A partnership of universities and agri-business for an effective dairy herd management learning experience for undergraduates: the Dairy Challenge

Major Advances in Teaching Dairy Production

A survey of 38 universities that grant 4-yr degrees as well as 12 institutions that grant technical degrees of 2 yr or less revealed that degree programs in dairy production remain popular, but have changed significantly over the last 25 yr. Enrollment in dairy production programs remains strong (1,189 and 417 students in baccalaureate and nonbaccalaureate degrees, respectively) even though this is viewed as a traditional industry. There are significant differences in size of programs across the United States, and some are struggling to maintain both the visibility and faculty numbers to keep pace with the industry. The percentage of students enrolled in 4-yr programs who are female has increased to the majority. More students hail from a nondairy farm background in our university programs today than in 1994. Computer and information technology has become a mainstream part of our educational programs. A high percentage of undergraduate students elect to engage in an internship or work experience, and there is a high correlation between internship and career paths selected by our students. The dairy industry initiated and financially supports the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge; an educational activity among university teams to foster skills in analyzing a dairy farm business. This collaboration between universities and private industry is strong evidence that our undergraduate programs are relevant to the dairy industry. Extracurricular activities like dairy science clubs also remain popular, and are perceived by faculty members to be an important part of our educational experience. An analysis of nonbaccalaureate degree programs was not reported previously, but was a part of the present survey. In the nonbaccalaureate institutions that responded to the survey, there were 417 students enrolled in 12 dairy programs across the United States in 2004. This student population in nonbaccalaureate programs has a higher percentage of female enrollment than in 1994, but enrollment is still predominantly male. Computer and information technologies are an important part of their curricula and a very high percentage of these students remain in production agriculture upon graduation. Many of the challenges in undergraduate education described previously continue to be challenges in 2005. However, there are many reasons for optimism; as the number of students electing enrollment in dairy production remains strong, there is great interest in keeping the curricula relevant and interaction with and support by the dairy industry continues to be significant.

Students’ Perception of a Discussion-Driven Classroom Environment in an Upper-Level Ruminant Nutrition Course with Small Enrollment

This 3-yr classroom research project studied students' perception of the learning environment when class time was reserved primarily for discussion of preassigned reading material as an alternative to a lecture in ruminant nutrition. A student-assessment-of-learning-gain instrument with 46 items was administered anonymously as a survey 3-wk into the semester and as a course evaluation at the end of the semester. Scores, collected on a scale of 1 to 10, were analyzed to determine differences between survey and evaluation, the variation due to student cohort (years 2003, 2004, and 2005), and student standing (undergraduate or graduate) for 5 selected items: item 1 = My level of interest/ curiosity for nutrition is; item 17 = The reading assignments help me learn; item 18 = The in-class discussions help me learn; item 24 = I would prefer the professor lecture; item 38 = I am learning a lot in this class. Although students indicated a preference to using class time for discussion rather than lecture, the degree of consensus was low, as 10% of scores indicated a strong desire for lecture, whereas another 10% indicated strong opposition to lecture. Reading assignments and in-class discussions contributed positively to the perception of learning and both were correlated positively with level of interest in the topic. In the evaluation, the desire for lecture was correlated negatively with level of interest in the topic and the self-assessed level of learning. Students reported a greater interest in the topic at the end of the semester than at wk 3; however, the self-reported learning gains from discussion-related activities varied with student cohort. Graduate students reported a higher interest, more learning from discussion-related activities, and less desire for lecture than undergraduates. Although graduate students were more impervious to the discussion format, undergraduates perceived more learning if the discussion was student-centered (i.e., focused on their questions and answers), rather than subject-centered (i.e., focused on the paper content).