Resumen de Assessing the Effectiveness of ServSafe Online
Andrew H. Feinstein, Michael C. Dalbor, Amy McManus
ServSafe® is the most widely utilized food safety and sanitation (FSS) training course in the United States, providing certification to over 300,000 learners in 2005 alone. Because of its prevalence, there has been interest in offering this training online. Further, as online programs continue to proliferate in the hospitality industry, the authors hope to provide insight into methodologies designed to evaluate the effectiveness of online instructional systems.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a significant increase in learners' FSS knowledge as a result of taking an Internet-based version of a traditional lecture-based FSS training course. Three hundred forty-three participants (343) with various backgrounds participated in the study. The mean improvement in the posttest score when compared to the pretest score was more than 22 points. Overall, 81 percent of the respondents passed the exam when completing the online version of the course, as compared to the 79 percent of those who followed traditional methods in 2005. These findings tend to support the notion that Internet-based FSS training is an effective method of instruction for both students and industry workers. Of further practical use, evidence of effectiveness was significantly confirmed across groups delineated by demographics, previous related work experience, and previously acquired ServSafe knowledge.
