Using performance-based assessments to evaluate parity between a campus and distance education pathway.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy education
• Distance learning
• Medical simulation

Background:

• Traditional campus-based pharmacy programs are the standard.
• Emerging distance learning pathways offer alternative educational models.
• Assessing parity in student performance between these pathways is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the academic performance of campus-based and distance learning students in a doctor of pharmacy program.
• To evaluate the equivalence of educational experiences across different learning pathways.
• To assess student performance in the first two professional years (P1 and P2).

Main Methods:

• Developed 12 performance-based cases for each academic year.
• Converted cases into computer-based simulations for programmatic assessment.
• Assessed all first-professional year (P1) and second-professional year (P2) students.
• Calculated and compared overall class means between campus and distance pathways.

Main Results:

• Distance learning students consistently scored higher than campus-based students in both P1 and P2 years across two academic years (2003 and 2004).
• Statistical significance (p < 0.05) was observed in all comparisons, indicating a notable difference in performance.
• For example, in 2003, P1 distance students scored 62.4% versus 56.4% for campus students (p = 0.002).

Conclusions:

• Students in the distance learning pathway demonstrated superior performance on assessments compared to their campus-based counterparts.
• The findings suggest that distance learning provides at least an equivalent, if not superior, curricular experience.
• This study supports the validity and effectiveness of distance learning in pharmacy education.