Differing levels of experience and education impact learners' changes in knowledge and skills

Teaching methods are often adapted to learners: students with more experience than knowledge may learn differently than those with more education than experience. Bringing participants together in a course with different levels of education and experience may promote an enriched learning environment. The two primary objectives of this study were to 1) assess perceived changes in knowledge and skills before, immediately after, and six months following a 3-day large animal rescue training course, and 2) evaluate university students' experiences when placed in a learning environment that included participants with diverse professional backgrounds. Three groups of participants---First Responders, Industry Professionals, and University Students---took part in the training. It was hypothesized that the inclusion of Professionals and University Students in a large animal rescue training that previously targeted primarily First Responders would result in a perceived increase of knowledge, skills, or comfort by all.;Self-perception surveys regarding knowledge and skills about equine handling, disaster response, mud incidents, trailer incidents and equipment operations were distributed to all participants pre-, post-, and six months following the course. A scenario-based application of knowledge and skills regarding emergency response was also given as a qualitative assessment. Finally, as part of the six month follow-up survey, University Students were given additional questions regarding their perceptions on the involvement of the different groups within the course. Chi-Square tests were performed to evaluate associations within participants' perceptions of personal knowledge and skills for the pre- and post-surveys. Participants in all three groups indicated an increase in perception of their knowledge and skills after the training. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate data for the six month follow-up and university student perception surveys.;Six months after the course, the majority of respondents were found to perceive a lower level in the area of knowledge and skills. The decrease was particularly found in participants who stated having a lot of knowledge or skills after the course to six months following the course. However, equine handling knowledge and skills showed an increase in participants who felt they had a lot of knowledge and skills. Skills associated with disaster response and lift events were found to have decreased in the perceptions of the categories some and a lot of skills. University Students in the student perception surveys consistently attested to positive perceptions about their experience with inclusion of non-university students in the university setting.