Abstract:

Introduction:
Currently, the use of teaching methodologies on interactive and free platforms has a significant impact on student learning, but also on the way the teacher explains practical content. The implementation of activities in free and interactive software reduces the economic investment and avoids the limitations inherent to the use of more sophisticated and difficult to use computer programs. The main objective of this project is the incorporation of dynamic and interactive teaching material, through free open source software, in the computer practices of Pharmaceutical Technology I, a subject that specifically addresses the formulation, preparation and control of pharmaceutical forms. The material mainly focused on solid oral administration forms, in order to provide methods to enhance learning and critical analysis of dissolution profiles.

Methods:
The preparation of the teaching material was carried out by implementing the different kinetic models of in vitro dissolution of solid pharmaceutical forms, according to the Pharmaceutical Technology I teaching guide. The generated web application, through the Shiny package included in the R software, allowed to evaluate different parameter conditions. The platform includes an interactive menu, with different tabs for each of the activities, where the data of the variables introduced, the graphic representation and the relevant parameters resulting from the simulation step appeared. Parameter values were included in scroll bars, which allowed to assess their impact in kinetic terms (graph).
Dissolution profile comparison is represented in a different tab, which incorporates the dissolution datasets that are simulated based on the dissolution model and parameter values considered in the previous tab. The similarity factor (f2) formula and the requirements established by the Food and Drugs Administration and European Medicines Agency are summarized.

Results:
The link to the open source platform can be accessed through the following link: https://vmang.shinyapps.io/Dissolution_Models/
Four dissolution models were incorporated: first-order, zero-order, Hixon-Crowell and Weibull model. Two different graphs were included:
(i) dissolved amounts versus time, and
(ii) log-transformed amounts dissolved versus time.
A second tab includes the interactive explanation of in vitro dissolution profile comparison under low variability conditions. A table includes the dissolution data for the reference and test formulations and a figure which depicts the dissolution data considered. At the lower part of the tab, the similarity factor (f2) and the result of dissolution comparison are shown.

Conclusion:
These types of tools allow a better understanding of advanced concepts and, in addition, avoid the limitations inherent in the use of more sophisticated computer programs. On the other hand, it makes content and methodologies readily applicable to other higher education settings available to the educational community, thereby facilitating the teaching activity. Students appreciated the renovation of the teaching material and concluded that it allowed to a better understanding compared to classical Excel tools. The overall satisfaction confirms the use of open source platform and encouraged our teaching group to implement further other activities to enrich the learning process of students in Pharmacy.

Keywords:

Open-source, e-learning, pharmacy.