Development of a framework for the teaching of Veterinary Public Health in UK Universities.
N.B. The information below is authored by the mini-project applicants, not by staff of the subject centre. This text represents the views and opinions of the mini-project team only, not those of the subject centre or its affiliates.
Full list of project partners
School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham
Royal Veterinary College, University of London
Liverpool University Veterinary School
Cambridge University Veterinary School
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh
Faculty of Veterinary medicine, University of Glasgow
Bristol University School of Veterinary Science
Government Veterinary Surgeons
Background
We propose an innovative, collaborative project which will improve the quality of teaching in veterinary public health (VPH) in the UK veterinary colleges. The project will produce a framework for VPH teaching in the UK by building on existing partnerships.
Veterinary Public Health is defined as the sum of all contributions to the physical, mental and social well-being of humans through an understanding and application of veterinary science.
VPH is an important part of veterinary education and is now a recognised specialty in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. The scope of veterinary public health is wide and multi-disciplinary. It involves governmental and nongovernmental veterinarians, private institutions and other professions such as physicians, nurses, microbiologist, environmental specialist, food technologist and agricultural scientists.
VPH has continued to evolve rapidly in the face of globalization, new technologies, changes in farming methods, climate change, emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases. In recent years, VPH teaching has been expanded to include risk management, risk communication, cost benefits analysis and economics. All this makes a collaborative approach to veterinary public health teaching critical. Within government also protection of public health is a paramount issue underlying animal health policies.
Most of the UK veterinary colleges are in the process of reviewing their undergraduate veterinary public health curriculum. This is an opportune time to explore the potential of an online collaboration tool for interaction not only amongst veterinary colleges but also enabling the policy makers in the Government Veterinary Surgeons (GVS) to contribute to the VPH curriculum development in the UK.
Proposed activities
Research Phase (Feb-April)
• Source possible collaborative website tools such as wikipedia, jotspot, project place or other free wiki platforms.
• The GVS UVS Liaison Group arranged for 22/23 March will be used as a workshop for practitioners exploring how they might use a collaborative tool and the particular features and activities that would make the tool effective.
• Run 2 workshops for community members to develop collaborative guidelines, success criteria and documentation.
Implementing Phase (May – August)
• Identify potential processes
• Run the Community of Practice
Evaluation and feedback (September – December)
• Use the Autumn GVS UVS June/July meeting to evaluate the effectiveness of the process based on agreed criteria in the research phase.
Proposed outcomes
In the short-term, this collaborative tool would be used to
• Build on an existing network and a genuine enthusiasm to take such a project forward – all UK Veterinary Schools are already involved in the Government Veterinary Surgeons - University Veterinary Schools (GVS-UVS) Liaison Group through which the challenges faced by all the Schools in delivering a VPH curriculum have recently been highlighted.
• Develop a curriculum framework for veterinary public health teaching, learning and assessment.
• “Join up†VPH teaching nationally. This will give consistent output in terms of graduate competences and ensure compliance with EU and national requirements with respect to VPH teaching across all Schools.
In the longer term the seeding fund will enable
• Greater access to resources for teaching teams and their students – particularly in relation to increasing interactive learning opportunities and case study information.
• An improved mechanism for providing teaching teams’ access to updated, relevant policy & legislation information of relevance to this subject area.
The key benefits of this seeding fund will be to
• allow VPH lecturers to share insights and knowledge, learn from each other and establish methods of collaborating together on this important subject of veterinary education.
• provide an opportunity for GVS policy makers to contribute directly to the development of future vets
• provide access to veterinary expertise across government.
• contribute to an enriched learning experience for students as well as research activities through shared resources.
Proposed expertise
A collaborative group will support delivery of this project:
Malcolm Cobb is a divisional head at Nottingham Veterinary School which is currently establishing a new veterinary course and is implementing innovative methods for delivering veterinary public health learning throughout the curriculum.
Kim Whittlestone is a senior Lecturer in Independent Learning at the LIVE Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (Lifelong and Independent Veterinary Education). He has 17 years experience in the effective use of e-learning for veterinary and medical education. Now, as part of the CETL, he is involved in researching independent learning in veterinary education with a particular interest in the role of e-Learning.
Megan Power (Veterinary Advisor, Defra) has post graduate qualification and experience in population medicine and veterinary public health and has established collaborative networks for information management in the State Veterinary Service and through cross-government and stakeholder groups.
Expertise of grant holder and project team
A collaborative group will support delivery of this project:
Malcolm Cobb is a divisional head at Nottingham Veterinary School which is currently establishing a new veterinary course and is implementing innovative methods for delivering veterinary public health learning throughout the curriculum.
Kim Whittlestone is a senior Lecturer in Independent Learning at the LIVE Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (Lifelong and Independent Veterinary Education). He has 17 years experience in the effective use of e-learning for veterinary and medical education. Now, as part of the CETL, he is involved in researching independent learning in veterinary education with a particular interest in the role of e-Learning.
Megan Power (Veterinary Advisor, Defra) has post graduate qualification and experience in population medicine and veterinary public health and has established collaborative networks for information management in the State Veterinary Service and through cross-government and stakeholder groups.
Similar work
The Government Veterinary Surgeons - University Veterinary Schools (GVS-UVS) Liaison Group was successfully launched in January 2006. The group has representatives from all UK veterinary schools, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and all government departments employing veterinary surgeons such as Defra, State Veterinary Service, Meat Hygiene Service and Food Standards Agency. The group met three times in 2006. These meeting were hosted and chaired jointly by both government and universities. Future meetings are planned for 2007.
Using opportunities presented by the new Nottingham Vet School, a similar meeting looked again at VPH teaching and review delivery4. This meeting was attended by representatives of many of the same organisations as those in the GVS UVS.
These ongoing discussions made it clear that all veterinary schools face similar challenges in delivering a VPH curriculum: - limited personnel, criticism from European visitors regarding coverage and difficulty in getting appropriate placements for students in abattoirs in particular. There is a willingness within the group to progress the VPH teaching through collaboration. This project will be building on this motivation by exploring web tools that will enable collaboration between subject experts and policy makers to facilitate the rapid delivery of a framework for a national VPH curriculum.
The project team is also aware of a proposal to the HEA for 'The Viki (Veterinary Information and Knowledge Interface) Wiki Project ' linking UK veterinary schools with a focus on best pedagogical practices. Should both projects go ahead, we are committed to working very closely with this project to share experiences, findings and also technologies were possible.
Contact details
Amount awarded: £2,450
Subject centre project contact: Gillian Brown
Reports and resources
Reports and articles will appear here once avaliable
