FACULTY & STAFF PROFILE
OAA's Education Evolution By Christianna McCausland
In March 2020, the School of Pharmacy moved its entire academic enterprise, as well as business, administrative, and research operations, online as the coronavirus pandemic unfolded. Most of the School's master’s programs already were largely online, but the two PhD programs and the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program, while having some virtual elements, were largely in-person experiences. At the time, it was an emergency pivot, but as the year progressed, the School, under the leadership of the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA), evolved its educational approach. “In the spring emergency pivot, we were forced to quickly move academics online without a lot of planning,” explains Andrew Coop, PhD, associate dean for academic affairs and professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, whose office oversees the PharmD program, which has 479 students. “While that was effective in that emergency moment, we learned a lot of lessons in the spring that informed what we implemented in the fall. It’s been an iterative process.” The School decided in June 2020 to continue a virtual format for the forthcoming fall semester and used the summer
to develop a strategic plan for delivery of the PharmD program. The School’s PhD programs in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmaceutical health services research moved online as well in the spring under the leadership of their respective departments. “We took feedback from students and faculty and worked with the vice chairs in all three of our departments to create a student-centered delivery approach,” says Coop. Essential to this new approach was a limited amount of synchronous online learning to reduce “Zoom fatigue,” the very real exhaustion that comes from sitting in a video conference for hours on end. For the fall semester, synchronous instruction for PharmD students was limited to two- to three-hour blocks, two to three days a week, scheduled consistently from noon to 2 p.m. Understanding that students and faculty were home, possibly with family and other demands, this specificity enabled everyone to plan their schedules. It also meant students in other time zones could join class at a reasonable hour. Faculty provided all new asynchronous material — mostly pre-recorded videos — that were released consistently at the start of each week. Continued on page 24
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