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Purpose: To describe the use of the minute paper as a class assessment technique in two pharmacotherapy modules, and to report the student reactions to the minute paper.
Methods: The minute paper is used in the gastrointestinal and pulmonary pharmacotherapy modules, which are offered to second professional year pharmacy students and extend over 4 weeks. It consists of three key questions on the most important, most confusing and most interesting fact students learn after each lecture. There is a total 93 in the classroom, divided over 2 sections. At the beginning of the module, faculty explains the purpose of the minute paper and asks students in each section to work in groups of 2-3 to reinforce peer feedback. At the end of each lecture, faculty distributes the minute papers and gives students five minutes to generate one answer per question per group. Faculty collects minute papers, reviews and organizes questions, picks the common muddiest point and posts written answers online on BlackBoard prior to the next class hour. The faculty time spent for preparation is 2 hours on average. At the end of the module, students complete a 13-question survey related to the minute paper using a standard four-point Likert scale.
Results: 31 male and 62 female students took the survey. 15 students (16.18%) had a previous university degree. Students agreed that the minute paper was beneficial (100%), improved their understanding of difficult material (98.8%), and helped them prepare for their exams (96.6%). They were satisfied checking answers on BlackBoard (98.8%) and benefited from seeing other students’ responses (91%). Students preferred using the minute paper in this (95.5%) and other pharmacotherapeutic module (98.8%).
Conclusion: The minute paper seems plausible as a large-classroom assessment technique. It is well-perceived by students. Faculty will utilize the obtained feedback to improve the course content and clarify the muddiest points in future classes.