PJ, Wanzer DS, et al. Use of an audience response system (ARS) in dual-campus classroom environment. Am J Pharm Educ 2008;72:38. 4. Preszler RW, Dawe A, Shuster CB, et al. Assessment of the effects of student response systems on student learning and attitudes over a broad range of biology courses. CBE Life. Sci Educ 2007;6:29 – 41. 5. Alexander CJ, Crescini WM, Juskewitch JE, et al. Assessing the integration of audience response system technology in teaching of anatomical sciences. Anat. Sci Educ 2009;2:160 – 6. 6. Jham BC, Duraes GV, Strassler HE, et al. Joining the podcast revolution. J Dent Educ 2008;72:278 – 81.