Response to We’re All In This Together

To the Editor: My thanks to Erica Wilson for her response to my commentary, “The Selfie Generation and Pharmacy Education.” In my commentary, I suggest that pharmacy education has provided students with ample opportunities to understand their “self” through solitary activities such as surveys, self-assessments, and reflection. I go on to suggest that perhaps we should focus more on the collaborative nature of our students, and develop opportunities for them to learn about their “self” through the eyes of others. Wilson expands and explores alternative teaching methods that build on the collaborative nature of millennials, and why those techniques are effective. She presents three facets that define millennials: purpose in their work, teamwork, and collaboration, and suggests that pharmacy education should build coursework that recognize and develop these facets.

Our traditional practice of delivering hours of content in large lecture halls is and should be re-examined. What may have been appropriate and acceptable to one generation of learners may not be as effective for another generation. As educators, we need to be flexible and innovative. Much has been written about teaching and training millennials. For example, the Five R’s of engaging millennial students: research-based methods, relevance, rationale, relaxed, rapport.¹ Those Five R’s can guide us in our own self-assessment and reflection of our teaching practices. Our challenge is to prepare our students for the future of pharmacy using the best methods available.