Creating, Learning, Reflecting: Students’ Journeys with Animated Video Assignment

The integration of student-produced animated video assignments into pharmacy education offers a meaningful alternative to conventional didactic instruction. Grounded in Mayer’s (2009) Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) and constructivist principles of active knowledge building, this cross-sectional study investigated the experiences and perceptions of 58 Diploma in Pharmacy students, following an animated video assignment on drug administration routes embedded within a basic pharmacology course. A validated self-administered questionnaire demonstrated excellent internal consistency across all subscales (Cronbach’s α = 0.913–0.944). Given confirmed non-normal data distributions, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests were employed for group comparisons. Students reported substantially improved pharmacological knowledge (94.9%; M = 4.52, SD = 0.78), heightened motivation (87.9%), and technical skill acquisition (86.2%). Overall satisfaction was positive (M = 3.97, SD = 1.11). Significant gender differences were identified for perceived video clarity (U = 84.0, p = 0.037) and overall effectiveness (U = 87.0, p = 0.044); no significant tutorial group differences were observed. Qualitative themes encompassed positive engagement, knowledge enhancement, software accessibility challenges, and creative skill development. Findings offer empirical and methodological contributions to the growing literature on multimedia-based assessment in health professions education, with direct implications for pharmacy curriculum design and digital pedagogy reform in Malaysian and comparable higher education contexts.