Abstract

This work reports the experience and contribution of two web pages to formal, traditional education. The aim of these pages were to: (i) provide complementary information to the courses; (ii) permit interactivity through a virtual "forum"; (iii) try new strategies to evaluate the student's performance; (iv) incorporate and encourage students to use the Internet efficiently. One of the web pages is a teaching-learning tool with contents of the Private Pharmacy course, its program, an electronic test and a virtual forum. The other site presents reinforcing contents for various courses of the forthcoming professional activity. This page contains highly requested sections, for example: (i) other web sites (links) of interest; (ii) the virtual pharmacist, who solves questions about drugs and answers FAQs; (iii) legal information about the professional rights and duties of the pharmacist. As a conclusion, both pages were widely accepted as a complementary tool for traditional, teacher-directed class. The electronic test has many advantages, but it still has certain limitations in relation to what should be evaluated. The virtual forum turned out to be the most successful section, since it not only reinforced communication among students but also incorporated pharmacists at work, teachers and professionals working in related fields.