eBCSi©: mobile application in teaching of Body Condition Scoring (BCS) index among veterinary students / Mohd Faizal Ghazali ... [et al.]

Body condition scoring (BCS) is the assessment of subcutaneous fat stores based on visual evaluation and provides an immediate appraisal of the degree of obesity in an animal. In this study, the BCS index application was designed in order to improvise the conventional technique through visual observation, which requires trained and experienced workers to regulate and often requires much time to determine. This is also to encourage the student to learn in a creative way. This study has two objectives: Firstly, to develop a mobile application on the BCS index for beef cattle, and secondly, to evaluate the effectiveness of the mobile application by evaluating students’ knowledge. For the first objective, an android application named eBCSi© was created using the Flutter programming language and incorporated all the beef cattle BCS index parameters. By installing eBCSi© into handphones, students can key in the parameters for a visual description of key body locations associated with each condition score. The final BCS score would be generated in conclusion by embedding animal management advice and nutrition recommendations. This concise and fast-generated result would greatly assist students in determining the next necessary action plan for managing cattle performance. For the second objective, 68 veterinary students have participated. Students were taught how to use the mobile application. One week was given to familiarize and key in the visual parameters of cattle observed in Putra Agriculture Centre, UPM. Pre- and post-intervention knowledge assessments were conducted. It yields significant results (paired t-test: pre-mean score of 68.3%, post-test mean score of 86.6%, p<0.05). Most of the participants gave favorable feedback, expressing that user-friendly and enjoyable applications generated a rapid BCS result and provided insightful information about cattle BCS. In conclusion, this study has successfully developed eBCSi©, a mobile application that is user-friendly for teaching BCS and fulfilling the topic learning outcome. This mobile-based education tool has proven to increase the knowledge test score on the cattle BSC index.