Development and student evaluation of an inquiry-based elective course on drug discovery and preclinical drug development

ObjectivesTo describe the design, contents, and student evaluation of an Inquiry-Based (IB) elective course on Drug discovery and preclinical drug development in an undergraduate Pharmacy curriculum.MethodsThe course ‘Development of New Drugs’ is an elective course for third-year Bachelor of Pharmacy and Life Science students at Utrecht University, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The course is a 7.5-credit hour course dedicated to an introduction into drug discovery and preclinical development. To stimulate, challenge, and motivate students into deep learning the course is designed according to the principles of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL). The course consists of four group assignments and one individual assignment.ResultsThe student evaluations of three consecutive years, 2008–2010, show a high appreciation of the course (7.7±0.7 on a 10-point scale (90% respondents, n = 47)). Furthermore, students have spent on average 18.5±6.0 h of the expected 20 hours per week on the course (87% respondents, n = 45). The students are highly motivated for the course and stimulated into critical thinking and problem solving.ConclusionThe course is a successful way of introducing students to preclinical Drug Discovery and Development and underpins and supports the use of IBL in Pharmacy education.