An Online Debate Series for First-Year Pharmacy Students

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2007 by Lin, Swu-Jane, Crawford, Stephanie Y

Objectives. This article describes an online debate series that was developed as a new component to an introductory core course for first-professional year pharmacy students. Objectives were to facilitate the group process, introduce controversial issues related to the US healthcare system, improve critical thinking and communication skills, enable students' ability to analyze and evaluate evidence, help develop skills in formulating written arguments, and encourage tolerance of diverse points of view.

Design. One hundred sixty-two students were assigned to 40 teams (half assigned to argue as "Pros" and half as "Cons") and paired into 20 debating groups. The paired teams posted 3 arguments in an online forum alternatively over a 12-week period. The winning teams were determined by a panel of 3 judges.

Assessment. Feedback from the judges was posted online and summarized in an in-class discussion. Thematic analysis of qualitative data from students and faculty members demonstrated the effectiveness of the online debate component in helping students work together in a group, learn alternative sides of complex issues, and write persuasive arguments.

Conclusion. This novel online-debate forum was a feasible teaching and learning strategy, which helped pharmacy students improve their communication skills and critical thinking, expanded their scope of knowledge, and provided a platform for group process.

Keywords: debate, online, assessment, writing, critical thinking

INTRODUCTION

The Roles, Environments, and Communications course at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is a required 3-credit hour course offered each fall semester for entering first-professional year (P1) pharmacy students. The course utilizes active learning to introduce pharmacy students to the mission and philosophy of the pharmacy profession, evolution of pharmacy practice, elements of the US healthcare system, societal and professional expectations, diverse practice environments, and effective communications skills for varied patient and professional audiences. In the fall 2005 semester, 162 P1s were enrolled in the course. Primary course instruction was provided by 2 faculty course coordinators and 3 graduate teaching assistants.

In 2005, due to the restructuring of the course and the shift of 1-credit hour to the first early experiential course, the original weekly laboratory/discussion (recitation) section of the course was removed. In order to continue to include group discussion activities as part of the activelearning process, the course coordinators designed an online debate series (dEbates) as a new component for the Roles, Environments, andCommunications course. The intent was to design a tool to integrate information and topics covered in the lectures, serve as a vehicle to apply knowledge to real life issues, andwork as a platformto facilitate group process in a large class. At the same time, several constraints were considered. Thought and attention were given to the timeconsuming logistical challenges of staging the debates,1 from creation of teams through topic and format selection and scheduling. The novel component needed (1) to provide opportunity for group interaction while not overly burdening the students, (2) to be flexible enough to fit in the already full P1 schedule, and (3) to be woven meaningfully into topics covered by the lectures to help achieve the course objectives. The course objectives were to:

* Gain knowledge of the scope and trends in the US health system, as well as the duties and responsibilities of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians within that system;

* Understand and identify opportunities for increased professional involvement in the dynamic healthcare system;

* Learn and demonstrate effective skills for pharmacists to use when communicating with patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and other consumers;

* Explore, observe, investigate, and discuss varied and diverse pharmacy practice environments and settings;

* Gain insights into skills and interests to help determine optimal career paths and work as effective change agents; and

* Demonstrate professionalism.

Course lectures were organized along 4major themes: pharmacy and the US healthcare system; pharmaceutical care, trends and emerging roles; communications theory and application for pharmacists; and preparing for the future. Much of the information provided in most pharmacy curriculums is fact-based, with clear-cut answers that can be characterized either/or, right/wrong, or black/ white. Through the online group debates, we introduced students to ''grey'' areas in the health care system, where effective communication necessitated consideration of alternative perspectives. Therefore, we chose student dEbate topics that were complex and that could not be answered by merely memorizing facts.

Use of structured debates is an active-learning strategy, which can enhance student engagement, learning, and critical thinking.2,3 Incorporation of classroom (ie, in-class) debates has been described in diverse subject areas, including nursing,4 dentistry,5 medicine,6 social work,1 policy studies,1 sociology,7 and business.8 Authors reported greater student satisfaction and interest with the learning experience and enhanced student skills.4,6-8 Classroom debates have been used in pharmacy education with the goal of developing critical evaluation skills in courses on pharmacy management,9 the US health care system,10 and clinical skills.11-13