Learning Object Design Rationale

The design of the Pharmacology learning object uses a combination of expository and inquiry approaches to support the learning of basic therapeutic principles.


Expository Approach

In the “Basic Principles” tab each principle is presented visually. These demonstrations serve to pique the students’ interest and to illustrate how these rules can be used to explain, control and predict the effects of drug administration. The description that accompanies the animation is useful in explaining the ‘whys’ of the principle and makes it meaningful for the students. The explanations also refer to concepts (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs) and terminology (physiology/ anatomy) the students have previously acquired. During this phase the learners will be stimulated to retrieve this prior knowledge and the strategies they use to learn it, from long-term memory in order to apply the principles.
In order to fully acquire a principle, the student must learn to apply that principle in a variety of new situations (Smith & Ragan, 1999). Using the ‘drug options’ tab the student can practice replicating the basic principles by selecting a range of patient variables, routes of administration and drug dosages. As the learners experience the applications of the principles they are encouraged to focus their attention on the direction and magnitude of change which occurs in the ‘blood concentration time curve’ (area under curve) as a result of a variable being changed. After sufficient practice the student will be able to identify the features of the situation that suggest a particular principle is being applied and become proficient in correctly explaining, predicting and controlling the effect of these changes on the patient.

Inquiry Approach

Using the ‘drug options’ tab the learner can use a different approach to learn the basic therapeutic principles. Using trial and error, the student can randomly select a range of patient variables, routes of administration and drug dosages and try to induce the principle which applies to that situation. This approach is generative, in that the learner assumes primary responsibility for processing the information. In gathering data about the situation the learner is required to isolate relevant variables and form a hypothesis about the example. The experience concludes when the learner formally states the principle being applied. “Many educators feel that learners recall and are able to transfer learning more easily when it is acquired from a discovery-type approach,” (Smith & Ragan, pg 118, 1999).

Smith, P.L., & Ragan, T.J. (1999). Instructional design. (2nd ed.). Toronto: John Wiley & Sons. Inc