Development and Assessment of an Online Elective Toxicology Course

Abstract

Objectives. Introduction to Toxicology, an elective course for honors pharmacy students and a required course for forensic chemistry majors at The University of Mississippi, has been offered intermittently since 1975. Design. In order to increase the options available to students, this course was developed and delivered via an online format for 2 semesters. An expanded course evaluation (exceeding the University's standard) was developed to assess student attitudes and perceptions of the online version of the course, along with perceived comparisons between online and traditional environments. Assessment. Students perceived working at a time of their own choosing as the primary advantage of the online format, yet they perceived managing that time and “keeping up” as being difficult. All respondents perceived that the online course covered the same amount of material as this course would have covered if delivered in the “traditional” format. Conclusions. Ideas for delivery improvement could be interpreted ...