ABSTRACT
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a paradigm shift in the way study material was presented and how learning was assessed at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science in Iceland. The pandemic resulted in an unplanned shift from classical on-site lectures and problem-based learning to online activities through Teams, Zoom, Canvas, and other platforms (hereafter collectively termed eLearning). The way forward, post-pandemic, has been under discussion. Within this context, the aim of this study was to explore the students' view regarding what platform of teaching would benefit their learning environment in the future. Method(s): A survey was sent to all registered pharmacy students using Google Forms. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Result(s): The response rate was 25.8% (n = 55). Majority of students (96%) either partially or fully agreed that access to lectures (streaming lectures or pre-recordings) improved during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. Students were asked if they had a good overview of their education when it comprised of both on-site and eLearning (on a scale of 0 - 10, with 10 being a complete overview), 69% of students gave an overview score of 7 or above, showing that this combination was not problematic in terms of oversight. When asked what combination of on-site and eLearning would be most beneficial for their education moving forward, nearly 75% of students preferred to have the main focus on eLearning with some on-site activities. Only 9% of students preferred to have all lectures and learning activities on-site, whilst 14% of students preferred to have all learning via eLearning platforms. Conclusion(s): It is evident, from the students' point of view, that eLearning will become an integral part of the future learning environment at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, University of Iceland. Most students appreciate face-to face discussions and problem-based activities to some extent, so a combination of eLearning and on-site activities will be the way forward beyond the pandemic.