Navigating change: Assessing the influence of online teaching on academic performance in pharmacy cohorts during COVID-19
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background. This study investigates the academic performance of three consecutive cohorts of pharmacy students, with a specific emphasis on admission criteria. The multifaceted admission policy allocates 40% of positions to the highest academic achievers, while the remaining 60% is distributed among top performers from quintiles 1&2, rural backgrounds, and students identified as top achievers within the black and coloured demographic. This classification framework facilitates a nuanced examination of academic performance variations across diverse admission parameters within the pharmacy student cohorts.
Objectives. This study sought to determine the influence of the transition to online learning on students’ academic performance, taking into account different entrance categories, in the light of the circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 epidemic.
Methods. This retrospective study examines the academic trajectories of three cohorts of pharmacy students (N=358) enrolled from 2019 to 2021. The primary objective involves the analysis of each cohort’s academic performance, employing admission data as a differentiating parameter, with the first-year progression outcome serving as the dependent variable. Subsequently, a comparative analysis of the three cohorts is conducted, utilising the first-year progression outcome as the dependent variable to discern nuanced differences.
Results. In 2019, academic performance among students with different admission categories was not statistically significant F(2, 101)=2.697, p=0.072. In the year 2020, there were notable disparities identified among different groups F(3, 73)=13.627, p<0.001. However, in the year 2021, no significant distinctions were found F(3, 95)=0.490, p=0.690. The results of the cohort-based analysis revealed significant performance variances F(2, 277)=28.282, p<0.001.
Conclusion. The results highlighted significant performance variances, underscoring the need for a nuanced approach to education. The transition to online learning, especially amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed noteworthy disparities among different admission groups. As we navigate an evolving educational landscape, our findings suggest that embracing blended teaching and learning can enhance students’ chances of success. In essence, a thoughtful integration of traditional and online methods becomes imperative for optimising educational opportunities and addressing the complexities of contemporary learning environments.
Downloads
Article Details
Issue
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The AJHPE is published under an Attribution-Non Commercial International Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License. Under this license, authors agree to make articles available to users, without permission or fees, for any lawful, non-commercial purpose. Users may read, copy, or re-use published content as long as the author and original place of publication are properly cited.
Exceptions to this license model is allowed for UKRI and research funded by organisations requiring that research be published open-access without embargo, under a CC-BY licence. As per the journals archiving policy, authors are permitted to self-archive the author-accepted manuscript (AAM) in a repository.
How to Cite
References
1. Mhlanga D, Moloi T. COVID-19 and the digital transformation of education: What are we learning on 4IR in South Africa? Education Sciences 2020;10(7):180. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10070180
2. Landa N, Zhou S, Marongwe N. Education in emergencies: Lessons from COVID-19 in South Africa. Int Rev Educ. 2021;67(1):167-183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-021-09903-z
3. Dube B. Rural online learning in the context of COVID 19 in South Africa: Evoking an inclusive education approach. REMIE: Multidisciplinary J Educational Research 2020;10(2):135-157.
4. Mbhiza HW. Shifting paradigms: Rethinking education during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. Research in Social Sciences and Technology. 2021;6(2):279-289. https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.2021.31
5. van Schalkwyk F. Reflections on the public university sector and the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. Studies in Higher Education 2021;46(1):44-58. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1859682
6. Finch D, Jacobs K. Online Education: Best Practices to Promote Learning. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 2012;56(1):546-550. https://doi.org/10.1177/1071181312561114
7. Ocak G, Karakus G. Undergraduate students’ views of and difficulties in online exams during the COVID-19 pandemic. Themes in eLearning 2021;14(14):13-30.
8. Sun A, Chen X. Online Education and Its Effective Practice: A Research Review. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research. 2016;15:157-190. https://doi.org/10.28945/3502
9. Harasim L. Shift happens: Online education as a new paradigm in learning. The Internet and Higher Education 2000;3(1):41-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7516(00)00032-4
10. Baticulon RE, Sy JJ, Alberto NRI, et al. Barriers to online learning in the time of COVID-19: A national survey of medical students in the Philippines. MedSciEduc 2021;31(2):615-626. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s40670-021-01231-z
11. Aziz Ansari K, Farooqi FA, Qadir Khan S, et al. Perception on online teaching and learning among health sciences students in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 lockdown – ways to improve teaching and learning in Saudi colleges and universities. F1000Res 2021;10:177. https://doi.org/10.12688/ f1000research.28178.2
12. Khan MA, Vivek V, Khojah M, Nabi MK, Paul M, Minhaj SM. Learners’ perspective towards e-exams during COVID-19 outbreak: Evidence from higher educational institutions of India and Saudi Arabia. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021;18(12):6534. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126534
13. Bilen E, Matros A. Online cheating amid COVID-19. Econ Behav Organ 2021;182:196-211. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jebo.2020.12.004
14. Naidoo P, Cartwright D. Where to from here? Contemplating the impact of COVID-19 on South African students and student counseling services in higher education. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy 2020;36(4):1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/87568225.2020.1842279
15. Louiselle K, Elson EC, Oschman A, Duehlmeyer S. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on pharmacy learners and preceptors. Am J Health-System Pharm 2020;77(14):1097-1099. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajhp/zxaa127
16. Mabizela SE, George AZ. Predictive validity of the National Benchmark Test and National Senior Certificate for the academic success of first-year medical students at one South African university. BMC Med Educ 2020;20(1):1- 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02059-8
17. van Dyk H, White CJ. Theory and practice of the quintile ranking of schools in South Africa: A financial management perspective. South African Journal of Education 2019;39:s1-s9. https://doi.org/10.15700/saje. v39ns1a1820
18. Ogbonnaya UI, Awuah FK. Quintile ranking of schools in South Africa and learners’ achievement in probability. Statistics Education Research J 2019;18(1):106-119. https://doi.org/10.52041/serj.v18i1.153
19. Sango T, Prince R, Steyn S, Mudavanhu P. High stakes online assessments: A case study of national benchmark tests during COVID-19. Perspectives in Education. 2022;40(1):212-233. https://doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie. v40.i1.13
20. Mashige KP, Rampersad N, Venkatas IS. Do National Senior Certificate results predict first-year optometry students’ academic performance at university? South African Journal of Higher Education 2014;28(2):550-563. https://doi.org/10.10520/EJC153541
21. Mabizela SE, Roos R, Myezwa H, Potterton J. Predictors for the academic success of first-year physiotherapy students at a South African university. South African Journal of Physiotherapy 2020;76(1):1-8. https://doi. org/10.4102/sajp.v76i1.1418
22. Allen P, Bennett K. Pasw Statistic by SPSS: A practical guide - version 18.0. 1st edition. Hong Kong: Asia Printing Solutions; 2010.
23. Allen P, Bennett K, Heritage B. SPSS Statistics Version 22: A practical guide. 3rd edition. Australia: Cengage Learning; 2014.
24. du Plessis M, Jansen van Vuuren CD, Simons A, Frantz J, Roman N, Andipatin M. South African higher education institutions at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: Sense-making and lessons learnt. Frontiers in Education 2022;6. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.740016
25. Serrano Sarmiento Á, Sanz Ponce R, González Bertolín A. Resilience and COVID-19. An analysis in university students during confinement. Education Sciences 2021;11(9):533. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090533
26. Wu H-P, Garza E, Guzman N. International student’s challenge and adjustment to college. Education Research
International 2015;2015:e202753. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/202753
27. Khoshaim HB, Al-Sukayt A, Chinna K, et al. Anxiety level of university students during COVID-19 in Saudi
Arabia. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2020;11.
28. Nagy DK, Hall JJ, Charrois TL. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pharmacy students’ personal
and professional learning. Curr Pharm Teach Learn 2021;13(10):1312-1318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
cptl.2021.07.014
29. Alqurshi A. Investigating the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on pharmaceutical education in Saudi Arabia – a call for a remote teaching contingency strategy. Saud Pharm 2020;28(9):1075-1083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jsps.2020.07.008
30. Eurboonyanun C, Wittayapairoch J, Aphinives P, Petrusa E, Gee DW, Phitayakorn R. Adaptation to open-book online examination during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Surg Educ 2021;78(3):737-739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jsurg.2020.08.046
31. Abdollahi A, Labbaf A, Khabaz Mafinejad M, Sotoudeh-Anvari M, Azmoudeh-Ardalan F. Online assessment for pathology residents during the COVID-19 pandemic: Report of an experience. Iran J Pathol 2021;16(1):75-78. https://doi.org/10.30699/ijp.2020.129558.2425
32. Bisht RK, Jasola S, Bisht IP. Acceptability and challenges of online higher education in the era of COVID-19: A study of students’ perspective. Asian Education and Development Studies 2020;11(2):401-414. https://doi. org/10.1108/AEDS-05-2020-0119
33. Appana S. A review of benefits and limitations of online learning in the context of the student, the instructor and the tenured faculty. Int J E-learning 2008;7(1):5-22.
34. Bates AW, Bartolic-Zlomislic S. Investing in on-line learning: Potential benefits and limitations. Canadian J Communication 1999;24(3):349. https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.1999v24n3a1111