Analysis of Virtual and Traditional Teaching Assistants Used in Introductory to Animal Science Courses

摘要

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the discussion, interaction, comfort level, perspectives, motivation, and overall satisfaction between students in Virtual Introduction to Animal Science 101 (ANSC101V) versus a traditional face-to-face Introduction to Animal Science 102 (ANSC102) utilizing traditional and virtual teaching assistants. Even though the content was identical between the two courses, demographically, the students were very different; that is, 92% of the students in ANSC101V wereover 22-years of age, while 84% of the students were under 22-years of age in ANSC102. In general, students in ANSC101V rated questions pertaining to discussion, comfort level, student perspectives, and motivation higher (P < 0.05) when compared to students in ANSC102. However, the level of satisfaction was determined to be not different between the two classes. Because of the high rating and responses by online students, it was determined that virtual teaching assistants contributed greatly to the level of comfort and outcome in the ANSC101V course.