An Attempt to Measure Presentation Skill Acquisition Using Peer and Self-evaluation.

In six-year pharmacy education programs, humanistic education is now regarded as more important than ever, and we are working to incorporate active learning methods into a variety of subjects. Because performance evaluations are by their nature subjective, it is difficult to ensure the validity of any given assessment. Fifth-year students at Tohoku Pharmaceutical University learn case and prescription analysis in problem-based learning tutorials. As part of this curriculum, 20 presentation and discussion meetings over the course of 10 weeks are held, with approximately 100 students making presentations two or more times each. With regard to the presentation skills that students are expected to acquire, we instructed them to conduct peer evaluations and analyzed the evaluation results for 863 students conducted between 2012 and 2014. From the results, it was found that peer evaluation scores improved between the first and second evaluations for 70% to 86% of students, and furthermore that students who received lower scores in their first evaluations increased their scores correspondingly in the second. In addition, while 87% of students responded positively in the presentation skill acquisition self-evaluations conducted after the completion of the program, there was no correlation between the results of self-evaluation and peer evaluation. It was suggested that many students were able to cultivate an eye for criticism by evaluating other students and gain confidence by becoming aware of their own growth through repeated presentations.

Effects of implementation of problem-based learning tutorials on fifth-year pharmacy students and future issues.

At Tohoku Pharmaceutical University, problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials were incorporated into "prescription analysis" and "case analysis" for fifth-year students in 2010 with the following objectives: ① application and confirmation of acquired knowledge and skills, and acquisition of ② communication ability, ③ presentation ability, ④ cooperativeness through groupwork, and ⑤ information collecting ability. In the present study, we conducted a questionnaire survey on a total of 158 fifth-year students in order to investigate the educational benefits of PBL tutorials. The results showed that the above five objectives of PBL tutorials were being achieved, and confirmed the educational benefits expected of PBL tutorials. In contrast, it was found to be necessary to improve the contents of scenarios and lectures, time allocation regarding schedules, the learning environment, the role of tutors, and other matters. In order to maximize the educational benefits of PBL tutorials, it will be necessary in the future to continue to conduct surveys on students and make improvements to the curriculum based on survey results.

[Tracking study to improve basic academic ability in chemistry for freshmen].

The aims of this study were to assess the basic academic ability of freshmen with regard to chemistry and implement suitable educational guidance measures. At Tohoku Pharmaceutical University, basic academic ability examinations are conducted in chemistry for freshmen immediately after entrance into the college. From 2003 to 2009, the examination was conducted using the same questions, and the secular changes in the mean percentage of correct response were statistically analyzed. An experience survey was also conducted on 2007 and 2009 freshmen regarding chemical experiments at senior high school. Analysis of the basic academic ability examinations revealed a significant decrease in the mean percentage of correct responses after 2007. With regard to the answers for each question, there was a significant decrease in the percentage of correct answers for approximately 80% of questions. In particular, a marked decrease was observed for calculation questions involving percentages. A significant decrease was also observed in the number of students who had experiences with chemical experiments in high school. However, notable results have been achieved through the implementation of practice incorporating calculation problems in order to improve calculation ability. Learning of chemistry and a lack of experimental experience in high school may be contributory factors in the decrease in chemistry academic ability. In consideration of the professional ability demanded of pharmacists, the decrease in calculation ability should be regarded as a serious issue and suitable measures for improving calculation ability are urgently required.