Using interactive digital images of products to teach pharmaceutics

Objective. To implement interactive digital images of drug products and online quizzes in a pharmaceutics course to teach students where to look on product labels for information and how to evaluate ingredients of various dosage forms, and to reinforce pharmaceutical calculations with practical problems. Design. Interactive digital images of drug products and a database of quiz questions pertaining to the products were created and an interactive online platform was designed. The interactive digital images were incorporated in pharmaceutics lectures as examples of dosage forms studied and calculations taught. The online quizzes were administered to first-professional year pharmacy students in fall 2004 and fall 2005. Assessment. The competency outcome data illustrates that the product-based online quizzes aided students in meeting the desired learning objectives. Modifications to increase ease of use resulted in higher student success rates in the second year of implementation. Student and faculty evaluations of the application were largely positive. Conclusion. The development of interactive digital images and product-based online quizzes successfully adapted a traditional learning aid into a viable electronic resource for pharmacy education.