Until 2019 at our university, subjects in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, including pharmacotherapeutics, were taught in face-to-face lectures. Attendance confirmation took place during each lecture, and the intelligibility and effectiveness of the lecture content could be mainly verified with the end-of-semester examination. However, COVID-19 caused us to switch to on-demand education. In that faculty, on-demand education started in May 2020; no lectures were delivered in April 2020. When on-demand education was first implemented for most lectures, faculty members and students reported some confusion over the unfamiliar environment. Since then, students and faculty members have become accustomed to this teaching method. Face-to-face lectures have since resumed in Japan in line with the COVID-19 infection status: appropriate measures for disease control are applied. However, in the pandemic, a complete return to face-to-face classes from on-demand education has been difficult.
With on-demand classes, in general, the presence or absence of activity is judged though log access; however, it is difficult to determine the quality of activity. Therefore, for many subjects in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, various assignments were set to confirm on-demand class attendance and assess comprehension by each student. In this regard, faculty members had discretionary power regarding class content and assignments for which they were responsible; the style of lectures and assignments depended on each faculty member. In our case, we undertook on-demand classes using PDF files and assignments employing Google Forms. In light of the students’ network environment, PDF files—not videos—were selected for teaching the on-demand classes. Students were able to view, download, and print the materials at any time. However, as a result, we were unable to grasp the cumulative access time of the lecture from the browsing history.
In the present study, we employed information related to when faculty students submitted their lecture-related assignments. Notably, we investigated the time between lecture upload and assignment submission. We observed that as the on-demand lectures progressed, that median time increased. For example, many students promptly submitted their assignments for lecture 1; however, the proportion who submitted their assignments just before the deadline increased as the lecture course progressed. On-demand classes have the benefit that students are able to learn when and how they wish; thus, this approach cannot be dismissed as bad. However, when the students submitted their assignments so close to the deadline, it is possible that that they were simply preoccupied with the assignment commitment rather than to properly understanding the lecture content.
We categorized the students into three subgroups based on the number of hours from lecture upload to assignment submission. Our thinking was as follows. If students made their assignment submission on the day of the lecture upload, they wished to adhere to the schedule regardless of the on-demand lecture format. We defined those as the early group. If students made their submissions between the 2nd day and day before the deadline, they made the best use of the characteristics of on-demand lectures. We defined those as the intermediate group. If students made their submissions on the deadline day, they were mainly concerned about submitting assignments rather than understanding the lecture content. And we defined those as the late group.
As noted above, we were unable to determine the cumulative access time of each lecture from the browsing history; however, we calculated the time lag between assignments 1 and 2, and almost all students worked continuously on the two assignments. Accordingly, the time lag data could be used as a substitute for a student’s cumulative access time for a lecture. In fact, the relationship between that time lag and total assignment score showed a strong positive correlation among all three groups. However, that correlation with the intermediate group was low compared with the early and late groups. Some students in the intermediate group may have tackled assignments 1 and 2 separately, thereby making optimal use of the on-demand lecture format.
We observed that seven students in the intermediate group submitted their assignments after midnight. It has been reported that staying up late causes deterioration in physical condition, including decreased immunity, fatigue, and disturbance of the endocrine system [10, 11]. Further, staying up late or reduced sleeping time increases the risk of long-term declining academic results [12]. There are serious implications to student medical professionals (i.e., student pharmacists) being unaware of negative effects on their health and academic records through late-night studying. It is necessary to encourage appropriate time periods for students to undertake on-demand classes.
We investigated the relationship among test scores, total assignments scores, and submission times for assignment 2. The early group displayed a positive relationship between test scores and total assignment scores; however, there was a negative relationship between test scores and submission times for assignment 2. The students who completed the on-demand lectures as soon as possible were most likely very keen and followed the lectures enthusiastically. By contrast, students who worked late on the 1st day may have been overly conscious about having to submit assignments on that day rather than understanding the lecture content. Thus, it is possible that they were unable to make good use of the flexibility offered with on-demand classes.
The above trends were also evident with the late group. With that group, the time of day when the students submitted their assignments for the on-demand classes was the afternoon of the deadline day. We supposed that their main focus was on submitting the assignments rather than on the lecture content. In this regard, it appeared that some late-group students seriously worked on the on-demand lectures from the perspective of total assignment scores. However, both the total assignment scores and test scores were the lowest among all three groups. We also observed no relationship between test scores and total assignment scores in the late group. Therefore, these results may also indicate that the students did not fully understood the content: they simply wanted to complete the assignments.
With the intermediate group, the students undertook the assignments at varying times compared with the other two groups. Intermediate-groups students may be able to adapt to effectively utilizing the on-demand classes. In addition, the positive correlation between test scores and total assignment scores was weak. Further, we discerned no correlation between the test scores and submission times. However, the test scores for the intermediate group were higher than those of the late group. The interval between the deadline for the last lecture’s assignment and the day of the end-of-semester examination was 9 days. Therefore, intermediate group students may have adapted successfully in using time for both the on-demand classes and in preparing for the examination.