Implementation and evaluation of supplementary classes to improve basic academic skills of fourth-year pharmacy students

Abstract

This study evaluated the learning effects of two interventions aimed at improving the students’ basic academic skills, namely by lecture-type supplementary classes that used preparation videos on organic chemistry and supplementary classes delivered in the drill-and-check format. Students were divided into four quartile groups in the order of their pre-intervention grades. Each group was further divided into an intervention and a non-intervention subgroup to compare the two groups’ post-intervention examination results. In the lecture-type supplementary classes that used preparation videos, Group Three’s scores for the intervention subgroup were superior to those of the non-intervention subgroup. Furthermore, the questionnaire responses on the video-based supplementary classes revealed keywords that indicated some video-specific characteristics, such as the pause and rewind functions, suggesting that the independent learning style matched the level of understanding. In the drill-and-check-type supplementary classes, Group Two’s scores for the intervention subgroup were inferior to those of the non-intervention subgroup, indicating that, for this group, self-study was more effective than supplementary classes. The study showed that the learning effects obtained vary depending on the supplementary class strategy and the students’ grades before the intervention.