Effectiveness of human anatomy education for pharmacy students via the Internet.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the overall effectiveness of a human anatomy course taught to distance-based and campus-based pharmacy students.


DESIGN
A retrospective analysis of students' grades and course evaluations from 2003 through 2006 was conducted.


ASSESSMENT
No significant differences in student performance by pathway were found for the 2003-2005 academic years (p > 0.05). However, distance-based students' percentage and letter grades were significantly higher in 2006 (p = 0.013 and p = 0.004 respectively). Comparison of course and instructor evaluations showed that students in the distance course held similar or more positive perceptions of the course than their campus peers.


CONCLUSIONS
Similar performance by campus and distance students enrolled in a human anatomy suggests that a distance-based course can be used successfully to teach human anatomy to pharmacy students.