Evaluation of a computer-assisted instructional component in a college-level nutrition course

The effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in nutrition education was evaluated by determining if a CAI program designed to reinforce class lectures and available on disks and the university network was associated with higher cognitive achievement test scores. Students' opinions concerning the: helpfulness, advantages, and disadvantages of such a program were also assessed. Our CAI program was available to 243 students in four sections of an introductory nutrition course. Students could use the CAI program for any amount of time. There were 160 users and 83 nonusers. A valid and reliable cognitive pretest-post-test, an attitude assessment, and a demographic and opinion questionnaire were used. Differences in pretest-post-test scores were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance. Internal consistency of the attitude assessment instrument was determined using Cronbach's alpha test. Users of the CAI program had higher pretest-post-test gain scores than nonusers. Eighty-seven percent of the students thought that the program was useful or very useful; 78% thought that it improved their grades. Students' attitudes were positive toward use of computers and, generally, improved with use of the program. We concluded that class material in a computerized format available on disks and a network is useful for improving performance of students in a college-level, introductory nutrition course.