Comparison of students' performance in and satisfaction with a clinical pharmacokinetics course delivered live and by interactive videoconferencing.

Objectives: To compare students' performance in and course evaluations for a clinical pharmacokinetics course taught in a traditional classroom setting, and for the same course taught via interactive videoconferencing.

Methods: The course was taught in a traditional classroom setting to 38 students, and in asynchronous sessions via interactive videoconferencing to 75 students at a distant site. A course evaluation was administered to each group at the conclusion of the courses.

Results: The students in the live classroom setting had a higher mean final course grade of 90.7% compared to the mean final course grade (87.8%) of students in the interactive videoconferencing group (P = 0.024). The mean evaluation score for students in the videoconferencing class were higher than for students in the live classroom setting (4.73 vs. 4.58; P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Students in both the classroom setting and interactive videoconferencing setting performed well and had a high overall perception of the course.