Assessment of Aerospace and Operational Medicine Enterprise (AOME) Distance Learning Courses at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine

To ensure the continuation of its aerospace medicine training mission, the arrival of COVID-19 forced the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) to rapidly move its courses from the in-person to online teaching environment. This project was designed to answer (1) are USAFSAM AOME distance learning course outcomes equivalent or superior to courses offered in an in-person format and (2) what lessons can be used to guide future distance learning courses? We found that 44 percent the 61 USAFSAM courses evaluated could be converted to an online environment and 34 percent fit a blended model (in-person with an online component). We converted two courses for an education intervention and found that end of course survey items indicated our online course delivery was equivalent to the in-person course. We estimated a savings of approximately of $100,000 per BLAST class ($1.5 million annually) and $40,000 per BIC class ($400,000 annually). From the best practices analysis, we learned that instruction in the online environment must be intentionally designed and that online courses with asynchronous material require active participation from the instructor and students. Instructor and student engagement is key to the success of online courses.