A42-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 27, 1999
From the Department of Dairy amt Animal Science
This regular column from Penn State’s Department of Dairy and Ani
mal Science features the research findings, student opportunities, and
reports on other Important topics generated in the Department. The back
issues of the column arc archived on Lancaster Farming’s Internet
www.lancasterfarming.com home page. Look for them.
The
Web
Daniel R. Deaver, Ph.D
Every day we see references to
the World Wide Web, or WWW,
and its potential to impact our
lives. Major TV networks,
newspapers, retail stores, movies,
entertainers, sports teams, large
and small businesses, and, of
course, universities have a
presence on the Web. The
Department of Dairy and Animal
Science recognized the importance
of the Internet early in its
development, and was one of the
first departments in the University
to hire a person dedicated to
maintaining and enhancing our
networks and connection to the
world through the Internet.
Because of this, we have been able
to take advantage of our physical
and technical infrastructure to
develop impressive new tools for
the classroom.
Faculty face a number of
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In
challenges, including how to
provide current information,
interact with large numbers of
students, and help students self
evaluate their progress prior to
exams. Having information and
learning tools available 24 hours a
day is a distinct advantage.
Over the past nine months, the
Department has developed
software that allows faculty to
make a variety of different
materials available to students
over the Internet. The
development team included three
faculty in Dairy and Animal
Science (Dan Deaver, Lisa Holden
and Dale Over) and two
exceptional programmers (Craig
Benner and Rob Walker - also
undergraduate students). Each
faculty member of the team
teaches different types of courses
in terms of class size and level. A
major objective was to develop a
single versatile package that could
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be utilized for many different
courses, and to have the material
accessible to faculty and students
from literally anywhere m the
world. Finally, to increase it
potential acceptability by both
students and instructors we sought
to make the program easy to use.
The program is called
CourseSTAß, and was tested last
fall m ANSC 431 W -
Physiology of Reproduction in
Farm Animals. Students'
responses to the software were
very positive. They were able to
obtain supplemental notes, copies
of graphics used m lecture, and
access to laboratory materials.
They even took several quizzes
that were immediately graded by
the computer and returned. In the
past, the laboratories were opened
several nights before each
laboratory practical. However as
class size increased, from 20
students m 1990 to 88 students in
1998, this optional study time
became difficult to manage. This
year, CourseSTAß provided
images of reproductive tracts,
available for students to review
from any location 24 hours a day!
CourseSTAß will be expanded
dramatically in the coming year.
The software will be available to
any instructor at the University
Park campus who would like to
use it. In a survey, students who
used CourseSTAß said they
would like to see more courses
using it, and they felt
CourseSTAß was better than
other software they had used
designed to accomplish similar
goals.
There is an important
distinction between teaching and
information transfer. Software like
CourseSTAß does not teach. The
art of teaching will continue to be
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highly personalized and instructor
dependent. In many ways
Course Star is similar to good
management tools used by
progressive livestock producers. It
is of great benefit in providing up
to-date information and material to
students. In order to reap the
benefits of this technology, it will
need to be used correctly.
Computer technologies are here to
stay. Incorporation of computer
technologies into many of our
courses will help develop and re
enforce cntical life skills in our
students.
National Dairy Production Program
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. - In a
recent AP wire story it was
reported that a Holstein cow
named LA-Foster Blstar Lucy
607, registration number
14599252, set a new world milk
production record by producing
75,275 pounds of milk in a 365-
day period.
The Holstein Association
USA is the national breed orga
nization whose Production
Leader Program designates offi
cial, national and state breed
leading records. In the instance
of Lucy the lactation record
begun on December 12, 1997
and completed Decemeber 11,
1998, does not meet the
Production Leader requirements
set by the Holstein Association.
While the data collection proce
dures appear to meet the basic
conditions required for publica
tion by the Holstein Association,
they do not meet the current,
more stringent requirements
required for official recognition
as a Production Leader.
In 1997, the organization
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We invite you to sample the
ANSC 431 W materials on
CourseSTAß. Not all options
may be available to you as a
visitor (like the quizzes) but you
will be able to gain a sense of
what the technology can provide
students. You can access the site
from the Dairy and Animal
Science homepage
(httpVAvww.das.psu.edu/) and
follow the link to Course Star. For
User Name enter LanFarm and use
DAS4U as the password. Then
follow the link to ANSC 431 W
materials. Your comments and
suggestions are welcomed!
responsible for the collection of
dairy production records, Dairy
Herd Improvement Association
(DHIA), underwent a change m
their approach to meeting the
information needs of the U.S.
dairy industry. One of the
changes was the movement from
rule enforcement to procedures
that provide data collection
information. This shifted much
of the responsibility for deter
mining the value and use of
records to member producers
and industry allies.
As a result, Holstein
Association USA, created
revised procedures to determine
the eligibility of animals to par
ticipate in Official Recognition
Programs. In order for a
Holstein cow to be recognized as
a Production Leader the herd
owner must be enrolled in the
Association’s Premier TriStar
production records program ser
vice option. In this system, eligi
bility is based on the complete
ness, supervision, and verifica
tion of lactation records.
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