The First Shared Online Curriculum Resources for Veterinary Undergraduate Learning and Teaching in Animal Welfare and Ethics in Australia and New Zealand

Authors

Jane Johnson, University of SydneyFollow
Teresa Collins, Murdoch UniversityFollow
Chris Degeling, University of SydneyFollow
Anne Fawcett, University of SydneyFollow
Andrew D. Fisher, University of MelbourneFollow
Rafael Freire, Charles Sturt UniversityFollow
Susan J. Hazel, University of AdelaideFollow
Jennifer Hood, University of SydneyFollow
Jennifer K.F. Lloyd, James Cook UniversityFollow
Clive J.C. Phillips, University of Queensland, AustraliaFollow
Kevin J. Stafford, Massey UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-29-2015

Abstract

The need for undergraduate teaching of Animal Welfare and Ethics (AWE) in Australian and New Zealand veterinary courses reflects increasing community concerns and expectations about AWE; global pressures regarding food security and sustainability; the demands of veterinary accreditation; and fears that, unless students encounter AWE as part of their formal education, as veterinarians they will be relatively unaware of the discipline of animal welfare science. To address this need we are developing online resources to ensure Australian and New Zealand veterinary graduates have the knowledge, and the research, communication and critical reasoning skills, to fulfill the AWE role demanded of them by contemporary society. To prioritize development of these resources we assembled leaders in the field of AWE education from the eight veterinary schools in Australia and New Zealand and used modified deliberative polling. This paper describes the role of the poll in developing the first shared online curriculum resource for veterinary undergraduate learning and teaching in AWE in Australia and New Zealand. The learning and teaching strategies that ranked highest in the exercise were: scenario-based learning; a quality of animal life assessment tool; the so-called ‘Human Continuum’ discussion platform; and a negotiated curriculum.

Comments

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).

Recommended Citation

Johnson, J.; Collins, T.; Degeling, C.; Fawcett, A.; Fisher, A.D.; Freire, R.; Hazel, S.J.; Hood, J.; Lloyd, J.; Phillips, C.J.C.; Stafford, K.; Tzioumis, V.; McGreevy, P.D. The First Shared Online Curriculum Resources for Veterinary Undergraduate Learning and Teaching in Animal Welfare and Ethics in Australia and New Zealand. Animals 2015, 5, 395-406. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani5020362