Over the past few weeks, you may have witnessed the strange sight of third-year students carrying around stuffed IKEA dogs, silicone bladders, Wubble Bubble dog abdomens, and other oddities. Please be reassured that this is not a part of an elaborate student prank; rather, what you’ve seen is just a small selection of learning aids being developed for the new Clinical and Professional Skills Lab (CPSL)!
Summer Assistant Marshall Aanestad holding two prototype silicone bladders being developed for the Clinical and Professional Skills Lab.
While the students have been busy working on the learning aids, over the past month Teaching and Learning has been working with our CPSL partners (i.e. the STRIVE groups) on the overall design of the learning modules, which will support the eight skills identified for Autumn 2018. Specifically, the first step of the design process involved discussion of the “Big Rocks”, such as why it is important for our students to master a skill, its real-life relevance, as well as common mistakes and misconceptions that have been observed in our students. The “Big Rocks” are summarized into unit learning outcomes that reflect the skills needed to be a day-one veterinarian, and will guide the creation of the CPSL learning modules, starting with checkpoint assessments that will provide opportunities to ensure that the students are on-track.
Example of the CPSL Blueprint Document
Building on our work in May, June’s focus will be on the development of the CPSL module lessons, as well as the creation of a variety of learning materials, activities, and aids for them. Coming from Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, we will work with our CPSL partners to provide students options in how the content is presented to them (“Representation”), how they can approach their own progression toward the learning outcomes (“Engagement”), and how they can demonstrate their achievement of such (“Expression”).
Shown above is an example of an e-book lesson with h5p interactive widget
During the summer, don’t be surprised to see OTL staff, CVM faculty, and DVM students popping up in different places around the campus shooting videos, drawing models for 3D printing, and piloting their lessons and learning aids with medical center staff! We continue to be very excited about the impact the CSPL can have on how our students learn and how our curriculum can be re-imagined.