Collaboration sees enhancement in essential veterinary learning

When the opportunity arose to revise Tāwharau Ora’s first-year course offerings, Ms Smith was keen to redesign the way physiology was being taught. She says it was important to find resources that would elevate the teaching of this foundational knowledge.

“From working in clinics myself and teaching final year students, I got a feel for what important concepts of physiology really needed to be understood. In redesigning the course, I wanted to make sure that these were emphasised so students would have a solid understanding before moving on. A focus on teaching them the basics as well as possible is necessary as they’ll come back to these concepts in detail in later years.”

Unable to find anything suitable, Ms Smith and co-collaborator Associate Professor Erica Gee decided to create their own fit-for-purpose collection in Lt, ADInstruments’ online-learning platform.

“I wanted to build an online resource that would provide a consistent approach for students that we would have as a standard we were all working from. I started building the resource in Lt because it’s a lesson building platform that the School has been using for a long time. I knew it was going to be a lot of work, so I approached ADInstruments with my idea and asked for some support, which resulted in us working together,” Ms Smith says.

The collaborative effort started with a pilot project to produce one module. Finding success in the result, both parties agreed to continue with a full collection, which Ms Smith says was a real win-win situation.

“I really enjoyed the experience of working together with this collaboration. It meant I had access to their instructional designers and medical illustrators as well as to their wealth of experience. ADInstruments gets my content, the first veterinary resources they’ve ever had, and can use my pilot lessons to show other veterinary schools what the platform can do. The collection can also be purchased as a ready-made version.”

The Lt Veterinary Physiology Collection introduces students to veterinary clinically orientated physiology with an emphasis on mammals. Through 60 interactive lessons, students learn about key body systems and clinical animal case studies with animal-specific diagrams and illustrations. The collection is fully editable for other vet schools to adapt to their courses and can be used for team-based learning or individual study.

“The majority of our students have other commitments, so having this resource means they can study at times that suit them and they can return to the modules whenever they need throughout the five years they’re with us. It’s interactive, with a multi-question approach that encourages students to engage with the knowledge through activities that are beneficial for long-term knowledge retention. The concise design of the modules means students can spend more time learning and less time worrying about what to learn,” Ms Smith says.

While officially launching this month, the modules have already been implemented in a draft version for current veterinary students at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University. Ms Smith says this has helped test the viability of the collection and help them make changes based off feedback from students, which has been really positive.

“We’ve been able to get a feel for what works and what doesn’t, which has helped us create the best version as we can see how students react to them. Students seem to really appreciate the flexibility and knowing everything is there in one place. Everyone has their own preferences for how they like to learn, but these lessons are structured in a way to help facilitate teaching our students on a longer term for a five-year professional degree.”

After completing this collaboration, Ms Smith says she’s open to future collaborations with ADInstruments.

“This collaboration has been a really good experience and both Dr Gee and I feel the process has helped to improve our own learning and development as teachers by having the team at ADInstruments asking all the right questions. I’d like to thank all the many helpers within the School who had their hand in reviewing the content, supplying images and offering advice to make this collection what it is.”