Utilizing widely available podcasts to create a reflection activity for pharmacy students

Creative strategies can be employed to encourage development of affective domain skills. The purpose of this article is to describe and assess the creation of a written self-reflection assignment utilizing podcasts. Educational activity and setting: Second year pharmacy students (N = 122) in a skills laboratory course completed two written reflections that asked them to: (1) examine and reflect on personal beliefs, biases, motivations and emotions that were challenged while listening to a podcast; and (2) identify knowledge, skills, and abilities of a pharmacist that may impact the situation presented in the podcast. Students chose from a list of podcasts curated by faculty and completed two 450 to 600-word reflections. Students completed a pre-post modified Questionnaire for Reflective Thinking (mQRT). A one-tailed, paired t-test was used to assess the mQRT. The post-questionnaire survey also included questions related to student perceptions of the reflections. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize student perceptions.

Out of 122 students, 116 (95.1%) completed both the pre- and post-mQRT and survey. The majority of students responded affirmatively that the reflections made them think about healthcare in a different way (91.4%) and challenged their beliefs/biases (81.9%). Students reported applying information from previous course material to the podcast concepts (75%) and vice versa (77.6%).

Assignments using podcasts are a unique way of engaging student learners. These assignments may help to assess affective educational outcomes and be a way to increase self-reflection, self-awareness, and metacognition in pharmacy students.