INTEREST OF VOLUNTEER TASKS ON HIGHER EDUCATION

It is well-know that students often go to the minimum of effort. In the current teaching practice, teachers find that there are students who study only the information contained in the PowerPoint slides (used to facilitate the following of the lesson) and even don not take notes about the teacher commentaries on the class. This apathy and lack of interest has been and is a source of concern for all of us involved in teaching. For this reason the teaching community uses multiple strategies to create richer learning environments in order to increase student motivation. Experience shows that the performance of active classes where the student is the true protagonist is allowing a more effective and meaningful knowledge. Moreover, the students improve their attitude towards the subject and theirselves.

With this aim, our teaching team proposed to the Pharmaceutic Technology students that study the fifth year of pharmacy degree, the possibility to carry out a voluntary work in pairs consisting of the analysis and oral presentation of a scientific work related to the subject. The training aims, besides acquiring a background in leading industry research were to develop communication skills, to promote the spirit of leadership and to exercise social skills. Students were free to choose the article that they prefer with the unique condition that it had a direct relation on the content of the subject. The task was rewarded with a supplement to the final mark. Results, presented in the full article, were very successful for both students and the teacher.