Influence of interactive videoconferencing on the performance of pharmacy students and instructors

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that IVC (interactive videoconferencing) have on pharmacy students' academic, performance and pharmacy instructors' teaching evaluations. All doctor of pharmacy students enrolled in the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy's Pharmacotherapy II and Clinical Pharmacokinetics II courses in 1998 (n=61) were included in the study. Twenty-six of the students were at the College's satellite campus at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) and 35 of the students were at the main campus at the University of Georgia (UGA). Live lectures were provided to students at the instructor's home site (either UGA or MCG) and telecast to students at the other site via IVC. Students were asked to evaluate each instructor in the courses by completing a 6-item teaching evaluation form. There were no differences in students' performance based on whether they received their lecture live or by IVC, however, a difference was found in the teaching evaluation scores in approximately 27 percent (n=4) of the instructors based on whether students received their lectures live or via IVC (P<0.0014). Although, lectures by IVC do not adversely affect students' academic performance, they may adversely affect instructors' teaching performance as assessed by students.