492 A New Approach to Teach Laboratory Sessions in an Online Environment to Undergraduate Introductory to Animal Sciences Course

Abstract Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, most of the universities across United States limited the amount of in person instruction. This brought a challenging situation in animal sciences courses that required laboratory sessions and hands-on experiences. There is not a real solution to replace the in-person labs, however several approaches can be implemented to overcome some of the challenges for laboratory sessions. Some of the on-line approaches implemented in an introductory class of Animal Sciences during the semester of spring and fall 2020 were live (synchronous) laboratory sessions (live interactions with animals, pre-recorded sessions of the laboratory session, and 360-degree videos of tours to the farms). The main objective of the present report is to assess the usefulness and feedback of these approaches to teach laboratory sessions to an undergraduate introductory animal science course. The official (Blue) university student responses in the course were used to determine the perception and feedback to these approaches. A total of 123 responses were recorded (Spring: 42/96, Fall: 81/174). Overall, no significant differences were observed in terms of the student perception. Overall, the responses were positive toward the laboratory sessions even in an online environment. During the spring semester 40/42 (95%), whereas in 72/81 (88%) strongly agree/mildly agree that labs help them to learn respectively. In terms of the videos used in class and labs, during the spring semester 35/41 (85%) and 68/81 (83%) strongly agree/mildly agree that labs help them to learn. In summary, the new reality due to COVID pandemic is very challenging for Animal Science courses that have laboratory sessions that involves hands-on experiences. Despite this, in conclusion some approaches can be implemented to still provide meaningful experiences to undergraduate students to support their learning and engagement in the introductory animal science course.