Equine Laboratory Performance Measures: Does Self-Reporting Assessments Reflect Student Skill Development?
Equine Laboratory Student Performance Measures
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56103/nactaj.v68i1.157Keywords:
student performance measures, self-reporting assessments, instructor-based assessments, equine handling, skill developmentAbstract
In the hiring process, employers look for confidence in a potential employee. This confidence is particularly important in the equine industry when a lack of confidence in one’s abilities can create safety issues for both handler and horse. Nonetheless, while instructor course assessments for determining student learning and abilities often defer to student self-assessments, exposure to the horse may only develop a perceived confidence and not an actual skill set. Therefore, the objective of the study was to compare students’ perceived confidence in equine handling to actual skill development. Participants were enrolled in an equine laboratory course (n=83) consisting of basic equine handling activities covering over 30 contact hours throughout the semester. Students completed a self-reporting survey instrument focused on student’s confidence of equine handling skills at the beginning (pre-) and end (post-) of the semester. Instructors completed a pre- and post- skill assessment at the same time. By the end of the semester, students improved both in their self-assessed confidence and in their instructor-assessed skill level with a positive correlation seen between the two assessment methods. These results suggest self-reporting assessments can be a reliable approach for instructors to assess handling skills associated with an equine laboratory course.
Downloads
References
Anderson, K. P. (2015). Evaluation of Undergraduate Equine Related Internship Experience by Students and Employers. NACTA Journal, 59(3), 234–239. https://www.jstor.org/stable/nactajournal.59.3.234.
Bernhardt, J. H., & Langley, R. L. (1999). Analysis of tractor-related deaths in North Carolina from 1979 to 1988. The Journal of rural health: official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association, 15(3), 285-95. doi:10.1111/j.1748-0361.1999.tb00750.x
Benton, S. L., Duchon, D., & Pallett, W. H. (2013). Validity of student self-reported ratings of learning. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 38, 377 - 388. doi:10.1080/02602938.2011.636799
Bundy, J. M., Sterle, J. A., Johnson, A. K., & Krahn, G. T. (2019). The impact of an introductory animal handling course on undergraduate students who lack previous livestock handling experience. Journal of animal science, 97(8), 3588–3595. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skz095.
Cagle-Holtcamp, K., Parker, J., Dunlap, M. H., & Nicodemus, M. C. (2018) A methodology for determining the relationship between equine behavior knowledge and emotional safety. Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International Meetings. Retrieved from https://fontevacustomer-15cf09b5446.force.com/CPBase__store?site=a0df4000001bHtxAAE
Chang, B. (2019). Reflection in learning. Online Learning, 23(1), 95-110. doi:10.24059/olj.v23i1.1447.
Chen, L., Clarke, P. M., Petrie, D. J., & Staub, K. E. (2021). The effects of self-assessed health: Dealing with and understanding misclassification bias. Journal of health economics, 78, 102463. doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102463.
Cordes, D. H., & Foster, D. (1988). Health hazards of farming. American Family Physician, 38(4), 233-44. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3051979/.
Dogan, K. H., & Demirci, S. (2012) Livestock-Handling Related Injuries and Deaths. Livestock Production. Edited by Khalid Javed. Pg 81-116. https://doi.org/10.5772/50834.
Evans, H., Memili, E., Jousan, D., Beckman, L., Brunson, C., Irvin, L., & Nicodemus, M. C. (2018). Application of a survey instrument to determine the impact of volunteering in an equine-assisted activities and therapies program on university students. Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International Meetings. Retrieved from https://fontevacustomer-15cf09b5446.force.com/CPBase__store?site=a0df4000001bHtxAAE
Evans, H., Nicodemus, M., Holtcamp, K., Jousan, F., Memili, E., Brunson, C., & Irvin, L. (2022). Impact of Volunteering in Equine Assisted Activities and Therapy Programs for College Students Enrolled in Community Engaged Learning Courses. NACTA Journal, 66, 47-56.
Evans, P., Jogan, K., Jack, N., Scott, A., & Cavinder, C. (2009). University Students may be Better Prepared for Life after Working with Horses. NACTA Journal, 53, 37-43. https://www.nactateachers.org/index.php/vol-53-num-3-sept-2009-sp-192041358/143-university-students-may-be-better-prepared-for-life-after-working-with-horses.
Guinnefollau, L., Gee, E. K., Bolwell, C. F., Norman, E. J., & Rogers, C. W. (2019). Benefits of Animal Exposure on Veterinary Students’ Understanding of Equine Behaviour and Self-Assessed Equine Handling Skills. Animals, 9(9), 620. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani9090620.
Kennedy, G., Rea, J. N. M., & Rea, I. M. (2019). Prompting medical students to self-assess their learning needs during the ageing and health module: a mixed methods study. Medical education online, 24(1), 1579558. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2019.1579558.
Mastellar, S., Wimbush, K., & Janecka, L. (2022). Agricultural equipment operation skills desired by employers, use, and safety in the equine industry. 13th Annual NAEAA Conference, Pg 25-26. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361700325_Agricultural_equipment_operation_skills_desired_by_employers_use_and_safety_in_the_equine_industry
Miller, A. L. (2010). Investigating Social Desirability Bias in Student Self-Report Surveys. Association for Institutional Research (NJ1), https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED531729.
Panadero, E., Brown, G., & Matthew, C. (2014). Teachers’ reasons for using self-assessment: a survey self-report of Spanish teachers. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 21(4), 365-383, DOI:10.1080/0969594X.2014.919247.
Planar, D., & Soledad, M. (2015). The Effectiveness of Instructor Personalized and Formative Feedback Provided by Instructor in an Online Setting: Some Unresolved Issues. Electronic Journal of e-Learning, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1107130.
Schinske, J., & Tanner, K. (2014). Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently). CBE life sciences education, 13(2), 159-66. doi:10.1187/cbe.cbe-14-03-0054.
Schuft, A., Cortus, E., & Martinson, K. (2021). An online course to teach and encourage equine biosecurity practices. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 100, 103577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jevs.2021.103577.
Serão, N. V. L., Petry, A. L., Sanglard, L. P., Rossoni-Serão, M. C., & Bundy, J. M. (2021). Assessing the statistical training in animal science graduate programs in the United States: survey on statistical training. Journal of animal science, 99(5), skab086. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skab086
Sharma, R., Jain, A., Gupta, N., Garg, S., Batta, M., & Dhir, S. K. (2016). Impact of self-assessment by students on their learning. International journal of applied & basic medical research, 6(3), 226–229. https://doi.org/10.4103/2229-516X.186961
Yates, N., Gough, S., & Brazil, V. (2022). Self-assessment: With all its limitations, why are we still measuring and teaching it? Lessons from a scoping review. Medical Teacher, 44(11), 1296-1302, DOI: 10.1080/0142159X.2022.2093704.
