Active Learning has been implemented as the main educational mode in Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Australia. The main motivation for this change from traditional lectures was the drive to improve the education offering in the research-intensive Faculty with the focus on the development of higher order cognitive skills. It was also based on our pedagogical perspective � to teach in a way that reflects how students learn. The Faculty instigated and executed a concerted process, which involved development of a collective vision and teaching principles, deliberate application of change management theory, and introduction of processes of reward and dissemination of excellence in teaching practices. The process started in 2012 with a pilot phase, continued in 2013 with an implementation phase (involving all 1st year units of study), and is currently proceeding through staged rollout in later years of the two degrees taught in the Faculty: Bachelor of Pharmacy and Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Teaching staff and students' perceptions, attitudes and behaviors were evaluated at the completion of both the pilot (2012) and implementation (2013) phases with a view to improving the process at each stage. In this presentation, we will discuss the following findings. For teaching staff: mapping of active learning activities to learning principles; perceptions of the drivers for change, impact on workload, and teaching effectiveness. For students: understanding of pedagogy and perceptions of impact of active learning approach on student learning; perception of impact of active learning on examination performance; and effect of introduction of active learning on attendance of value-added lectures.

Concerted implementation of active learning in a research intensive faculty: Changes in staff and students attitudes and behaviors

248th National Meeting (2014)

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