For epidemiologists located in academic settings, you will likely be approached at some point to teach your course(s) in a distance education format. Many of you may already have faced this situation. If not, you will within the next five years.

Why? The primary reason why this will occur is the changing face of education. There will be a strong emphasis on continuing education in the next century, with less emphasis on degree programs. The market of students, in other words, will change. The re will still be a need for degree programs for new students, but most likely, the demand for continuing education for health professionals will outweigh this. Businesses and health organizations will need to have professionals with up-to-date training, as the half-life of scientific training is reducing rapidly.

Continuing education students are different than the traditional student. They want to continue to work and study in their own time. For this reason, Internet-based training is preferable over other forms of distance education techniques. The student c an access the material in their own time.

Internet-based teaching is not just for academics. Individuals located in government or industry settings may also find that it will be useful for them in the future. Obviously, it’s uses will serve different functions than teaching a course in epidemio logy. It may take the form of one or two lectures to explain how to code death certificates. Or it could take the form of lectures explaining appropriate or inappropriate ways to apply the sample weights in a national survey.