Evaluation of the impact of new information and communication technologies in university education.

ANGEL VILLEGAS N, LASCANO VM, PARAJE MG.

Córdoba

Congreso; 1° Reunión Internacional de Ciencias Farmacéuticas RICIFA; 2010

Dto. de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba y el Dto. de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario.

Introduction The New Information and Communication Technologies (NICTs) can be defined as tools and processes used to store, organize, and share information electronically, allowing transmission, processing and dispersion of information in real time. In the subject “Prepracticanato Profesional de Farmacia”, belonging to the 8º semester of the Pharmacy career, a virtual classroom was implemented under the Moodle learning platform as a new teaching strategy.  In this course, there are activities designed to train and develop students with the skills necessary to use different sources of information on drugs in relation to the proper use and resolution of problems related to these, thereby promoting their rational use. Our aim was to reinforce what students have learned in class and become familiar with the use of NICTs by providing them with all the necessary tools. Objetive: Assess the impact of the implementation of NICTs through a virtual classroom, in addition to traditional teaching in the subject “Prepracticanato Profesional de Farmacia”. Materials and methods An online semi-structured survey was drawn up and the students answered anonymously at the end of the course. 366 questionnaires were analyzed for the years 2008 (n = 99), 2009 (n = 125) and 2010 (n = 142). Results During the three years, most of the students visited the virtual classroom more than 10 times (2008 = 64.94%, 2009 = 66.38% and 2010 = 69.05%). The students felt that the virtual test exercises provided "much better" or "better" understanding and integration of the content of the subject (2008 = 41.95% and 50%, 2009 = 39.79% and 51.9 % and 2010 = 37.41% and 52.94%, respectively). Over the three years, an average of 98.67% of students said they would like to continue the use of NICTs for  Professional practice. After the course, 92.2% found useful the application in the pre-professional year of the tools learned in the “Prepracticanato”. Conclusions The use of NICTs is a very interesting and useful tool for the student during the development of the subject “Prepracticanato”, and this was reflected in the use of Moodle during this time. In turn, using these new methodologies of study, the teacher may permit better monitoring and other ways of working . References Lascano VM, Angel Villegas N, Paraje MG, et al. Pre-Practicanato Farmacia. Guía de Seminarios 2010. Córdoba: Departamento de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, UNC; 2010. Norma Scagnoli. El aula virtual: usos y elementos que la componen. [en línea] Chicago: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; 2000. Disponible en: http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/scagnoli/pubs/AulaVirtual.pdf DUART, JM.; LUPIÁÑEZ, F (2005). Estrategias en la introducción y uso de las TIC en la universidad. En: DUART, JM.; LUPIÁÑEZ, F (coords.). Las TIC en la universidad: estrategia y transformación institucional [monográfico en línea]. Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento (RUSC). Vol. 2, núm. 1. UOC. [Fecha de consulta: 23/03/10] Disponible en: http://www.uoc.edu/rusc/dt/esp/duart0405.pdf RUIZ VALDÉS, J (2005). Dirección, administración y organización de proyectos de e-learning. En: DUART, J M.; LUPIÁÑEZ, F (coords.). Las TIC en la universidad: estrategia y transformación institucional [monográfico en línea]. Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento (RUSC). Vol. 2, núm. 1. UOC. [Fecha de consulta: 23/03/10]. Disponible en: http://www.uoc.edu/rusc/dt/esp/ruiz0405.pdf