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

NACTA Journal, Sep 2005 by Day, M L, Orvis, K S, Latour, M A

Abstract

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 (ANSC 102) 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 were over 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

Introduction

Through advancements in technologies, the popularity of distance education has risen. Distance education was once rooted in correspondence courses sent through mail, but now uses a wide variety of multimedia technologies to communicate at an entirely new level. Today, learners have the opportunity to take a single course online or earn their entire degree or certificate through distance education methods (College Blue Book, 2003). The term "Distance Education" can be broadly defined. In the simplest definition, education takes place when the instructor and learner are separated by physical distance and must communicate through some means, e.g., phone, e-mail, traditional mailing, etc.; the way this material is passed back and forth between the learner and instructor is quite vast, e.g., teleconferencing, e-mail, written materials, videotapes, computer satellites, and the Internet (College Blue Book, 2003). Even though the mechanism of delivery varies widely to accommodate individuals, the retention rate and/or acceptance of distance learning courses has disappointed many instructors. King et al. (2002) commented on the high course "dropout" rate in online courses when compared to traditional courses as one of the most troubling concerns of distance education. The author notes that a feeling of isolation, frustration with technology, confusion, and anxiety are all factors that contribute to the non-completion of online courses, suggests the need for virtual assistants to facilitate discussion between students and the professor so the environment becomes close to what students experience in traditionally taught courses.

Information specifically for virtual teaching assistants is limited (Stockley and Rossner, 1996). Due to the lack of research about virtual teaching assistants, the available information comes from personal anecdotes, case studies, and suggested tips (Stockley and Rossner, 1996). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate how teaching assistants facilitated student perception in the two courses, ANSC101V and ANSC102; more specifically, the study utilized a questionnaire to assess the level of discussion, interaction, comfort level, perspectives, motivation, and overall satisfaction between students in ANSC101V versus a traditional face-to-face ANSC102 using teaching assistants.

Materials and Methods

The target courses for this study were Virtual Introduction to Animal Science 101 (ANSC101V) and traditional campus based instruction for Introduction to Animal Science 102 (ANSC102). ANSC101V is a completely Internet-based course taught asynchronously using text web pages, video clips, and interactive multimedia; furthermore, the course uses e-mail, chat rooms, and listservs for discussion between students and the instructors. In addition to the professor, the course had two virtual teaching assistants. ANSC102 is the Introduction to Animal Science taught on the main campus at Purdue University using traditional techniques, i.e., black board lectures, PowerPoint, video clips, etc., and utilizes two teaching assistants. Both courses, ANSC101V and ANSC102 were created and taught by the same professor. All four female teaching assistants (two virtual and two on campus) assisted the professor with instruction. The study was conducted during the Spring 2003 semester.

Students in both courses were asked to complete a questionnaire during midterm. The questionnaire was developed and adopted from the following studies (Beaudoin, 2002; Driver, 2002; Halsne, 2002; Hong, 2002; Noban et al., 2002; Stayrook and Majer, 1973; and Wheeler, 2002). The questionnaire investigated student perceptions of teaching assistants and the professor according to following six factors: discussion, interaction, comfort level, student perspectives, motivation, and overall satisfaction. Perceptions were measured using a continuous Likert-type scale (Brown, 1988). The Likert-type scale used in the study is considered continuous, with each point treated equally along a continuum. For each question, students were instructed to mark on a ten millimeter line between one and ten, where one was considered very poor and ten was excellent. A box marked (Does Not Apply) was provided for each Likert-type question in the event students did not feel the question was applicable to their classroom experience. Open-ended questions were included in the questionnaire to collect data from students who felt questions were not applicable to their current classroom situation. The present study was approved by Purdue University's Committee on the Use of Human Subjects.