Assuring Excellence in Distance Pharmaceutical Education

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2003 by Hunter, Tracy S, Deziel-Evans, Lisa, Marsh, Wallace A

SETTING THE STAGE FOR LEARNING AT A DISTANCE

Far from hastening the demise of traditional classroom education, online learning allows for differentiation of institutions, learning styles, and pedagogy. - Diana Oblinger50

Despite the long and successful history of traditional Western methods (sometimes labeled the "transmission model") in higher education, there is recent evidence that distributed education may be as or more effective in achieving educational outcomes compared to traditional programs.44,50-56 Machtmes and Asher conducted a metaanalysis of the effectiveness of 19 telecourses on several key questions, among them: 1) equivalency of outcomes; 2) factors associated with learner achievement; and 3) impact of technological changes on learner achievement. For the first question of whether the outcomes of traditional and distance education are the same, the calculated overall effect size was essentially zero - a finding of no difference in student outcomes between traditional and distance education. For the research question on interaction, distance education models that afforded students the opportunity to interact with the instructor had a greater positive impact on achievement than program designs that did not allow interaction with the instructor. For the question of the effect of technological innovation on learner outcomes, learners who used the latest technologies had higher achievement than students using older technology.54 A literature review of studies comparing distance-learning versus face-to-face learning within the United States military concluded that there were no significant differences among students trained either through distance learning technology or in a traditional educational classroom.57 Specifically in healthcare, the technological methods used to deliver instruction has been shown to be as effective as traditional delivery methods.17

In addition to equivalency of outcomes, student satisfaction and the effect of learning style have also been studied. A meta-analysis that compared student satisfaction between traditional and distance pathways found a slight student preference for traditional methods but no difference in student satisfaction. In comparing only distance education modes, student satisfaction with video methods was slightly higher than with written distance education modes.58 This finding is consistent with the results of other research showing that delivery methods allowing increased interaction with the instructor had a positive impact on performance.54 Overall satisfaction with distance education appears to be good with many students indicating they would take distance education courses again.59 Learning style is not commonly identified as a factor which predicts student success in an online environment.13,14,60,61 The analysis of the impact of learning styles on success with online versus traditional education found regardless of method, students learned equally well as measured by test scores and assignment grades.53,55 There is no reason to believe that these results would differ if the subjects had been pharmacy students. However, expectations and achievement of technically adept pharmacy students who are younger and exhibit the typical range of motivations may be different than those of traditional distant students.