What participants learned from a standard operating procedure–based e-learning course in calf care—A mixed methods evaluation

Training of new employees on dairy farms is often inadequate due to limited time, staff, expertise, and language barriers. This study evaluated the acceptance and learning outcomes of e-learning courses as a training tool for dairy farm workers. We developed an online course series based on standard operating procedures for 8 key tasks in calf care (neonatal care, emergency care, measuring colostrum quality, bottle feeding colostrum, tube feeding colostrum, disbudding, identification of sick calves, and cleaning and disinfection) and made it available to farmers and their employees (n = 301). Courses were published sequentially over a period of 3 mo. Five embedded questionnaires, including an open text field ("What was the most important thing you learned?"), were used to assess demographics, knowledge, and perceptions. A mixed methods approach combined quantitative analysis with qualitative content analysis of feedback. The main objectives of the study were to (1) explore dairy employees' pretraining knowledge using qualitative approaches, (2) assess the effectiveness of the course in improving explicit and implicit knowledge of calf care, and (3) examine participants' perceptions of e-learning as a format for continuing education. Results showed that employees were highly motivated to learn but often lacked essential basic knowledge in calf care such as time and volume of colostrum feeding or importance of general hygiene and measurement of colostrum quality. Self-perceived learning effects were high (49%-80% agreement), especially in the emergency care course. Interest was initially high but declined in later published courses. In terms of participation 24 h after publishing, emergency care was the most popular, whereas cleaning and disinfection was the least. In the final evaluation (n = 120), 90% rated the courses as easy to use and 97% as understandable. More than 85% expressed strong interest in continuing education via online courses, despite 68% (n = 301) never having taken one before. A chi-squared analysis revealed a significant association between future interest in e-learning and both education level and job position, with employees and higher-educated participants showing greater interest. These findings suggest that e-learning can effectively fill training gaps in dairy farming and support workforce development in the sector.