Use of multiplatform CD-ROMs for disseminating supplementary learning materials in a pharmaceutical calculations course

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Fall 1999 by Ramanathan, Murali

We have previously described the integrated application of Internet-based tools for Pharmaceutical Mathematics and Statistics (PHC 311), a course taken by Pharmacy majors at the State University of New York at Buffalo. While the Internet was embraced by instructors and students alike, the increased usage has resulted in occasional outages and in increased printing costs. The widespread availability of CD-- ROMs on the newer personal computers offers many opportunities for delivering supplemental materials -for large classroom teaching. In this report, the rationale for and the experience with the introduction of

CD-ROMs in a large classroom pharmacy teaching setting is discussed. Since access to past exams represented the single largest use of Web-based instructional content, the exams were prepared in hypertext markup language (HTML), a platform-independent format that is readable by Web browser software, and written to CD-ROMs using a commercially available CD-R recorder, The CD-ROM allowed the students to access the learning materials at home without the need to access the Internet. In a post-use survey, a majority of the students indicated that they used the CD-ROMs at least once a week and that they found that it helped in learning.

INTRODUCTION

The explosive growth of content on the World Wide Web (WWW), the widespread availability of browser programs that display text and graphics on a variety of computer platforms, and the increased prevalence of personal computers in homes, offices and educational institutions have rapidly transformed a variety of everyday activities including pharmacy education. The Internet has proved very useful in education because it provides instructor a wide range of communication channels as well as software tools to make educational content interesting(1).

The use of CD-ROMs for personal data storage however, is more recent and has rapidly escalated in the past two years because of the increased availability of economically priced (CD-- ROM recorders). Currently, there is very little literature on the use of CD-ROMs in the large classroom settings in the health sciences and virtually none for pharmacy education. In related areas, Shellhart used CD-ROMs in a dental biomechanics course(2) and Klatt reported on Web-based pathology education(3).

However, compact discs have been the standard for audio recordings for almost a decade now. Because computer CD-- ROM readers initially had slow speeds, limited availability and high costs. the earliest applications for this high capacity storage medium in academic institutions were for storing large databases, for example, library search databases. The use of CD-ROMs for data and multimedia applications is thus a relatively recent development and for a review of CD-ROM technology, its "history" and the various standards, see Vaughan(4). The multimedia explosion has led to the development of a large number of creative CD-ROMs titles containing educational and educational entertainment or "edutainment" materials for children(5-7). The growth of the segment of the software industry that caters to these learning needs has been substantial because these learning materials have proven both popular and profitable. Many pharmacy books now include CD-ROMs(8,9) and many professional meetings provide abstracts on CDROM(10). The use of CD-ROMs as an adjunct to the World Wide Web for the dissemination of reference materials to both expert and lay audiences is now fairly widespread(3,11-14).

Previously, an integrated implementation of Internetbased tools such as the World Wide Web, electronic mail and discussion list in Pharmaceutical Mathematics and Statistics, PHC 311, a three-credit pharmaceutical calculations course that includes the interpretation of prescriptions, and the mathematical calculations used in Phan-nacy Practice(15) was reported. In this report, the rationale for, and the implementation of CD-ROMs as an additional tool for the dissemination of supplementary learning materials in PHC 311 is presented. Although, the materials are presented in the context of a Pharmaceutical Calculations course, the experiences may be relevant to a variety of pharmacy courses.

METHODOLOGY

Objectives. The modular, weekly organization of topic areas in this course makes it necessary to make available to students a large amount of supplemental information in a resource-efficient manner. While University policy provides for access to extensive computing facilities for all students, the increased adoption of the Internet-based learning tools by a large number of instructors has placed considerable strain on our computer systems. In particular, dialup access to University computers from remote sites has been at times either difficult or when available, the connections have been slow.

The primary goal therefore, was to allow students to access critical supplemental materials without necessarily dialing up the University computers. Secondarily, the increased availability of learning resources on the Web resulted in increased on-campus printing, possibly because students were not secure in the notion that the information on the Web pages would be available to them with relatively little effort(15). Therefore, strategies that could contribute to reduced on-campus printing were sought and the CD-ROM as was identified as a viable approach.