Abstract:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, asynchronous video recordings of laboratory work were used as a substitute for hands-on practical sessions. It lacked student-instructor and student-student interactions, which are deemed crucial in online learning (Yu et al., 2020). Previous research indicated that students viewed remote lab sessions that included all four presences of the revised Community of Inquiry framework favourably (Abdul Rahim, 2022). However, few studies reported the implementation of online pharmacognosy labs during the pandemic. Thus, this study investigates third-year pharmacy student perceptions of a synchronous remote lab designed to promote active student collaborations over distance. The remote lab served as an educational intervention to a video-based laboratory session on Senna leaves. The implementation involved hosting the lab in the Miro board and Cisco Webex breakout rooms. The board featured four spaces for online activities: 1) a lab briefing, 2) an “Escape the Haunted Witch House” game, 3) a video recording of the Senna leaves experiment, and 4) a collaborative flow chart construction. At the end of the remote lab session, students rated their learning experiences and overall impressions of the lab activities.

The findings from the questionnaire indicated that the online pharmacognosy lab was overwhelmingly positive; most with average scores above 4.53 using a 1-5 Likert scale (n=19). The third-year students thought the lab activity was fun and interesting (4.89). Furthermore, they felt that they were able to engage with teammates to learn new material (4.89). Among students’ comments describing online laboratory experiences were: “I really enjoy this lab session. It’s kind of relaxing and at same time can release my stress since we don’t have any pressure…”, “…I feel so happy to be able to communicate directly with my teammates.” and “This is the best activity ever since Open Distance Learning (ODL). No pressure, just learning happily.” However, students gave mixed responses on whether the MIRO board was difficult to use. Students’ comments revealed that although overall they enjoyed using MIRO, some students experienced login issues and took longer to familiarise themselves with the new platform. Nevertheless, the online lab has helped students understand its relevance to the pharmacy profession (4.53), and they would recommend the lab activity to other students (4.74).

To conclude, a synchronous remote pharmacognosy lab was designed and implemented to promote active learning and student collaborations during the pandemic. The findings of this study suggested that the third-year pharmacy students were overwhelmingly positive about the lab activities, which fostered student interactions, communication, and teamwork in a fun and positive virtual lab environment. As an educational intervention, the remote lab has the potential to replace video-based laboratories and stimulate social-emotional learning - even from a distance.

References:
[1] J. Yu et al., ‘Investigating the influence of interaction on learning persistence in online settings: Moderation or mediation of academic emotions?’, Int J Environ Res Public Health, vol. 17, no. 7, 2020.
[2] A.S. Abdul Rahim, “Mirror Mirror on the Wall: Escape a Remote Virtual Stereochemistry Lab Together,” J. Chem. Educ., vol. 99, no. 5, pp. 2160–2167, May 2022.

Keywords:

Pharmacognosy, educational games, escape room, active learning, collaborative learning, pharmacy education, remote laboratory, social-emotional learning.