Experience of introduction of the online course in Biology for pharmacy students in Ukraine

Abstract

Introduction: Distance learning is getting more and more popular all over the world and more recently it expanded into Ukraine. The objective of work was to clarify the experience of development and principles of the on-line course “Biology and Genetics Principles” for pharmacy students in one of the oldest universities of Ukraine – National University of Pharmacy. Methods: The study was conducted using the method of observation and analysis using modern IT technologies. Analysis was conducted based on the material of the current course “Biology and Genetics Principles” which is taught to the 1st year students of the major “Pharmacy” and was approved on 87 members of the audience within 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years. Assessment: on-line course “Biology and Genetics Principles” was developed based on the platform Moodle; it consists of training, communication and control modules and is taught for a period of 12-23 days. Was exposed high satisfaction of the students with learning experience in the framework of the course (5 points under the 5-point scale) and quality of communication with the tutor and the group (4.9 points under the 5-point scale). Discussion: The developed system can serve not only for the needs of the educational process, but also as the base for scientific research of the efficiency of distance learning in the process of training of specialists, particularly, in the pharmaceutical industry.