Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Information relating anatomy to lameness is not readily available for food animals This project will develop multimedia software for the internet to teach the anatomical basis of lameness in food animals.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Objective 1. Improved understanding of food animal lameness through the proposed multimedia software. Limb movement is a dynamic process that is difficult to understand and assess using the traditional anatomic methods of static drawings or dissections. Video and animation in multimedia presentations helps learners visualize a dynamic process (e.g. lameness in a food animal) better than static images or verbiage. Videos and animations attract and direct student attention and can be used to explain complex and spatial phenomena such as the three-dimensional relationship of anatomical structures. Objective 2. Improve understanding and retention of information by increasing time on task. The software program will be available to users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, either through the internet, or through CD-ROMs or DVDs. In traditional anatomy or animal disease courses, access to much of the learning material such as limb dissections may be limited to laboratory or clinic
hours, requiring the students to learn the subject during these hours. Objective 3. Provide long-distance education to under-served diverse populations. Placing the multimedia software program on the internet will make it available to many people who have not had the opportunity to take classes in anatomy and lameness in food animals. Few programs outside of veterinary schools offer courses on the anatomical basis of lameness. An understanding of food animal lameness is a valuable asset in agricultural-based rural communities in the United States. Distance learning is important in dispersing education to these rural areas, providing improved access to minority groups, and increasing the quality of education. Objective 4. Provide the students with a self-paced, self-testing, interactive approach to learning food animal lameness. Some users do not do well in the traditional classroom environment and prefer to learn on their own, in the quiet of their own rooms. Placing the new software
on the internet will provide for a self-paced, self-test approach to the subject that will be especially useful for individuals involved in animal care who cannot devote large blocks of time to attending classes at colleges. Objective 5. Increasing public understanding of food animal welfare. Animal welfare is an important issue in food animal management. Lameness makes up a substantial proportion of the diseases of food animals. Many students interested in food animal welfare may access the proposed web site to learn about animal disease and suffering. The increased understanding of lameness they gain from the software program will enable them to have more informed opinions regarding food animal production and welfare. Objective 6. Reducing the cost of instruction. Web-based training is cost effective, mainly due to the reduction in course delivery time and the potential to deliver courses to a large number of students.
Project Methods
We will develop a multimedia software program, The Anatomical Basis of Lameness in Food Animals that allows users to learn the limb anatomy of food animals and how disease of these structures leads to lameness. The software will combine interactive anatomical labeling of limb structures with Flash animation and QuickTime movies of normal movement and lameness. Example cases relating lameness to limb anatomy will be used extensively. The program will be used and evaluated in undergraduate and veterinary animal anatomy classes offered at Colorado State University. By the end of the development period, the software program will be made available on the internet as a resource for students, producers, veterinarians and others with an interest in food animals. Methodology. A good understanding of lameness requires knowledge of the anatomical structures of the limbs and how these structures function to produce movement. Anatomy-based studies of lameness are usually available
only to veterinary or graduate students. Traditionally, anatomy was taught using lectures, dissection, and static images. Students saw a limited number of lame animals during their clinical rotations. The advent of computers in schools and colleges has opened new possibilities in the presentation of instruction, especially for dynamic processes like lameness. Instead of static images and verbiage in printed manuals, multimedia presentation using computers enables the instructor to present cases using videos, three-dimensional projections, animations and interactive photographs. Educators have shown that properly designed multimedia presentations are more effective in teaching. Hegarty et al (1999) state that "diagrammatic representations are better than sentenal representations, three-dimensional representations are better than two dimensional ones, animated diagrams are more effective than static diagrams and interactive graphics are better than non-interactive graphics." With these
concepts in mind, we propose developing a multimedia software program that will be used as a guide in the understanding of lameness in food animals. This software, The Anatomical Basis of Lameness in Food Animals will be a Macromedia Authorware-based software program that utilizes text, interactive photographs and drawings, QuickTime video as well as Flash animations. The text, drawings and photographs describe the anatomy. This is supplemented with QuickTime Virtual Reality movies that enable the students to rotate the specimen and gain a three-dimensional image. QuickTime videos show the lameness signs exhibited by an affected animal. Interactive photographs and drawings enable the student to call pop-up descriptions of the individual structures in the photographs. Macromedia Flash animations demonstrate dynamics such as the actions of joints. Our new software will be used as an adjunct to the limited number of lameness cases that the students will see in classes and/or clinics, and
serve as a study guide and reference outside of the laboratory. The Anatomical Basis of Lameness in Food Animals will be available to many students with limited direct access to teaching materials.