The COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges to both students and faculty. The push to keep students engaged and facilitate stimulating learning environments in absence of valuable in-person interaction spurred faculty to incorporate novel pedagogical and examination methods into their curricula. It was necessary for instructors to change how students in equine major were assessed during the pandemic. Case-scenario examination partners the theoretical classroom learning with the clinical work situation for students. Therefore, the objective of this survey was to determine student preference for case-scenario over traditional in-class/in-person examinations as an online assessment method during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 112 students enrolled in Equine Behavior (n=70) and Welfare and Equine Exercise Physiology (n =40) courses respectively were voluntarily asked to complete an online questionnaire during the winter quarter of 2021. The survey consisted of 18 questions targeting students’ opinions and perceptions regarding the case scenario exams. A total of 88 (78.6%) completed responses were received from a total of 112 students. Approximately, half of the students (45.5%) slightly or strongly disagreed with offering remote exams in a traditional format with multiple-choice and true-false questions. The majority of respondent students (75.1%) strongly agreed that case scenario exams would prepare them better for a career in the equine industry compared to traditional exams. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that case scenario exams could be used as a replacement for traditional exams in equine courses during online teaching.

Keywords: case scenario examination, equine science, online learning, survey, traditional examination