Several hours of class and quizzes awaited freshman Brad Larson and his Duke peers before they even set foot on campus this year.
The mandatory online course crafted by Duke researchers and entitled AlcoholEdu was implemented by the University in 2004 as a way to educate students about the science of alcohol and its effects on the body.
Every freshman for the Class of 2011 was required by the University to take the course over the summer, joining over 500,000 students across the country who have participated in the program.
Larson and many others, however, said they are unsure of the effectiveness of the AlcoholEdu course.
"It's pointless-you do the same survey five times and most people already know most of the information from high school," Larson said. "I'm 100 percent sure that it has absolutely no effect on drinking for anybody,"
Because of the unique way that AlcoholEdu promotes healthy drinking, such as presenting facts instead of a stringent "Don't drink!" message, statistics have shown that the program is very effective in curbing hazardous student drinking, said Aaron White, assistant professor of medical psychiatry at Duke and one of the program's creators.
Historically, student drinking increases dramatically in the first semester of college when compared to high school drinking levels, he said. However, statistics show that drinking levels remain the same between high school and college for students who have taken AlcoholEdu, he added.
"This data suggests that what the course does is inoculate students against the negative effects of peer pressure and the prevalence of alcohol on campus," White said.
Some students, though, were skeptical that an online program could alter decisions about student drinking on campus.
"I feel that people who want to drink are still going to and those who don't want to drink won't-regardless of what course they take," freshman Eng Seng Ng said.
Contrary to student criticism, White said AlcoholEdu provides information about drinking in a way that relates to students without imposing upon their personal choices. The program does not preach to students or attempt to tell them how they should act, White said,
"We would never tell an 18-year-old student, a legal adult, how to live their every day life," he said. "So with this program, we're not trying to tell an adult what they can and cannot do with respect to drinking."
AlcoholEdu combines the standardization of facts presented to students with the customization of the information that they receive, White said.
"Students today receive information from a variety of sources-the Internet, peers and movies--but AlcoholEdu presents accurate, tested information to everyone." White added.
The scientific information presented in the course-which ranges from blood alcohol concentration levels of different sized individuals to the regions of the brain which are most affected by drinking-is collected from various clinical and laboratory studies.
Although students are receiving the same standardized information about alcohol, the program is customized to each individual based on his previous drinking habits.
"A white, female non-drinker will have a very different experience with AlcoholEdu than a black male fraternity member," White said.
Although the AlcoholEdu course is not a comprehensive solution to alcohol abuse on campus, White said it is one part of a complex strategy that schools take on drinking.
"Learning about alcohol is important, and students won't get this kind of information from watching American Pie or Superbad," he said.
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