Abstract:

The use of digital tools is an increasingly common practice in higher education. Among the advantages of using online or e-learning resources are possible lifelong training, greater flexibility and autonomous learning. The main objective of this work was to find out the degree of usefulness and satisfaction of the students of the Animal Nutrition subject of the Degree in Veterinary Medicine at the Complutense University of Madrid, on the use of a digital website for learning aspects related to basic nutrition and bird feeding.

The free tool “Google Sites” was used to create the website. Various contents were included in different tabs:
(1) Initial tab about the use of the page and generalities;
(2) The energy and protein needs of the birds to be calculated;
(3) It allowed food consumption to be estimated;
(4) How the formulation of a feed is carried out.

The part of calculating food needs and consumption included different links that directed to an Excel page. Regarding how to formulate the food, two videos were included in which a veterinary nutritionist belonging to a food company related basic aspects and the most frequently used ingredients; and another, which detailed the operation of a ration formulation program, as well as the steps to follow to obtain the final formula. The website address was made available to students prior to the theoretical class in which the related content was taught. Next, a continuous evaluation questionnaire was provided with questions that required calculations and other aspects related to the content of the theoretical class and the website.

To evaluate the students' opinion regarding the degree of usefulness for learning and general satisfaction, a survey that included 4 items was used. The survey was based on the Likert scale (1-5 from least to most) and it was prepared using the Google tool. This was sent via e-mail and it was available until the end of the academic year. A total of 30 students answered the questionnaire.

Regarding the results, 74% of those surveyed expressed a high degree of satisfaction (positive and very positive evaluations) for the use of this type of methodology. Furthermore, 70% considered that the use of the tool had motivated them in learning the subject; 61% considered it a useful tool for learning the subject and 83% considered they would like other subjects to use this type of tools.

In conclusion, the use of websites for teaching Veterinary Animal Nutrition, and specifically content related to calculating needs and formulating rations, achieves a high degree of satisfaction for students and can be a useful tool for the teacher and manage to bring the student closer to the professional world of animal nutrition. However, few students were involved in responding to the satisfaction surveys, so greater implementation would be desirable to have a more precise vision of how the use of this tool can improve learning.

Acknowledgement:
This work was carried out as part of an educational innovation project of the ViceRectorate of Quality of the Complutense University of Madrid (Academic Year 21/22; project no. 13).

Keywords:

Animal nutrition, birds formulation, website, e-learning.