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Active Learning
Active Learning
Active learning directly involves students in problem-solving, discussion, and reflection activities using hands-on experiences and interaction with peers and instructors.
Advantages
Inviting students to participate in active learning strategies fosters greater engagement and motivation than traditional passive approaches. Increased involvement leads to improvements in critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and knowledge acquisition.
Reliance on collaborative activities encourages communication and input from varying perspectives. Working with individuals who bring varying backgrounds and experiences to the interaction enhances inclusivity and teamwork skills.
Challenges
While there are numerous benefits of implementing active learning approaches, it has increased resource requirements. Instructors require training to develop the necessary skills, there can be increased time requirements for in-class activities, and some students may resist engaging in active learning strategies.
If time requirements are mitigated or accommodated, and effective engagement strategies are implemented, active learning is an effective means of improving learning outcomes and practical skills.
(Rahman et al., 2022)
Constructivism
Constructivism
Learning through active involvement
Constructivism suggests that students learn best when engaging in authentic situations that mimic real-world experiences. This allows students to assimilate new knowledge into familiar concepts.
Metacognition allows students to analyze their knowledge and performance, reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, and utilize this analysis to improve future performance.
Active learning supports a constructivist approach, with students actively involved in constructing their own knowledge through experience and reflection. Engaging in active tasks allows students to create and refine their own personal understanding of pharmacy concepts.
(McComas, 2014)
Experiential learning
Experiential learning
Learning through engagement, reflection, and experimentation
Experiential learning involves students engaging in a novel experience, analyzing what they encounter and observe, and forming general principles that they can then apply to real-world situations. This forms a continuous loop of active engagement and reflection, allowing students to complete increasingly complex tasks.
Experiential learning allows students to bridge the gap between theory and practice, understanding how to apply theoretical concepts to practical situations.
Active learning's focus on hands-on experiences and reflection allows students to apply pharmacy concepts to realistic scenarios and evaluate their success. Students develop flexibility and adaptability to novel situations, and enhanced engagement in the learning process.
(Kolb, 2015)
Challenge-Based Learning
Challenge-Based Learning
Learning through creating solutions to challenges
Challenge-based learning addresses authentic issues by leveraging technology and collaboration.
There are three phases of challenge-based learning:
Engage: through collaboration, identify an essential question or challenge to address.
Investigate: analyze the challenge to determine the necessary resources and questions to be answered.
Act: identify and implement a solution, and evaluate the success in addressing the challenge.
Through active learning, students can collaborate with peers, instructors, and experts in their field to identify and address real-world challenges. They can be directly involved in the development and testing of solutions to practical issues, enhancing critical thinking skills, teamwork, and student performance.
(Dikilitaş et al., 2025)
Simulation-Based Learning
Simulation-Based Learning
Simulation-based learning (SBL) immerses students in realistic, interactive scenarios that mirror real-world practice. It encompasses a range of formats, from physical mannequins to virtual reality (VR), each designed to replicate clinical environments and decision-making processes.
Advantages
SBL has been found to boost engagement and motivation, while enhancing pharmacy education by improving knowledge retention, clinical skills, and student confidence. It provides a safe environment for students to develop their skills and refine their decision-making skills without compromising patient safety. It offers standardized experiences, ensuring all students encounter the same core scenarios and receive consistent training and assessment, which is not always possible in clinical placements. Simulation can also encourage team-based learning, often incorporating interprofessional collaboration to help students develop essential communication, leadership, and teamwork skills in a structured environment. Another strength lies in the opportunity for immediate feedback and reflection; many simulations include debriefing sessions where learners can analyze their decisions and receive guided input, which is critical for deep learning and professional growth. SBL serves as a valuable tool for assessing students' readiness for advanced pharmacy practice experiences. Through realistic scenarios and interprofessional collaboration, students become better prepared for real-world practice. (Thomas, 2019).
VR simulation can replicate rare, high-stakes situations, such as handling hazardous drugs, without incurring the risks associated with real-world scenarios. The simulations are flexible, repeatable, and tailored to each learner’s pace. AI-enhanced VR simulations can also power adaptive learning, adjusting content and difficulty in real-time based on student performance. Whether offering extra support or introducing advanced challenges, the system ensures a personalized path to mastery, especially valuable when clinical placements are limited. (Thomas, 2019).
Challenges
Despite its benefits, integrating simulation into curricula poses challenges. It requires course redesign, faculty training, and significant investment in technology. Some students may also be hesitant to embrace non-traditional learning methods.
Still, when grounded in sound learning theories, VR simulation offers a dynamic, responsive, and practical approach to preparing future pharmacists. (Issenberg et al., 2005; Ismail et al., 2024).
Situated Learning
Situated Learning
Learning through real-world context
Situated learning emphasizes that students learn best when immersed in authentic environments. In pharmacy education, this means engaging in realistic clinical scenarios, such as virtual cleanrooms or simulated hospital wards. (Heera, S., n.d; Ross, 2021).
VR simulations bring this theory to life by offering context-rich, interactive experiences where students can practice real tasks, make decisions, and observe simulated outcomes. This supports gradual skill development, enabling learners to progress from novice to expert through active participation.
(Heera, S., n.d; Ross, 2021)
Experiential Learning
Experiential Learning
Learning through doing and reflecting
Kolb’s model outlines a four-stage learning cycle:
Concrete Experience: hands-on simulation (e.g., compounding or patient counselling)
Reflective Observation: reviewing feedback and outcomes
Abstract Conceptualization: connecting experiences to theory
Active Experimentation: reapplying knowledge in new scenarios
AI-enhanced VR simulations support this cycle by enabling repeated practice, personalized feedback, and the flexibility to test different strategies, thereby reinforcing learning through experience.
(Institute for Experiential Learning, 2025; Ross, 2021)
Connectivism
Connectivism
Learning through networks and digital connections
Connectivism reflects how learning occurs in the digital age. It’s not just about what you know, but how you access and connect to knowledge.
In the context of VR simulations, connectivism emphasizes that learning is not confined to static knowledge but instead emerges through immersive and interactive experiences. In virtual environments, learners engage with dynamic scenarios that mirror real-world complexity, enabling them to explore, experiment, and connect ideas within a contextual framework.
VR acts as a powerful learning partner by placing users in realistic, responsive simulations. It helps learners develop critical thinking, decision-making, and spatial understanding by linking concepts to lived, embodied experiences. Through these simulations, learners form deeper connections between knowledge, practice, and the systems they interact with.
(360Learning, n.d.)
Problem-Based Learning
Problem-Based Learning
Problem-based learning (PBL) has been thought to be pioneered in the late 1960's by Howard Barrows and his colleagues at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in their medical school program which moved medical education away from straight lecture and memorization tests and toward actual practice (Barrows, 1996; Barrows & Tamblyn, 1980; Schmitt, 2008). PBL serves to invoke the audience to deepen learning vs the traditional teaching approach which only addresses the audience (Ede & Lunsford, 1984).
Advantages
A well-designed PBL project provides students with the opportunity to develop abilities related to (Nilson, 2016):
Working in teams.
Managing projects and holding leadership roles.
Oral and written communication.
Self-awareness and evaluation of group processes.
Working independently.
Critical thinking and analysis.
Explaining concepts and providing a deeper understanding of content
Self-directed learning.
Applying course content to real-world examples.
Research and information literacy.
Problem solving across disciplines.
Promotes deeper understanding, improves knowledge retention, enhances problem-solving skills and critical thinking, and better prepares students for clinical decision-making.
Challenges:
Time consuming, increased space requirements, greater resource requirements. (Wang, Z., 2022)
Heutagogy
Heutagogy
In recent years, the emphasis on problem based learning (PBL) in higher education has been increasing (Li, 2013). This is in line with the demands of curriculum development and responsibility for improving the main performance indicators of postgraduate study programs in higher education. In line with the PBL there has been a shift in the learning approaches in higher education from andragogy to heutagogy (Sidhu et al., 2023). Heutagogy originated with the work of Hase and Kenyon (2000). The term derives from the Greek word for “self” (Hase & Kenyon, 2007) as heutagogy is a model for SDL. It has been described as “an attempt to personalize a curriculum that is focused on professional capability” (Stoten, 2020). Heutology is grounded the self-determination theory (SDT), social constructivist (SC) approach and General Interest Theory (GIT). The SC approach defines learning as an interactive process sharing the fundamental assumption that knowledge is created by individuals or groups and claiming that learning occurs when the learner internalizes the social experiences of interacting with others (Vygostsky, 1978). The SDT acknowledges the controlling nature of institutionalized schooling and simultaneously proposes to use strategies to promote intrinsic motivation through the satisfaction of human needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness (Deci et al., 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2002). SDT is consistent with the SC approach in regards to learning in that it promotes a “sense of belongingness and connectedness to the persons, group, or culture disseminating a goal” (Ryan & Deci, 2000 ). Finally, the GIT indicates that the content of tasks and the context in which they are presented increase intrinsic motivation to the extent that they indicate that performing the task helps satisfy needs, wants, or desires (Eisenberger et al., 1999).
Heutagogical learning deviates from conventional linear or planned approaches, adopting a more informal and parallel structure that aligns with how individuals thrive in learning beyond formal academic settings. Heutagogy serves to create a self directed learner and the characteristics of this approach are shown in Figure 1.
Fig 1: Principles of heutagogy (McAuliffe et al., 2009)
Heutagogical approach to PBL emphasises two main concepts, double-loop learning and self-reflection. In double loop learning, learners are required to engage in the process not only behaviorally but also psychologically so that they can test their personal beliefs and assumptions (Akyildiz, 2019). Double loop learning questions the purpose and function of task being done in an attempt to increase understanding (Argyris, 1977), which is inline with PBL’s approach of enabling students the ability to determine what they need to learn and where they can acquire the information and tools necessary to solve the problem. A competent learner is one who demonstrates the acquisition of knowledge and skill which can be repeated and retrieved. On the other hand a capable learner can reproduce skills and knowledge in unfamiliar situations. Through the process of double-looping, learners become more aware of their preferred learning style and can easily adapt new learning situations to their learning styles, thus making them more capable learners (Blaschke, 2012). The emphasis on capability is paramount to PBL as the student is able to adapt to unfamiliar situations. A key factor that promotes this adaptability is the self-reflective aspect of heutagogy. Self -reflection is a cornerstone of learning in heutagogy, playing a crucial role in the development and refinement of a learner's understanding and skills. In heutagogical approaches, learners are encouraged to engage in reflective practices as an integral part of their self-directed learning journey. Within the PBL framework self reflections fosters adaptability and allows for students to become capable learners who can work in unfamiliar situations. This reflective component of heutagogy as key to the implementation of PBL and represents the last stage in PBL implementation via a heutagogical approach in a higher education (Fig 2)
Constructivism
Constructivism
This theory claims that you learn through social interactions and through conversations with others, which help co-construct knowledge. Constructivist learning theory emphasizes the active role of the learner in the construction of knowledge. Constructivism draws from the work of Piaget (1977) and Kelly (1991). Constructivism has been defined by Fosnot (1989) reference to four principles:(1) learning is dependent on prior knowledge, knowledge consists of past constructions; (2) New knowledge is acquired through assimilation and accommodation to organize new information; (3) Learning is an organic process that involves inventing ideas rather than mechanically accumulating facts; and (4) meaningful learning occurs through rumination and resolution of cognitive conflict resulting in the generation of new conclusions about new ideas which conflict with our preexisting beliefs.
PBL is a constructivist educational approach that organizes curriculum and instruction around carefully crafted “ill-structured” problems (Barrows, 1988). These “ill structured” problems are developed to foster an environment that promotes group communication and discussion among students with the help of constructivism (see Fig 3). PBL serves to create a teacher guided classroom with and emphasis on student learning and collaborative communication (Berenji et al., 2020; Ge et al., 2022; Tang et al., 2020). Additionally in the constructivist theory, students compile the information they learn into existing schema to create a their own unique understanding of the problem (Aljohani, 2017). In class activites such as interactive modules, group discussions, and decentralized management of the whole group, promotes student participation and communication with their peers and instructors from a social construvist perspective (Amineh & Asl, 2015).
Fig 3: The practice framework of the problem-based learning method and social constructivism (Ge et al., 2022)
Universal Learning Design (ULD)
Universal Learning Design (ULD)
UDL argues that learning needs to be made accessible to all and must accommodate students by providing multiple methods for learning and for demonstrating new knowledge (Tobin, 2016). According to Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), students have diverse cognitive strengths and preferences as well as different experience with various technologies and
discourse communities and as such they must be taught how to organize content and use it in their
own ways (Williams et al., 2013).There are three main tenets to UD (CAST, 2024):
1. Multiple means of engagement: options for motivating and engaging all learners
using a constructivist approach that supports active engagement in their learning,
2. Multiple means of representation: options for perception, language and symbols, and
comprehension,
3. Multiple means of action and expression: options for interaction, expression and communication and strategy development.
The components and three major principles of this teaching method encourage experiential learning opportunities. Employing UDL in the classroom involves creating flexible learning environments that accommodate these tenets so as to accommodate the differences in students in an effort to supports students with varying cognitive strengths to access, participate in, and succeed in learning (Williams et al., 2013).
The nature of PBL demands that students connect learning directly to real situations through invoking authentic audiences and applying lessons to real contexts in highly motivating ways. When such an approach is taken, and the traditional pedagogical and physical structures of the classroom are set aside, the result is an environment that accords with UDL’s flexible approaches to recognizing, engaging, and
organizing problems in the classroom resulting in an increase in student exploration, engagement and provides more dynamic solutions to teach students concepts (ChanLin, 2008; Williams et al., 2013).
Fig 2: 7 Steps of Problem Based Learning (PBL) Through a Heutagogy Approach in Higher Education (Sutarjo et al., 2025)
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