(389) Peer Teaching and Active Learning in the Cleanroom and Lecture: Students’ Perceptions of Effectiveness

Trainee Category: Student Pharmacist

Objective : To assess second-year pharmacy students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of third-year student assistants teaching aseptic technique in the cleanroom and lecture.

Methods: Second-year pharmacy students at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy are required to complete aseptic technique validation in a cleanroom before their Institutional IPPE. The exercises consisted of two or three students working with a faculty member or two third-year pharmacy student assistants and lasted approximately three hours. Students completed gloved fingertip samplings along with low and medium-risk media-fill validation. The teaching assistants led ten cleanroom exercises and taught one lecture. At the end of the semester, students completed an anonymous online survey comprised of twelve questions evaluating the effectiveness of instruction by their peers and the cleanroom exercises.

Results: Survey response rate was 92.4% (n=92). Using a scale of 1-5 (1=Strongly Disagree; 5=Strongly Agree), students answered in agreement with several statements regarding the student assistants: the lecture helped me feel more confident about my preparedness for my Institutional IPPE (4.02±1.25), active learning in the lecture was more valuable than traditional lectures (4.30±1.14), the lecture helped me prepare for the final exam (3.99±1.24). Of the students instructed in the cleanroom by the student assistants, 78.9% (n=38) reported that it was more helpful for the exercise to be led by a peer.

Conclusions: Peer teaching and active learning exercises increased preparedness for the Institutional IPPE, were perceived to be more valuable than traditional lectures for the majority of respondents, and reinforced lecture material.