Pharmacy students' experience of technology-enhanced learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacy students and educators experienced an abrupt shift as programmes that were previously taught exclusively in-person were then predominantly taught online. This sudden change provided little time for students to prepare for the new learning environment.

The study objective was to explore pharmacy students' experiences of technology-enhanced learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A cross-sectional survey was developed and distributed by email to all 3rd year (N = 76) and 4th year (N = 68) pharmacy students undertaking an MPharm programme in an Irish university.

A total of 32 responses were collected, including 20 third year and 12 fourth year pharmacy students (response rates of 26.3% and 17.6%, respectively). The majority of respondents reported good or very good internet speed (71%) and stability (59%). Almost all were confident or very confident using Canvas (97%) prior to the onset of online learning. Respondents preferred engaging with other students in-person rather than online for coursework (68.8%) and learning new material (56.3%). Students favoured face-to-face delivery, with a recording of the session available online afterwards, for lectures (68.8%), workshops (50%) and tutorials (56.3%). Analysis of free-text comments indicates that respondents used recorded content to support exam revision and that a key drawback of online learning was social isolation.

Pharmacy students favoured a blended learning approach, with in-person learning being recorded to support study and revision. Students' experience of TEL during the pandemic should be considered in the development and ongoing review of pharmacy programmes.