Future skills education of animal and veterinary students for bsas 2011

Future education of animal

and veterinary students: skills

Liam A. Sinclair & Jayne Powles

Harper Adams University College

Outline of Presentation

• Employment market for animal and

veterinary skills

• Review of current provision of animal and

veterinary courses

• Approaches to teaching animal and

veterinary related courses with an

emphasis on skills

Employment market for Animal/Vet students

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Agriculturallivestock

Animal care Veterinarynursing

Game +wildlife

Equine Veterinary Feedindustry

AnimalTechn

Em

plo

ym

en

t (0

00

)

Data derived from Feed Statistics (2009), Lantra (2010); IDBR (2008); Defra (2008)

Undergraduate provision in England

• Recent increase in Animal Science

related courses

• Agric livestock = dominated by

FEC’s (HEFCE 2007)

• Animal care & equine have a

greater HE delivery (HEFCE 2007)

• Fastest growing sector = FEC’s

providing foundation degrees

• In HE skills arena, migration of

people from rural employment

following education. 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

AgricLivestock

AnimalCare

Equine Sectoraverage

FEC's

Franchised FEC's

HEI

Review of provision for land-based subjects (2007)

HESA returns (2010)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Anim Sci

Agric

Vet Pre-Clin

Vet Clin

Qualification level: Agric livestock

0

5

10

15

20

25

None Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4+

Industry

UK%

% o

f w

ork

fo

rce

Lantra (2010)

- Distinction between skills needed

by industry and how these skills are

recognised by government (i.e.

qualifications).

- Majority of livestock employers

expect employees to gain skills “on

the job”

- Few HE courses formally teach

skills; some courses include a

placement year - 75% of vets learn practical skills at Univ; 96% stated they learned their skills via

extramural activities

- 76% of veterinary graduates stated “insufficient practical instruction, especially

surgery” (Fitzpatrick & Mellor, 2003)

Veterinary student satisfaction: practicals

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

V. poor

Poor

Avg

Good

V. Good

What skills do new graduates need?

Generic (domain general) Skills

• Application of knowledge

• Communication/team work

• Problem solving/critical thinking

• Reflective judgement

Animal and Veterinary course skills (domain specific)

• Animal management, husbandry, handling

• Laboratory/clinical skills

• People and business management/ethical practice

Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) can be used to assess

learning styles (Watkin et al., 1971)

GEFT scores are based on locating simple shapes within complex

figures

Effective teaching of skills

“Scientists are inherently and appropriately sceptical, so data

demonstrating that teaching differently will result in greater

learning must be part of any effort to convince them to change

their practices”

Carl Wieman: Nobel Prize in Physics (2001)

• Didactic lecture is most common but least effective method

• Superiority of novel pedagogies supported by inexpensive

technologies are supported by cognitive psychology

research (Wieman 2007)

• Common practice does not equal good practice

Support and Motivation

Scaffolding for success

Construct knowledge

“the most important factor influencing

learning is what the learner already

knows” Ausubel 1963

“teach concepts in terms of everyday

understanding” Vygotsky (1978)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2007 2008 2009 2010

%F

arm

ing

Ba

ck

gro

un

d

Agricuture

Animals/Vet Nursing

Bloom’s (Anderson) taxonomy

• Training for technicians may cover knowledge, comprehension and

application, but not concern itself with analysis and above

• Full professional training may be expected to include this and synthesis and evaluation as well

Reasoning: Deep learning

Reproducing: Surface learning

• "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." (Confucius 551-479 BC) . This quote indicates that from the early ages people had different learning

preferences.

• The VARK model focuses on an individual and places the learner into one of four

categories: Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesthetic. Instructor should recognise

stimuli and preference for learning/ processing new material (Dunn & Dunn 1993)

• Herrmann’s (1996) whole brain model (left brain/right brain) divides preferred

styles of learning into theorist or organiser (both left brain) or innovator or

humanitarian (both right brain) Petty 2006

75% theorists are Males

75% humanitarians are Females

• Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) can be used to assess learning styles (Watkin et al., 1971)

• GEFT scores are based on locating simple shapes within complex figures

Teaching approach and student learning

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2007 2008 2009 2010

% M

ale

Agriculture

Animals/Vet Nursing

Can you find Wally? Field Independent


Field-dependent:

- Difficulty when several steps in

tasks, not analytical

- Experience difficulty in problem

solving situations

- Prefer external goals

- Prefer collaboration and answers

provided

Field-independent:

- Enjoy several steps in task

- Good at analytical problem solving

- Prefer an enquiry approach to

learning

- Dislike collaboration

- Poor social skills

- Enjoy competition

Dairy Science

Poultry Science

Nutrition

No effect of age or sex

Rural background

Hoover & Marshall (1998)

Animal Science

Pre-veterinary

No effect of age or sex

Suburban background

• Instructor should recognize stimuli and preference for learning/ processing

new material. This model focuses on an individual and places the learner

into one of four categories:

(Dunn & Dunn 1993)

• Herrmann’s (1996) whole brain model (left brain/right brain) divides

preferred styles of learning into theorist or organiser (both left brain) or

innovator or humanitarian (both right brain) Petty 2006

• Use a range of activities which suit the different learning styles suggested

by these models and help students to develop their skills in the areas in

which they are initially less comfortable (Coffield et al 2004a)

• Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) can be used to assess learning

styles (Watkin et al., 1971)

• GEFT scores are based on locating simple shapes within complex figures



• Does matching teaching style to

student learning style improve

performance in animal related skills?

• Pig practical classes evaluated for

field dependant, independent or

mixed teaching style (Honeyman & Miller

1998)

• Students preferred teaching style

that matched their learning style

Student satisfaction

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

3.9

4.0

4.1

4.2

Field-independent Combination Field-dependent

Field dependent

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

3.9

4.0

4.1

4.2


Field independent


• Does matching teaching style to

student learning style improve

performance in animal related skills?

• Teaching style makes little difference

to field-independent learners, but

does influence field-dependent

learners

• Higher levels of cognitive effort

and gains in achievement with a

mixed approach

Student achievement

65

70

75

80

85

90

95


Field independent

65

70

75

80

85

90

95


Field dependent

Communication skills

• Communication problems contribute

to > 80% of cases dealt with by Veterinary

Defence Society

• Regarded by the RCVS as a core

professional competence

3 groups:

A = no formal training

B = 3 hours group study observing and

discussing videoed scenarios

C = 6 hours of small groups involving

discussion, videoed scenarios and role-

play actors with opportunity to repeat &

rehearse

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Buildingrelationship

Providinginformation

Aiding recall

A

B

C

Me

an

ma

rk

Latham & Morris (2007)




Defence Society



3 groups:







rehearse

0

20

40

60

80

100

120



Aiding recall

A

B

C

Me

an

ma

rk





Defence Society



3 groups:







rehearse

0

20

40

60

80

100

120



Aiding recall

A

B

C

Me

an

ma

rk


Problem Based Learning

Students identify learning objectives from a case/problem

Focus is on active learners – develops transferable skills

It is PROBLEM-Based Learning

Not subject based – students identify learning

It is Problem-BASED Learning

Aim not to solve problem: emphasis on gaps in knolwedge

and skills and how to remedy

It is Problem-Based LEARNING

Not teaching – students learn, tutors facilitate

Critical interactive thinking exercises In Undergraduate Reproductive Physiology

Problem solving question given to class

Students prepared composition

Small group discussions

Large class discussion

Activity greatly enhanced

Critical Thinking Skills and Learning

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Greatlyenhanced

Somewhatenhanced

Did not enhance

Perc

en

t o

f stu

den

ts

Peters et al, 2002

Active learning The didactic lecture is ineffective for student learning

(Bligh,1998) and rated low by students (Sander et al, 2000)

Personal Response Systems

demand interactivity from all

students and provide feedback on

individual conceptions and skills

• reinforce skills

Demonstrations/equipment/models

provide hands-on experience

• Active learning develops deep

understanding (Biggs, 2003)

Communicubes (Bostock et al 2006)

Project-based learning lab practicals

• Replace traditional “recipe-style” lab practical's with mini-research

projects.

• Students given a contextualised problem which they must solve in a

team.

Experimental skills

Laboratory manipulation, experimental observation, equipment

expertise.

Data Handling Skills

Data collection, processing and analysis, interpretation

Generic/Transferable Skills

Problem solving, team work, Scientific method/approach,

communication

McDonnell et al (2007)

Integration of E-learning

Discussion boards, chat rooms

Open ended problems

Self assessment quizzes

Simulations and animations

Pictures and videos

Powles, 2010

Assessment of laboratory skills

Professional mentality – acquiring and maintaining skills for

lifelong learning

Experimental learning cycle (Kolb,1984)

Clinical data Literature

Competence in a skill

Self-directed learning

Summary

• Increasing range of employment for animal based students and

potential shortfall in several areas

• Practical skills traditionally “taught on the job” with little formal

recognition within Higher Education

• Using a range of activities which suit different learning styles help

students to develop their skills in the areas in which they are

initially less comfortable (Coffield et al 2004a and 2004b)

• Building on prior knowledge and relating teaching to practical

examples/scenarios is critical.