Curriculum Review and Revision at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine

Assessment and Implementation of WOAH Day 1 Competencies (AID-1C): a cyclical methodology for curriculum harmonization with international standards

Introduction

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Day 1 Competencies for Graduating Veterinarians provide a standard framework to guide Veterinary Educational Establishments (VEEs) in improving their veterinary public health and population medicine curricula. However, pursuing a curriculum revision to incorporate these standards may be daunting, especially for institutions with limited resources or experience. This manuscript describes a methodology for targeted curriculum revision specifically focused on the WOAH Day 1 Competencies.

Phases of the AID-1 process

The Assessment and Implementation of WOAH Day 1 Competencies (AID-1C) is a six-step, cyclical, collaborative methodology that encompasses a series of tools and processes that help a VEE to evaluate their curriculum, identify and prioritize gaps, and develop and implement an action plan based on the results. The six phases of the AID-1C process include: (1) Assessment of the proficiency of the VEE's graduates in Day 1 Competencies using a structured Evaluation Tool; (2) A systematic curricular review and evaluation; (3) Identification and prioritization of interventions through a group problem-solving and prioritization exercise called Focus Forward; (4) Design and development of interventions to address identified gaps; (5) Curricular implementation; and (6) Monitoring and evaluation. The AID-1C methodology relies upon active involvement of senior students, recent graduates, faculty, instructional staff, and employers throughout the process.

Conclusion

The AID-1C methodology provides a systematic, participatory, collaborative approach that simplifies the planning and execution of the curricular revision, making a complex process more manageable. This enables VEEs to improve their curricula, while moving toward harmonization with WOAH standards. The result is a curriculum that allows a VEE to train well-rounded and competent veterinarians, with the requisite skills to support the veterinary services in their country.

Creating the Next Generation of Evidence-Based Veterinary Practitioners and Researchers: What are the Options for Globally Diverse Veterinary Curricula?

Veterinary educators strive to prepare graduates for a variety of career options with the skills and knowledge to use and contribute to research as part of their lifelong practice of evidence-based veterinary medicine (EBVM). In the veterinary curriculum, students should receive a grounding in research and EBVM, as well as have the opportunity to consider research as a career. Seeing a lack of a cohesive body of information that identified the options and the challenges inherent to embedding such training in veterinary curricula, an international group was formed with the goal of synthesizing evidence to help curriculum designers, course leaders, and teachers implement educational approaches that will inspire future researchers and produce evidence-based practitioners. This article presents a literature review of the rationale, issues, and options for research and EBVM in veterinary curricula. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 key stakeholders across the eight Council for International Veterinary Medical Education (CIVME) regions. Emergent themes from the literature and interviews for including research and EBVM skills into the curriculum included societal need, career development, and skills important to clinical professional life. Approaches included compulsory as well as optional learning opportunities. Barriers to incorporating these skills into the curriculum were grouped into student and faculty-/staff-related issues, time constraints in the curriculum, and financial barriers. Having motivated faculty and contextualizing the teaching were considered important to engage students. The information has been summarized in an online "toolbox" that is freely available for educators to inform curriculum development.

Monitoring the Curriculum through the Student Perspective

Student input was deliberately included as part of the curriculum implementation and assessment plan at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. The new curriculum included design features to encourage deeper learning such as a spiral curriculum with cross-course integration, increased open time, and more active learning. Student well-being was seen as a simultaneous need. To gather overall perceptions of workload and well-being, student volunteers from each cohort were surveyed weekly starting in 2013. Survey questions asked about out-of-class work time, level of integration, extracurricular activities, student well-being habits, paid employment, and other factors. Survey questions were combined with course data to get a full picture of week quality, total course work time, extracurricular activities, and the effects of integration. Many of our hypotheses about curricular and extracurricular impacts on week quality were disproven. Week quality was most positively affected by student factors of sleep and exercise, whereas the curricular factors of out-of-class work time, total course work time, and examination hours had the strongest negative effects. A surprising finding was that open time, in-class hours, and paid employment hours had a minimal effect on week quality. Students identified excessively heavy semesters and uneven semester workloads that resulted in early revisions to the new curriculum. Student feedback provided a view of the curriculum that was not otherwise available and resulted in early and significant impacts on the new curriculum, and they provided insight into whether planned changes had occurred and how effective various factors were in reaching the curricular goals.

Creation and Evaluation of a Food Animal Curriculum Roadmap for Veterinary Students at the University of Minnesota

Less than 5% of US veterinary school graduates go on to practice predominantly food animal medicine, contributing to a serious shortage of veterinarians practicing in rural areas. Exposing students to clinical and farm experiences while in veterinary school is an effective way to recruit them to various types of veterinary careers. Students at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine (UMN CVM) were not always aware of food animal course options within the curriculum. Additionally, food animal faculty had noted that while face-to-face mentoring was the most effective way to help students select courses, it was too dependent upon faculty availability and students' comfort level in reaching out for advice. Consequently, it was decided to develop an online catalog of course options focusing on food animal topics. This course catalog, called the Food Animal Curriculum Roadmap, was designed as an interactive roadmap similar to a map of subway lines, where each line represents a species of interest (beef, dairy, small ruminant, swine, and poultry) and each station is a course. The roadmap was made available to all students at the college. A user survey showed that 96% of the respondents (n = 30) indicated that they had a better understanding of course offerings after using the Food Animal Curriculum Roadmap.