Enhancing pharmacology learning through student-led presentations

Abstract

Pharmacology teaching in pharmacy education remains largely lecture-driven, which can encourage surface learning and limit student engagement. Student-led presentations offer an active-learning approach that may combine conceptual learning with communication, teamwork, and professional-skill development. This study explores pharmacy students’ perceptions of how student-led pharmacology presentations influenced their understanding, communication confidence, collaboration, and perceived academic and professional preparedness. A qualitative descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 90 second-year Doctor of Pharmacy students at Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, in Spring 2025. Following 6-minute group presentations, participants completed an anonymous open-ended questionnaire. Responses were examined using Braun and Clarke’s 6-phase reflexive thematic analysis. An audit trail, peer debriefing, comparison across questionnaire domains, and iterative review of themes against the complete dataset supported analytic trustworthiness. Five interconnected themes were generated: Deepened Understanding and Active Learning Engagement; Growth in Communication Confidence; Collaboration and Team Synergy; Professional and Academic Preparedness; and Endorsement and Recommendations for Integration. Students’ accounts associated the activity with active knowledge construction, practice in scientific communication, shared responsibility, and transferable academic and professional skills. Time pressure, unequal participation, cognitive load, and presentation anxiety were also identified as qualifying conditions. Students perceived student-led presentations as a feasible, low-cost strategy that supported engagement, pharmacological understanding, communication, and teamwork. Because the findings derive from a single-institution, post-activity self-report dataset, they indicate pedagogical promise rather than causal effectiveness. Longitudinal and mixed-methods studies should assess objective learning, retention, transfer, and professional outcomes.