The impact of synchronous hybrid instruction on students’ engagement in a pharmacotherapy course

ABSTRACT

Background: Synchronous hybrid instruction offers flexible learning opportunities by allowing a portion of students to attend class sessions on campus while simultaneously allowing the remaining students to attend remotely. Although such flexibility may offer a number of advantages for pharmacy students, one area of concern is whether online participation options within synchronous hybrid courses can promote similar levels of engagement as courses that are designed entirely for face-to-face (FTF) participation. Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of synchronous hybrid instruction on pharmacy students’ engagement in a pharmacotherapy course. An evaluation was completed to determine if students were more likely to actively engage in class when they were participating remotely via teleconferencing technology or when FTF. Additionally, students’ perspectives were evaluated to determine their views of the benefits and challenges of the hybrid model for engagement in learning. Methods: The course utilizes team-based learning to apply critical thinking skills and develop a comprehensive care plan. A mixed methods approach was used to examine students’ engagement in the hybrid learning environment by quantitatively analyzing students’ responses to likert-scale survey items and qualitatively analyzing their responses to open-ended survey questions. (AU)