Online educational modalities are used extensively in courses that do not require hands-on laboratory experiences. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a need for transition from in-person to online laboratory-based courses, especially in animal and veterinary science courses. This study evaluated 163 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory animal and veterinary science laboratory in the fall 2020 semester. Using surveys throughout the semester, student responses were collected and evaluated. Results indicated student performance on quizzes and exams were better during online instruction compared with in-person instruction, which contradicted previous studies reported in the literature. As a majority of these students were first-year, first-semester students, their metacognitive abilities were likely not fully developed. This laboratory course was taught initially online for the first half of the semester and then transitioned to inperson instruction as the university public health regulations allowed. Socially shared metacognitive regulation was only exercised during the in-person portion of the class. Results indicate an animal and veterinary science laboratory can successfully be taught online.

Keywords: animal and veterinary science, education, hybrid instruction, online instruction, online laboratory