Interactive Annotation Is an Effective Tool for Delivering Virtual Pharmacology Large Group Sessions

Abstract

Introduction COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on medical education. Following the New York State guidelines for schools, Zucker School of Medicine (ZSOM) made a quick transition from in-person classes to virtual sessions to minimize the disruption of teaching and assessment. This has challenged both learners? and educationists? ability to adapt to the critical situation that has arisen. Pharmacology is a crucial component of undergraduate medical education. The foundational principles of Pharmacology, including Pharmacodynamics (PD) and Pharmacokinetics (PK) are among the most challenging subjects for students. These contents were delivered entirely online this year. It is therefore important to evaluate the effectiveness of online teaching strategies and their adequacy for medical students. Method The current study was conducted in the present first-year medical students (class 2024) at ZSOM. Pharmacology contents of PK, PD and drugs used in the autonomic nervous system were delivered online via Zoom. Students were assigned pre-read work before the classes. Annotation features of Zoom were used throughout the classes to promote students? interaction and engagement. For example, a dose-response curve of a full agonist was shown on the faculty s shared screen, and then the students were asked to draw on the screen how the curve would change if the system was pretreated with a fixed dose of an antagonist, a partial agonist, or an inverse agonist. The students could also answer questions using annotation. All students could respond at the same time. Upon collecting enough responses, the faculty facilitated a class discussion on the topics. At the end of the course, we conducted a virtual learning survey to explore the effectiveness of these virtual teaching strategies. Furthermore, we compared the final exam results of the current class (2024) with that of the previous class (2023) which was taught in-person by the same faculty. Results Eighty-eight out of 103 students completed and submitted the end of course virtual learning survey. Seventy-eight percent of the students agreed/strongly agreed that the virtual large group learning environment was engaging and promoted learning, and 75% of students also agreed/strongly agreed that the virtual large group learning environment provided opportunities to interact with the professor. Only 53% of students agreed/strongly agreed that the virtual large group learning was an equivalent learning experience to in-person large group learning. The majority of the students commented positively on the utilization of annotation features during the classes in terms of promoting students? interaction, engagement, and learning. Furthermore, analysis of the final exam results shows no significant difference between the two classes in the understanding of the pharmacology content and the final exam grades (Figure 1). Conclusion This study reveals a positive attitude from the first-year students at ZSOM toward virtual pharmacology large group sessions. Although online teaching/learning is not the same as in-person, it is a sufficient alternative platform to deliver pharmacology education to medical students when necessary. Annotation features of Zoom are effective in engaging and interacting with students, as well as promoting learning.