Teaching pharmacology to graduate nursing students: evaluation and comparison of Web-based and face-to-face methods

As nursing schools develop Web-based courses to increase access to programs, evaluation of all aspects of these courses, from student learning to effectiveness of the course and instructor, becomes important. This article describes the evaluation of a 3-credit, semester-based, online graduate pharmacology course, and compares these student outcomes with those in the face-to-face course taught simultaneously. Eighteen students chose to participate in the Web-based course, and 52 chose to participate in the face-to-face course. The same instructor taught both courses, and the same examinations were administered. Students in the two courses were not different in age or in number of years of nursing practice prior to taking the course. There was no association between the course chosen and the type of basic nursing preparation or if the student had taken a pharmacology course in their basic nursing program. There were no significant differences between the mean examination scores of students enrolled in the two courses. Overall, students in the online course were positive about their experience. Student comments highlight the need to be aware of effectiveness of communication among faculty and students, the clarity of instructions, and the amount of information provided on course Web sites.