Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted education around the world. After passing the first shock that started in March 2020, in order to overcome the challenges and return to normality over the next months, there is a need to plan and build resilience and adaptability for the future. Not only students, but teachers had to adapt to a new context and pace, take on increased responsibilities for ensuring student well-being, and for many, also learn new digital tools.

In the 2020/2021 academic course, at Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), in-person lectures were still paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic and small groups of on-site laboratory practices were established. In this paper, we briefly describe the experiences of undergraduate (U) and postgraduate (P) students (Master’s Degree) of the Faculty of Pharmacy, within four areas related to online teaching: Participation and interaction in the virtual classroom, activities and resources employed, structure and navigation through the virtual environment and multimedia elements. In addition, 3 free-response questions were included about the resources that helped them learn the most, other resources and activities that they would recommend to improve the course, and what they liked the least about the online teaching. The questionnaire gathered answers, from students at the undergraduate (74%) and postgraduate levels (26%) (n=50).

Differences in the responses between U and P students were found in the four areas analyzed. With regards to their perception of participation and interaction in the virtual classroom, specifically whether teachers/tutors had solved the doubts in a quick and clear way. According to the survey just 43.24% of U were satisfied in comparison of 84.62 % of P. And the same situation was observed when they were asked about the ability of online teaching to foster the active role of the student by encouraging their participation in the virtual classroom. While 46.15% of P considered they were very satisfied, just 21.62% of U had the same opinion. It is worth noting that while 67.5% of undergraduate students thought that online teaching facilitated their understanding of the course, only 23% of postgraduate students agreed. Regarding the multimedia elements, both U and P agreed that virtual teaching did not add any extra value to the matter of study (45.95% U and 45.95% P).About the free responses, there was one answer that was repeated in most of the questionnaires: Students preferred online teaching overall if lectures could be recorded and be available during the entire term.

The preference on learning methods was influenced by the year of study. Among students who preferred distance learning, the percentage of undergraduates was higher than postgraduates. It is well comprehended that pharmacy education cannot be carried out on the same way as other education, in a way that laboratory and practical works to acquire laboratory skills are essential to enhance the understanding of the learned subjects.

Despite some challenges, students adapted to the new learning methods of distance learning. However, results show some differences between undergraduates and postgraduates, which need to be addressed to contribute to the improvement and promotion of good practices in future online courses. Educational institutions may need to cultivate and harness the resilient of students and professors amid a pandemic and other stressful events.

Keywords:

Resilience, digital technologies, higher education, online learning environment, covid19.