title: Evaluation of student outcomes in online vs. campus biostatistics education in a graduate school of public health.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare student outcomes between concurrent online and on-campus sections of an introductory biostatistics course offered at a United States school of public health in 2005.
  
  
  METHODS
  Enrolled students (95 online, 92 on-campus) were invited to participate in a confidential online survey. The course outcomes were compared between the two sections adjusting for differences in student characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-two online (76%) and 66 (72%) on-campus enrollees participated. Unadjusted final exam scores for the online and on-campus sections were respectively 85.1 and 86.3 (p=0.50) in term 1, and 87.8 and 86.8 (p=0.51) in term 2. After adjustment for student characteristics, the average difference in scores between the two sections was -1.5 (95% CI: -5.4, 2.5) in term 1, and 0.8 (95% CI: -2.7, 4.3) in term 2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results demonstrate that online and on-campus course formats of an introductory biostatistics course in a graduate school of public health can achieve similar student outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. jmcgread@jhsph.edu
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McGready
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brookmeyer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056808:Biostatistics; D020375:Education, Distance; D004500:Education, Graduate / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States