Introduction: The prevalence of COVID-19 disease has made virtual education more widespread and has posed daunting challenges to the quality of education and the student-teacher relationship. The present study aimed to assess the impact of the integrated method of small groups and mind mapping compared to lectures on the learning and satisfaction of pharmacy students in the Herbal Medicine course during COVID-19.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 33 pharmacy students of  Birjand University of Medical Sciences in the herbal medicine course in the academic year 2021-2022. The students were considered the control group (lecture) in the first semester and the experimental group (integrated) in the second semester. Data related to the final score, questionnaires of students' satisfaction, and motivation were analyzed in SPSS software (version 21) using independent T-test and descriptive statistics.
Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of gender; nonetheless, they were heterogeneous in terms of age. The final score of the integrated group (15.19±2.69) was significantly higher than that of the lecture group (11.45±2.53) (P=0.001). However, students in the lecture group had higher motivation (48.72±4.77)  compared to the integrated group (42.81±5.59) (P=0.005). In addition, the lecture-based group reported significantly higher satisfaction scores (39.81±3.42) compared to the integrated group (31. 7±18.69) (P=0.001).
Conclusion: The integrated model of small groups and mind mapping in the herbal medicine course was more effective than the lectures. To increase student satisfaction and motivation in mind mapping, appropriate measures should be considered.