School of Pharmacy, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026-2000, United States.
Department of Computer Science, SIUE School of Engineering, Campus Box 1656, Engineering building Room 2054, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026-1656, United States.
Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2021 Sep;13(9):1228-1235. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2021.06.032. Epub 2021 Jun 18.
Pharmacy students often exhibit minimal interest in pharmacy management courses. This pilot study reports on the design and testing of a mobile game application (app) prototype to improve student engagement and learning of financial management concepts.
A mobile app (Planet Finance) was designed to supplement instruction for two key financial management topics. The app was introduced to students in two schools of pharmacy after content on financial management was taught. Students were requested to use the game app for a minimum of two weeks and complete a questionnaire assessing their knowledge of management content and perceptions of the app.
The overall survey response rate was 41%. The majority of respondents played the game app two to four times (48.3%). Only 13.8% of respondents completed all 10 levels. Participants generally agreed that game instructions were clear, and that the game was easy to navigate, entertaining and made learning fun; allowed more engagement with content; and enhanced financial statements and ratios comfort. Those who played the game app more often had more favorable perceptions. User data from the game app showed that the majority of respondents accessed the game app on not more than two days (89.1%) and played up to four levels (69.6%).
Overall, students enjoyed playing Planet Finance; however, uptake of the app was low. Future revisions may involve adding additional competitive features, content, levels, incentives, and focusing on strategies to incorporate the game into traditional classroom instruction.
药剂学专业的学生对药剂管理课程往往兴趣不大。本试点研究报告了一款移动游戏应用程序（app）原型的设计和测试，旨在提高学生对财务管理概念的参与度和学习效果。
设计了一款名为“星球金融”的移动应用程序，以补充两个关键财务管理主题的教学内容。在两所药学院的财务管理课程教学结束后，向学生介绍了这款应用程序。学生们被要求至少使用游戏应用程序两周，并完成一份评估管理内容知识和对应用程序看法的问卷。
总的调查回复率为 41%。大多数受访者玩游戏应用程序的次数为 2 到 4 次（48.3%）。只有 13.8%的受访者完成了全部 10 个级别。参与者普遍认为游戏说明清晰，游戏易于操作、有趣且使学习变得有趣；允许更多地参与内容；并增强了财务报表和比率舒适度。那些更频繁玩游戏应用程序的人对其评价更高。游戏应用程序的用户数据显示，大多数受访者在不超过两天的时间内（89.1%）访问游戏应用程序，并最多玩到四个级别（69.6%）。
总体而言，学生喜欢玩“星球金融”游戏，但应用程序的使用量较低。未来的修订可能涉及添加额外的竞争功能、内容、级别、激励措施，并专注于将游戏纳入传统课堂教学的策略。
