Introduction and evaluation of a creative pedagogical tool in pharmacology: Autobiography of drugs

Abstract

Background: Pharmacology teaching in undergraduate medical curriculum in India is primarily drug centered and stresses on imparting more of factual information. Teaching and learning skills would be better developed by incorporation of active learning during large group and small group sessions. Aim and Objectives: The current study reports the perceptions of introducing a learner centric activity, autobiography of drugs in pharmacology in large group. Materials and Methods: Session on “Autobiography of drugs” was introduced as an active teachinglearning module in pharmacology classroom. Important characteristics of drugs were presented as drug autobiography. Subsequently, students had to identify the drug giving justification. Perceptions of students regarding module were documented with the help of Likert scale. Results: Out of 153 students 112 participated. Majority gave positive reviews regarding the activity. About 94.70% students found the concept interesting. Above 80% students enjoyed learning by this method and agreed that it fosters creativity while learning. About 74.10% found this as an interactive, learner centered activity. About 62.50% students found the session engaging. About 71.00–75.90% students felt that autobiographies were informative and designed in structured manner. Overall rating in respect to quality, content and usefulness of activity on Likert scale was 4.06 (0.77). Conclusions: Autobiography of drugs was taken as an interesting active teaching-learning module by students. Need of the hour is to involve medical students in active learning activities which foster greater learner engagement, interaction, and promote life-long learning.