KEYWORD1:
Immunization education, Internet education

BACKGROUND:
We developed the curriculum Teaching Immunization Delivery and Evaluation (TIDE) as a paper-based version for small group use and later converted it to an on-line curriculum.

OBJECTIVE:
To compare the evaluations of learners completing the paper-based curriculum and those completing the on-line curriculum.

METHOD:
TIDE includes 4 modules: childhood immunization, adolescent immunization, assessing immunization rates and improving immunization practice. The same material was presented as a paper-based version with a facilitator in a small group and as an on-line instructional unit. We asked learners to complete an evaluation of each module using a 5-point Likert scale (from 1 = not at all to 5 = agree strongly). The overall rating was scored from 1 = poor to 5 = excellent. We report on all completed evaluations of the module on assessing immunization rates: 50 for the paper-based version and 40 for the on-line version.

RESULT:
Learners agreed the topic was important (95% on-line vs. 98% paper agreed or agreed strongly, p = .43). Learners were equally likely to report planning to change their practice after using this module (46% on-line vs. 48% paper agreed or agreed strongly, p = .87). More on-line learners considered the time needed to complete the module to be reasonable (90% on-line vs. 70% paper agreed or agreed strongly, p = .02). On-line learners tended to like the method of learning more (88% on-line vs. 76% paper agreed or agreed strongly, p = .16). On-line learners also tended to rate the overall module higher (88% on-line vs. 76% paper very good or excellent, p = .16).

CONCLUSION:
The on-line curriculum is as effective as the paper-version and is easier to maintain and disseminate. This is particularly important because the immunization schedule changes frequently.
LEARNINGOBJECTIVES:
The learners will be able to compare 2 forms of an innovative curriculum on immunization delivery.