Assessing learning gains of pharmacy students in communications, ways of thinking, and intercultural skills through self-assessment.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Intercultural and Global Health Issues was developed to address learning outcomes in communication, ways of thinking, intercultural personal skills, and intercultural knowledge. The aim of this study was to assess learning gains of pharmacy students through self-assessment.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Course design, learning outcomes, objectives, and activities were created to meet the expected educational outcomes. A revised rubric was created from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education rubrics on Intercultural knowledge, Information literacy, and Creative thinking. Students completed self-assessments at the beginning and end of the course. Ward hierarchical clustering, paired sample t-tests, and independent t-tests analyzed multidimensional data in two clusters.

FINDINGS: Cluster 1 (C1) students reported pre-course capstone performances for cultural self-awareness, problem solving, and access and use of information ethically and legally. Post-course scores for C1 students statistically increased for all AACU domains reaching capstone performances for intercultural competence, creative thinking, and information literacy. Cluster 2 (C2) students reported capstone performance levels for all AACU domains from the beginning to the end of the course. All students reported achievement of self-efficacy, creative thinking, and cultural competency at the end of the course. There was no statistically significant difference in course learning outcome scores for C1 and C2 students.

SUMMARY: Students achieved embedded learning outcomes of ways of thinking, communication, interpersonal skills, and intercultural knowledge as demonstrated from self-assessments. Course activities aided students' demonstration of self-efficacy, creative thinking, and intercultural knowledge.