Impact of individual and collaborative assessment strategies on pharmacy students' performance

Collaborative learning strategies are widely recognized as active approaches in pharmacy education; however, evidence comparing individual and collaborative performance within structured assessment models, particularly in clinical pharmacy courses and middle-income settings, remains limited. This study aimed to evaluate whether an individual and collaborative assessment strategy enhances collaborative learning by comparing individual and collaborative performance among pharmacy students.

An analytical and observational study with a quantitative approach was conducted in a Clinical Pharmacy course at a Brazilian university. Sixty-seven pharmacy students participated in three individual and collaborative assessment activities, each consisting of an individual assessment followed by the same assessment completed collaboratively. The model focused on readiness assurance and did not include application exercises. Individual and collaborative scores were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and effect sizes were calculate.

Collaborative performance was consistently higher than individual performance across all three activities. Differences between individual and collaborative scores were large in magnitude and consistent in direction, with collaborative assessments yielding higher scores for most students. Effect size estimates were large across sessions. These findings suggest that students tend to achieve higher scores when engaging in peer discussion and collaborative reasoning. The pattern of higher collaborative performance remained stable across sessions, even when individual scores declined, indicating a consistent pattern associated with collaborative assessment.

The findings demonstrate that an individual and collaborative assessment strategy effectively promotes collaborative learning and is associated with improved academic performance in collaborative-based assessments in Clinical Pharmacy education. Rather than reflecting inherent superiority of collaborative performance, the results highlight the role of structured peer interaction in enhancing learning outcomes. These results support the educational value and feasibility of structured collaborative assessment approaches as a scalable strategy to foster active learning and collaborative skills in undergraduate pharmacy curricula.