TRANSFORMING TEACHING AND LEARNING USING AN ACTIVE LEARNING APPROACH ACROSS AN ENTIRE RESEARCH INTENSIVE FACULTY OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

Abstract

The conventional lecture has significant limitations, often leading to a passive learning experience for students. This abstract reports a process of transforming teaching and learning with active learning strategies in a research intensive Faculty of 45 academic staff and more than 1000 students. The pilot phase involved 9 staff who developed a common vision and principles. After refinement, an implementation phase involving 12 staff, including three from the pilot group, commenced within all first year subjects. Staff use of active learning strategies in classes increased by 6‐fold and 7‐fold in the pilot and implementation phases respectively. Analysis of exam questions indicated that staff increased their use of questions addressing higher order cognitive skills by 42% (pilot phase) and 51% (implementation phase), compared to exams produced prior to the approach. After the pilot phase, only 3 out of 9 staff agreed that they “understood “what makes for an effective active learning exercise”, which rose to 7 out of 9 staff at the completion of the implementation phase. Deliberate engagement with the student body was effective in overcoming much of the initial resistance to change expressed by students: 53% of students felt they “learnt better” in traditional lectures than with active learning during the pilot phase, and this proportion fell to 34% in year one of implementation and 15% in year two. The development of an explicit, common approach and the evaluation and refinement of active learning approaches were effective elements of our transformational change management strategy.