494 Walk the Talk – Teaching Is Still Teaching – Just Expanding Your Tool Box

Beef Cattle Production & Management (ANSC 406) is a Texas A&M University “Communications” course and an elective in the undergraduate Animal Science curriculum. This course (3 hr lecture, 2 hr lab) is taught in Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. The author has taught this (or equivalent) course since 1995, and various teaching technologies have incrementally crept into the course. Prior to COVID-19 restrictions, the class was taught traditionally through in-person lecture and lab meetings, with in-class, closed-note exams, and supported with online resources. Students are assigned to groups of 4 or 5 for semester-long work on a ranch management project with peer review comprising 20% of the grade. This report summarizes student exam grades and ranch project peer evaluations through semesters Fall 2019 to Fall 2020 where the class format was (1) traditional face-to-face (TF2F), (2) initially TF2F then switched abruptly to 100% remote/online, (3) 100% remote/online for the entire semester, and (4) a blended/hybrid format, respectively. Semester-to-semester exam grades and group member peer evaluations were compared through mixed model analyses of variance. There were no differences in exam grades (P > 0.10) across these semesters with the exception of Exam 3 that deviated 3.7% (P = 0.020) from lowest to highest mean scores. Relative exam grade variability (based on CV and range) remained almost constant from closed-book to open-note format. Remote vs. F2F status did not influence (P > 0.05) group peer evaluation scores regarding Q1: “Overall level of participation” or Q4: “Willingness to work for success of your group” when group number or student were included in statistical models. Model R-square values for Q1/Q4 increased from 0.037/0.050 to 0.161/0.171, and 0.424/0.457 when group, and student were added, respectively. Individual student perceptions and experiences appear to be major drivers of learning outcomes no matter the course delivery style.