Abstract:

In March 2020 at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), in-person lecture and laboratory classes were paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Online courses were then prepared for a large number of students to allow distance learning and continue the course syllabus, in a way that did not significantly alter the program.

The increased presence and use of electronic devices has promoted the development and sharing of several digital educational tools and their use seems to be a good choice to teach and promote student/professor interaction. In this paper, we briefly describe the experiences of undergraduate (U) and postgraduate (P) students (Master’s Degree) of the Faculty of Pharmacy, within six areas related to online teaching, learning and evaluation during the second term of their academic course, in which 100% online teaching was mandatory:
1) Lesson planning.
2) Content of the virtual course.
3) Participation and interaction in the virtual classroom.
4) Activities and resources employed.
5) Structure and navigation through the virtual environment.
6) Multimedia elements.

Specific questions were formulated in a reliable framework that could be answered quickly and easily. The survey (37 questions) gathered 50 answers, from students at the undergraduate (74%) and postgraduate levels (26%).

Considering the lesson planning of the online course, according to the students’ perception, the interruption caused by the pandemic and the implementation of online teaching did not affect the achievement of the general objectives of their learning plan (U 69.2%, P 75.7%). However, while considering the first stages of the transition from face-to-face to online teaching, the opinions were completely different. Just 20% of U thought the objectives were still clear, in comparison with 76.9% of students in postgraduate courses.

Regarding the content of the virtual course, one question divided the responses in the postgraduate group. While 61.5% of students considered the content was consistent with their expectations, the rest (38.5%) had the opposite opinion. With regards to the participation and interaction in the virtual classroom, and considering specifically whether the online teaching had altered the interaction they usually have with their teacher in class, undergraduates did not have a clear opinion. However, 61.5% of P students thought that, although the interaction student/teacher was different, online teaching had promoted an active role and their participation in class (46.1%).

Considering the activities and resources employed for the online evaluation, 54% of U thought the difficulty of the tests was above their expectations, in comparison with only 15.4% of P. As to the burden of tasks to do outside class hours, only P students clearly thought they have proven to be adequate (P 70% vs. U 37.8%). It is worth noting that while 67.5% of U students thought that online teaching facilitated their understanding of the course, only 23% of P students agreed.

This paper shows the challenges in the use of online teaching in a face-to-face Degree and Master’s Degree in Pharmacy, in a situation that was unexpected but could repeat itself in the near future. These results also show the different needs of undergraduates and postgraduates that are important to highlight. Addressing these issues will contribute to the improvement of online learning, teaching and evaluation, and the promotion of good practices in future online courses.

Keywords:

Digital technologies, higher education, online learning environment, covid19.