Undergraduate student attitude and acceptance of computer enhanced instruction in a college nutrition course

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether computer enhanced instructions (CEI) was more favorable to student acceptance than traditional transparency over-heads. Eighty-two undergraduate students enrolled in the Nutrition for Hospitality course participated in the study. Students were presented lectures utilizing over-head transparencies alternating with lectures using computer- generated images, which would be duplicates of the pictures and content of the transparencies. The survey instrument presented as a Likert scale with students rating their preference of presentation method for seventeen statements. The survey instrument was completed early in the semester, at midterm and at the end of the semester. Statistical analyses were completed using t-tests. When the students rated questions 1 – 17 early in the semester, the most notable finding was the non-significant difference between the transparencies and computer images for the statement; “allowed me to keep up easier”. However, the ratings for the sixteen remaining survey statements were highly significant (p=0.0001) indicating that subjects strongly preferred the computer images rather than the transparencies. Similar results were found at mid-semester and at the end of the semester for all sixteen statements with students intensely preferring the computer enhanced instruction. These results confirm that CEI was significantly preferred when compared to traditional instruction. The implication for the nutrition educator is that incorporating multimedia into the nutrition classroom appears to contribute to increased student enthusiasm and satisfaction. This may translate into higher evaluations of both the course and the instructor