Pharmacokinetic Teaching Utilizing the World Wide Web: A Flashlight™ Assessment

The world wide web was utilized as a medium for instructor-student-content interactions in the basic pharmacokinetic class for the second professional-year pharmacy students. The internet component was an integral part of the class and was used in conjunction with the regular classroom meetings that were devoted primarily for discussions and problem solving. The objectives of this course design were to promote active and collaborative learning, to enhance the students’ problem solving skills, and to improve the students’ ability to apply the basic pharmacokinetic concepts. The new course structure and the role of the internet component of the class in the teaching-learning process were evaluated using a Flashlight™ survey. Overall, the students who participated in the assessment survey indicated that they had positive experience in this class. The students indicated that the internet component of the class was very reliable and did not represent a barrier for their learning despite the average and below average computer knowledge of the majority of the students. The responses to the survey questions indicated that the use of the internet in this class helped in employing teaching-learning practices that have been documented to promote better learning. The majority of the students agreed that the internet component of the class helped them understand and visualize the ideas and concepts covered in the class, and that without this technology learning the basic pharmacokinetic concepts would have been more difficult. These findings indicate that the class design and the incorporation of the internet component were very successful in achieving the course objectives.