Students at MSU may have the choice to take an online course on alcohol education in the future.
The course is called AlcoholEdu, and was created by Outside the Classroom. Brandon Busteed, founder and CEO, said the program is written to primarily give students the facts about alcohol.
Outside the Classroom offers online health and life skills.
Busteed said students will get very clear information without a lecture.
“The preachy lecture is simple - as soon as a student has heard it, they tune it out,” he said. “A lecture isn’t an education.”
Busteed said Outside the Classroom has done several tests to make certain it is providing students and schools with a valuable asset.
“From the beginning to the end, four times as many students were excited about the course,” he said. “A large amount of them were disciplinary students who went in kicking and screaming.”
Most of the information the course uses, Busteed said, is presented by research scientists.
“We don’t use actors and actresses,” he said.
The Internet class is being piloted on 140 campuses, including MSU. The schools are looking at making it a part of their curriculum and are assessing what students think about the class.
Busteed said it is something students can take through their schools or can take on their own.
“It is roughly about a $15 course for the average price per student,” he said.
Jayson Welter, an alcohol and other drug graduate assistant for the Department of Residence Life, said MSU just piloted AlcoholEdu last semester.
“We piloted it with 24 students,” the health communication graduate student said.
Welter said it was compared to another program, and MSU has decided not to use AlcoholEdu right away. Instead it will use a CD-ROM called Alcohol 101 and compare the results.
Welter said the Internet course does have its good points, but it is fairly long.
“It is very educational-based but it isn’t as interactive, like Alcohol 101,” he said.
Visit AlcoholEdu at www.alcoholedu.com. Residence Life’s Web site is www.alcoholinfo.msu.edu.
