In our weekly article-series, readers can gain an insight into the digital exam period of the Faculty of Pharmacy. In our previous article, you could read about the Unipoll experience of the Department of Pharmaceutics and the problem of exam-cheatings. In all seven institutes, the examinations were conducted in different ways, with more or less similarities, but the Department of Pharmacognosy conducted the Pharmacobotany examinations using an eLearning framework already launched within the confines of a tender before the examination period.
The forerunner of the Faculty of Pharmacy's digital examination system: The Moodle
Through the successful application of the Department of Pharmacognosy, it joined the program of our University aimed at building an electronic learning support system (EFOP 3.4.3. “Modern University in the Modern City: Value Focus, Openness and Inclusive Approach in a 21st Century Higher Education Model”). In the spring-semester, the Department created online curricula related to the practical training of the subject of Pharmacobotany 2 on the Moodle platform, which contain a detailed description of the herb species to be learned during each exercise, as well as photographs showing live and pressed plants. Dr. Ágnes Farkas, one of the instructors involved in the development of the curriculum, said that the mid-term written examinations and the end-of-semester online exams are also conducted in this system.
The Moodle interface also provides an opportunity to test the acquired knowledge in the form of online tests, so students have been introduced to the alternative of the previous paper-based assessment from the second week of the spring-semester. Due to the above, in the 8th week of education, when switching to online education, the Department of Pharmacognosy already had enough experience to continue the education and examination on the online interface smoothly. Adapting to the changed circumstances, the scope of application of Moodle was expanded, so the second mid-term test checking the acquisition of the material of Pharmacobotany lectures was also solved online by the students on this interface.
The replacement of the oral exams and the future
The next big challenge of the Department was to replace the end-of-semester oral exams with an online test. As a first step, the teaching colleagues created a question bank containing nearly 170 questions, covering the entire material of the lectures in the second semester, from which the system randomly selects 30 questions for the student each time. Experience has shown that the system is reliable, but for security reasons, the answers of each student are checked by an instructor after the exam. Dr. Ágnes Farkas said that:
“Based on our experience so far, students are doing well, following the detailed guidelines on the online interface, and managing the time frame available to them well. We hope to return to classroom classes soon, but the species descriptions on the Moodle interface and the questionnaire created as an e-learning support system will continue to help students learn the curriculum. ”