Face-to-face teaching: the opinion and the commitment of the students of Physiology and Pathophysiogy III in the Pharmacy Degree of the University of Barcelona

Abstract

Although university teachers and students made a significant effort to adapt to a virtual scenario during the pandemic, face-to-face teaching is considered the priority system at the University of Barcelona. However, after the pandemic period, the presence of the students in the classroom has been clearly reduced. The teachers of the subject of Physiology and Pathophysiology III of the Pharmacy Degree of the University of Barcelona have designed a survey to capture the degree of satisfaction of the students about the development of face-to-face teaching tuition and to investigate their commitment to attend the classes in the classroom. The students answered this survey on the day of the final exam. The number of students in the course 2022-2023 is 313 and 95 % of them (296 students) answered the survey, which was voluntary and anonymous. In the analysis of the results obtained, we have differentiated between the students who coursed the subject for the first time (242 students) and those who failed in previous academic years and enrolled for the second or the third time (46 students). Results indicated that the students valued positively face-to-face teaching, as 94% of all the students who answered the poll rated "quiet" or "a lot" this tuition. If we consider only the students who matriculated the subject for the first time, the degree of satisfaction increased to 95% while it decreased to 90% when the students that already coursed the subject before were assessed. When they were asked about their commitment to assist the lessons at the classroom, with the question "How often have you attended the face-to-face classes?", 77% of the students answered "quite" or "a lot". Again, if we consider the students who coursed the subject for the first time, this value increased to 81% and decreased to 61% for those who were matriculated in the subject after failing it the previous year. The main reasons that they argued for not assisting to the classes were mainly 1) lack of time due to other continuous assessment exams and activities and 2) working hours. Only 1.7% of the students adduced their absence from the classroom to reasons related to the teaching quality. In conclusion, the students are in line with our university's face-to-face teaching methods, as they continue to positively value classroom teaching, despite having lived through the pandemics, when they took online classes. Their responses to the survey show us that students of the Pharmacy Degree may feel overwhelmed with the activities and exams scheduled during each term, the lack of time the reason for not attending regular face-to-face classes every day.