The fourth ‘ViEW’ (Veterinary Education Worldwide) workshop was held in association with the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) 2007 conference in Trondheim on 26th August.
Highlights of the event included:
- An overview of the Foresight Report, presented by Dr. Donal Walsh of the University of California Davis, in which he highlighted a major difficulty in veterinary education – the increasing breadth of veterinary responsibilities – that could be met through increasing undergraduate specialisation implemented through tracking.
- ‘Curriculum Development in Europe’, presented by Prof. Goran Dalin, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, who also highlighted the requirement for veterinary education system that enabled veterinarians to develop as specialists in order to better meet future challenges, particularly in veterinary public health.
- Facilitated by Dr. Vicki Dale, Royal Veterinary College, London, participants’ played the ‘Diversity’ game (Applied Creativity Inc.), that encouraged delegates to consider their preferred thinking styles. Participants were encouraged to reflect on how their own thinking preferences compared with those iof their colleagues, and possible consequences for curriculum development.
- A presentation on curriculum change by Prof. Susan Rhind, University of Edinburgh, in which she highlighted the challenges of using an outcome-based education model as a driver for curricular change, noting the need to focus not just on Day One skills, but also ‘Day Two skills’.
- A presentation on the evolving veterinary curriculum at theUniversity of Utrecht by Hellen van der Maazen, which has gone through several phases of development to best meet changing professional and societal needs, and which includes an extensive tracking system to enable undergraduate specialisation.
- Dr. Philip Evans of the University of Edinburgh (now based at the University of Glasgow) presented scenarios on curriculum change from the medical perspective. Dr. Evans highlighted the usefulness of employer and graduate surveys in generating evidence for the need for curriculum change; and the need to enlist the support of colleagues, particularly senior management; as well as widespread publicising of a new curriculum blueprint to prevent ‘curriculum drift’.
- A workshop activity in which all participants were challenged to define aspects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in order to become a lifelong learner as a teacher in higher education. This activity was facilitated by Prof. Peter van Beukelen, University of Utrecht. Consequences of the mentioned aspects for teacher development programmes and success factors of curriculum development were discussed.
- The workshop was summarised and take home messages were defined by Dr. Sarah Baillie, Royal Veterinary College, London, and Gill McConnell, University of Edinburgh.
Veterinary Education Worldwide 