Learning-style profiles of 150 veterinary medical students

Awareness of student learning-style preferences is important for several reasons. Understanding differences in learning styles permits instructors to design course materials that allow all types of learners to absorb and process information. Students who know their own learning style are better able to help themselves in courses taught in a non-preferred method by developing study strategies in line with their preferred learning method. We used the Felder and Solomon Index of Learning Styles to assess the learning-style profiles of 150 veterinary students in three consecutive years. Students were predominantly active (56.7%), sensing (79.3%), visual (76.7%), and sequential (69.3%). Most were balanced on the active-reflective (59.3%) and global-sequential (50%) dimensions, and 61.3% and 54% were moderately to strongly sensing and visual, respectively. Small but significant numbers of students were moderately to strongly intuitive (8.7%), verbal (13%), and global (12%). The most common patterns were active-sensing-visual-sequential (26%), reflective-sensing-visual-sequential (19.3%), active-sensing-visual-global (8.7%), and active-sensing-verbal-sequential (8.7%). Although most students (65.3%) were balanced on one to two dimensions, 77.3% had one or more strong preferences. Our results show that although people have dominant learning-style preference and patterns, they have significant minor preferences and patterns across all dimensions with moderate to strong preferences on each scale. These results indicate that a balanced approach to teaching is essential to allow all students to learn optimally.     

Outcomes assessment in veterinary medical education

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) agreed to perform outcomes assessment (OA) as part of the accreditation review process for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). Nine OA instruments were developed and validated by a 20-member accreditation committee. The instruments were also pre-tested by a subset of the target population. The instruments were for alumni one to five years post-graduate, alumni 6-15 years post-graduate, faculty, staff, DVM students, employers of veterinarians, referring veterinarians using the Blacksburg campus, and referring veterinarians using the Leesburg campus. In addition, data were used from OA surveys previously done for the Office of Research and Graduate Studies. Data from the surveys were incorporated into each of the 11 Essentials for Accreditation required by the AVMA. The process of OA provided a comprehensive assessment of the many aspects of the operation of the college. An important follow-up to the OA process is use of data to enhance and/or re-prioritize existing programs.     

Computer applications in veterinary medical education

This is a review of the various computer applications used in veterinary medical education. The various applications include drill-and-practice, tutorial, problem-solving, testing, educational management programs, educational games, word processing, educational utilities, authoring programs, and simulations.     

Piloting interprofessional education interventions with veterinary and veterinary nursing students

Interprofessional education (IPE) has received little attention in veterinary education even though members of the veterinary and nursing professions work closely together. The present study investigates veterinary and veterinary nursing students' and practitioners' experiences with interprofessional issues and the potential benefits of IPE. Based on stakeholder consultations, two teaching interventions were modified or developed for use with veterinary and veterinary nursing students: Talking Walls, which aimed to increase individuals' understanding of each other's roles, and an Emergency-Case Role-Play Scenario, which aimed to improve teamwork. These interventions were piloted with volunteer veterinary and veterinary nursing students who were recruited through convenience sampling. A questionnaire (the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale [RIPLS]) was modified for use in veterinary education and used to investigate changes in attitudes toward IPE over time (pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and four to five months afterward). The results showed an immediate and significant positive change in attitude after the intervention, highlighting the students' willingness to learn collaboratively, their ability to recognize the benefits of IPE, a decreased sense of professional isolation, and reduced hierarchical views. Although nearly half of the students felt concerned about learning with students from another profession before the intervention, the majority (97%) enjoyed learning together. However, the positive change in attitude was not evident four to five months after the intervention, though attitudes remained above pre-intervention levels. The results of the pilot study were encouraging and emphasize the relevance and importance of veterinary IPE as well as the need for further investigation to explore methods of sustaining a change in attitude over time.     

Mainstreaming alternatives in veterinary medical education: resource development and curricular reform

Veterinary medical educators are charged with preparing students to enter practice in veterinary medicine during a four-year, intensive, professional education program. This requires giving students in laboratory training that involves dead, anesthetized, or conscious animals, so that they become proficient in the expected range of veterinary knowledge, skills, and abilities. Undeniably, experience with animals is essential to prepare students for a profession in which animals comprise the total domain. However, the consumptive use of animals for teaching students, especially in laboratories, is increasingly subject to regulatory requirements, while also being scrutinized by animal protection groups, and has become a common focus of contention among veterinary students. Not surprisingly, the use of animals in teaching has sharply declined over the past few decades, as new teaching resources and methods, involving less consumptive use of animals, have been incorporated. This change in veterinary medical education has occurred on such a wide scale, in almost all veterinary schools and colleges, that the educational approach can serve as a model for further developments within the veterinary educational community and, indeed, for animal-related material in secondary schools and undergraduate higher education. This article highlights examples of the leadership provided by veterinary educators in developing alternative teaching resources and methods, while maintaining the high level of proficiency expected from traditional educational approaches.     

Attitudes of veterinary medical students and medical students toward collaborative learning: an experiment

This study measured the attitudes of 55 medical students and 30 veterinary medical students as they participated in an experiment of collaborative teaching and learning about basic surgical skills. Two parallel forms of an attitude questionnaire were developed, with three subscales: confidence in one's own surgical skill; collaboration with the other type of student; and inter-professional collaboration in general. These attitude scales were administered before and after an experiment involving the veterinary medical students teaching the medical students incision and exploratory laparoscopy in a laboratory setting using live rabbits. After the experiment, measures of the medical students' attitudes had increased significantly on all three subscales. Measures of the veterinary students' attitudes increased significantly on two subscales but declined on the subscale of inter-professional collaboration.     

Food-supply veterinary medicine and veterinary medical education: an Australian perspective

Food-supply veterinary medicine has been an essential part of veterinary degree programs in Australia since the first veterinary school opened in the late nineteenth century. Australian veterinary schools, like others internationally, are being challenged by the relevance of material in current curricula for modern food-supply veterinary medicine. Additionally, student aspirations are a major issue, as curriculum designers balance companion-animal training with the herd/flock-based issues that focus on productivity and profitability. One of the challenges is to examine the relative balance of education in generic skills (self-knowledge, change management, teamwork, leadership, negotiation) with more technically or scientifically based education. An ongoing process of curriculum review and renewal, which involves input from both external and internal stakeholders and allows regular review and assessment, is needed to ensure continuing curriculum relevance.