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An Animated Model of Reticulorumen Motility

Understanding reticulorumen motility is important to the assessment of ruminant health and optimal production, and in the recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. Accordingly, the teaching of reticulorumen motility is a staple of all veterinary curricula. This teaching has historically been based on written descriptions, line drawings, or pressure tracings obtained during contraction sequences. We developed an animated model of reticulorumen motility and hypothesized that veterinary students would prefer use of the model over traditional instructional methods. First-year veterinary students were randomly allocated to one of two online learning exercises: with the animated model (Group A) or with text and line drawings (Group B) depicting reticulorumen motility. Learning was assessed with a multiple-choice quiz and feedback on the learning alternatives was obtained by survey. Seventy-four students participated in the study, including 38/42 in Group A and 36/36 in Group B. Sixty-four out of 72 students (89%) responded that they would prefer use of the animated model if only one of the two learning methods was available. A majority of students agreed or strongly agreed that the animated model was easy to understand and improved their knowledge and appreciation of the importance of reticulorumen motility, and would recommend the model to other veterinary students. Interestingly, students in Group B achieved higher scores on examination than students in Group A. This could be speculatively attributed to the inclusion of an itemized list of contraction sequences in the text provided to Group B and failure of Group A students to read the text associated with the animations.

Key Words: animated model • eructation • reticulorumen motility • rumination • student preference

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