The Village Pharm

Flipping the classroom to enhance the learning of pharmaceutics and associated professional skills

Abstract

A growing body of knowledge in Pharmacy has made it increasingly difficult to keep abreast of current knowledge and developments in disease prevention and treatment. It has been suggested that in the face of this ever-changing knowledge environment, it is essential to help students develop professional capabilities in classroom (Blouin et al., 2009). Here we present an experiment called the village pharm - a model that used the flipped classroom concept. Our aim was to teach students professional skills in context, mirroring key skills including communication, empathy, cultural and ethical awareness expected of health professionals. Using auto-ethnography, we present our design, reflection and analysis of how learning unfolded in a flipped classroom and the lessons we have learnt to make improvements for the future. We believe this will be useful for academics wishing to use flipped classroom and technology to help students develop key professional skills inherent to their discipline.