Society-Ready Graduates
Introductory Nutrition Computer Course for Traditional and Nontraditional Students
(including UA Collaboration with CAC)
Issue
Completing a college degree in a reasonable time span is a challenge
for both traditional and nontraditional students. Many students must
work, raise families, or complete internships while working on their
degree. Distance education facilitates timely degree completion for
students so they can pursue their profession.
What has been done?
The UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Nutritional Science
Department and Distributed Learning Lab created a distributed an interactive,
student-centered introductory nutrition course that uses a website and
CD-ROMs. A campus server hosts course-management software for course
communication, interactive exercises and testing. The CD-ROMs contain
an extensive textbook outline, a full semester's-worth of short video
clips of course lectures given during the classroom-delivered course,
animations, a glossary, and links to the Internet. The course is offered
as an elective course or can fulfill a Tier I Biological Science General
Education requirement. Students can enroll through traditional methods
as a University of Arizona student, through Extended University, or
through Central Arizona College. An orientation meeting is held at the
beginning of each term or students can obtain start-up instructions
electronically.
Impact
The total number of students completing the nutrition course between
1998 and 2002 from the convenience of their own computers was 2173.
The course was first offered during fall 1998 with 30 students. The
number has increased steadily since then, with 1,000 students completing
the course in 2002. The course is scheduled to be offered during spring,
summer and winter sessions 2003, with 380 enrolled as of January 2003.
The department has evaluated the effectiveness of offering these distributed
courses by comparing performance of the online students to those taking
the course in a traditional classroom. No difference was found in exam
scores, final grades, or between pretest and post-test scores for the
two learning environments. The program fulfills one of the Arizona Board
of Regents priorities: to expand access to the university.
Funding
University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Contact
Jennifer Ricketts, instructor
Department of Nutritional Sciences
The University of Arizona
PO Box 210038
Tucson, AZ 85721
Tel: (520) 621-6999
FAX: (520) 621-4669
Email: Jrickett@ag.arizona.edu
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